My variation on the chicken-soup theme is something that came to me, apparently by Divine Inspiration, when I was having a sudden bout of Can’t Keep It Down: chicken broth, chopped parsley and LOTS of crushed garlic all simmered together. Not only did it taste good going down, it did coming back up too … no, really, and that’s the kind of miracle you want at times like that!
However, that’s also my cure-all for everything but a gout attack. I’m so happy that Swanson’s comes in huge cartons these days so I don’t have to open (or pay for!) all those damn cans when I really don’t feel like doing anything anyway. Since the broth gets strained I can just smash garlic and rough-chop the parsley (you do NOT want to be doing close knife work while you’re sneezing!), and be maybe 20 minutes on the cooktop away from some genuine comfort.
I make a really good hot and sour soup, but when I’m sick I agree that the @meatn3 method of getting someone to pick it up for you or having it delivered is best. ETA here is the recipe I use when I’m not too sick to be in the kitchen: http://www.food.com/recipe/americas-test-kitchen-hot-sour-soup-323234 . The black vinegar is a must and can usually be found at Asian grocery stores.
We’re under the impression that the wood ear actually has medicinal effects in traditional Chinese medicine that led to the sobriquet Chinese penicillin. The pork and tofu and egg supply nourishment after the seasonings wake up the metabolism.
I made this over the weekend . I skewed the recipe a little . http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017117-beef-bone-broth . I’ve got a coupe gallons . Simmered it for 16 hours and strained it . Wow what a flavorful stock . I’m freezing a bunch . I hope I never have to use it for a cold . But would work just fine .
I caught some kind of a flu last Thursday. I got much better by Sunday.
Anyway, I was making soup Thursday night just because I knew I would feel much worse by Friday, and I did.
So, what do you like to eat and/or cook when you are sick?
I like to eat soft and liquid-ly food like soup when I am sick, particularly chicken soup, but I like other soup as well. In term of what I like to make, I just want to make something very simple when I am sick. Unlike my previous episodes with food poisoning, I was able to eat any food this time around (just normal flu). I ate a lot of toasted turkey melted cheese sandwich, just because it was so easy to make and I had the ingredients already.
Nothing new or original here: I’m a genetically programmed devotee of chicken soup… Before starting a low carb lifestyle, the chicken soup program was modified to jook/congee/porridge. Now I guess it would be cauliflower rice porridge
I will have to add though that now that I am well over 2x the legal drinking age, if I have been dosing off and on all day and want to go to sleep at night, about 3 fingers worth of bourbon in a glass with 1 cube does the trick
What makes me feel better is a large bowl of Beef Pho or Chicken Pho. Settles my body and allow me to sleep and recover. But as I recover I will make a pot of Chinese four herb soup with pork bones.
With a cold and exhausted beyond belief yet my stomach is ok i make my now signature “i’m sick and feel like $hit” soup- stupid easy, super fast, and ingredients can be found at any nyc corner bodega: one 20oz container original v8, half a can of drained rinsed white beans or chickpeas, juice of one lemon, and grated fresh ginger (always in my freezer), heat together and blend or not.
I also make and drink lots of miso broth for both a cold and upset stomach.
+1 for the hot tea lemon honey rum combo
My rather odd yet soothing craving when sick that reminds me of childhood is making a packet of instant brown sugar oatmeal but with lots of extra water which i then sip from a mug for a fragrant kind of oatmeal broth soup thing…
Ginger seems to have a settling effect on the stomach. My mom would pour it in a glass and let some of the fizz dissipate before she gave it to us. Now I prefer it with a little Canadian Club