Feed a cold/starve a fever?

I'm curious to learn what foods you prepare/consume to remedy a cold?
I was thinking about this after reading JiminLoganSquare's post about his meal at Dunlay's. I work with several people from Puerto Rico and they make a tea out of grated ginger, lemon and honey. I'm currently having a cold glass of Trader Joe's lemon, ginger and echinacea juice before I go to bed; I don't have a cold, it's more of a precaution (no flu shot and I'm back at the gym where I caught a cold last year) but it's a delicious way to end the day. In the past, I've consumed the matzo-ball soup from The Bagel on Broadway and the wheat grass juice from the Korean juicer on Clark and Belmont (when I've had really bad colds). Please post recipes if you have them!

I know it's a cliche, but good old fashioned Matzoh Ball Soup does the trick for me. It knocked out a cold I had recently in 3 days.

HI,

Ten years ago, when my nieces were tiny and in pre-school, I was sick from November until March with one cold after another. The only relief I had was eating chicken soup, which often gave me a reprieve for 2-3 hours.

It's no longer cliche, they have found some active properties in chicken soup. If you google 'chicken soup colds' you will find a number of articles supporting this notion. I was not a believer until I had that dreadful string of colds.

Hmm... When I have a fever, it's "feed a fever, starve a cold." When I have a cold, it's "feed a cold, starve a..." you get the idea.

Earl grey tea, with lots of lemon and honey, is the one sure thing to clear my head and throat enough to be able to sleep with a tough cold. It doesn't last too long, but it's a good way to treat the symptoms.

I found a very old Molly O'Neill NYT Magazine article on the chicken soups of NYC titled "It Cures What Ails" that I had tucked away in a cookbook. One of the chicken soup recipes is from Curtis Sliwa's 76 year old Aunt Mary (who is Italian) called Aunt Mary's Penicillin. It states "the soup's curative powers are released only when the vegetables (carrot, celery and garlic clove) are mashed together in the bowl".

There is a matzoh recipe called Carol Wolk's Matzoh Balls which won the Stage Deli's first Matzoh Bowl contest in 1988:

8 cups basic chicken broth
1 1/4 cup matzoh meal
5 large eggs
1 3/4 Tblspn salt
1 Tblspn Russian Vodka
2 Tblspn club soda
1 Tblspn chicken broth
4 Tbspn vegetable oil

Heat the chicken broth in a deep pot. Meanwhile, combine the matzoh and eggs. Add the salt, vodka, club soda, chicken broth and vegetable oil. Mix well. Put in freezer for 45 minutes.

Using 2 tablespoons, form matzoh balls about 2 inches in diameter. When broth is hot but not boiling, use a slotted spoon to place each ball into the soup. Cover the pot and cook for 40 minutes and serve. Makes 18 large matzoh balls.

I've made this and it turned out well.

The article talked about the other immigrant groups in NYC and how they make chicken soup. The Greeks add lemon, the Chinese add vinegar and chili peppers, Southeast Asians, ginger and beef. The Brazilians like a broth that is a clear, deep gold. Some people feel you should add the chicken feet for an awesome broth, others recommend adding a turkey wing or extra chicken wings/thighs for a rich flavor.

My Grandma (and all her sisters and daughters) always used chicken feet. It makes for a very rich broth. One of my fond memories from childhood is watching my grandmother burn the pinfeathers off the fresh killed (from a place on Lawrence Ave) chicken feet over the gas flame of our stove. It captivated me for what seemed like hours on end watching the foot get put in the fire and the little bursts of yellow flame ans the feathers burned off.

It's spaghetti aglio e olio for me, with a nice shot of giardiniera (caution if sore throat is involved) and a really good parmigiano reggiano over it. Bolted down quickly with a glass or two of an old Taurasi, and I can't tell if I have a cold or not.

Since it was my misery that inspired this thread, I'll just add my own two-cents' worth. Typically when I am ill, my appetite drops to near nothing -- this happened during my recent respiratory illness, for example. At these times, soup is about all I can or will eat ... and Campbell's tomato is at the top of my list, although a good chicken noodle like that I had in Northbrook today at Once Upon a Grill can also have strong curative effects. Back when I lived down the street from that bastion of Jewish home cooking, I regularly could've submitted my lunch tabs to Blue Cross for reimbursement.

Once Upon A Grille
2758 Dundee Rd, Northbrook, IL 60062
(847) 562-1411

For congestion the chicken soup to have is Thai Tom Yum. It's got it all--ginger, chicken broth, chiles, and fish sauce. Always makes me feel better. Marilyn

I like this when I'm really congested: grate about two tablespoons of fresh ginger into a couple of cups of boiling water (no need to peel). Cover and steep for five minutes or so, add a tablespoon of honey, some fresh lemon juice and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Strain out the ginger and drink. I don't know that it has any curative power but it makes me feel better for a while. Very good when you can't get the Tom Yum soup.

Well, somebody has to link to this great prior post on this subject, and it looks like it will have to be me. It was also referenced, delightfully, in Mike G's haiku

Astringent, this root
Drives out viral invaders
RST wept here

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=2225#2225

Thanks for the link, Ann! Great photos! I have to say, I've tried ginseng and it does absolutely nothing for me, but I've heard wonders about it from other folks.

Hattyn: Try Ginger Brew. It's real ginger ale made with ginger root, not ginger flavoring, supposedly based on a Jamaican recipe. Really good, and it really works when your stomach's upset. It's carbonated, but tastes completely different from ginger ale. Love it.

For colds, I swear by Matzoh Ball soup (Manischewitz), the Garlic Chicken at Thai Star, State and Superior; or the Tom Yum soup at Ruby of Siam in Skokie (on Skokie Blvd. in the Cost Plus shopping center).

Reed's Ginger Brew is wonderful stuff, including the raspberry, cherry, and apple cider varieties. All have a good ginger bite.

Natural Brew's ginger beer is something i've never tried, but their root beer is one of the most disgusting things I've ever consumed. Honestly, it was undrinkable to me.

-ed

I don't think the healing properties of pho can be overstated. It seems to be fail-safe, and follows along the lines of most of the soups mentioned here. The additional bunch of fresh herbs and peppers seems to help as well.

Making ginger ale at home is about as easy as it gets:grated ginger, sugar, water and yeast in a soda bottle. You can adjust the carbonation to taste.

I used to swear by the healing effects of tom kha kai, but now I lika da pho.

pd

pdaane wrote:Making ginger ale at home is about as easy as it gets:grated ginger, sugar, water and yeast in a soda bottle. You can adjust the carbonation to taste.

Another (much faster, but more expensive and perhaps not as good) alternative is mixing up the ginger, sugar, and water and then carbonating it with a seltzer bottle and co2 charges... Many years ago I would do this with orange juice, lemon juice, and lime juice. Mix, carbonate, drink. Fantastic stuff.

-ed

Not really a food (although it has food in it), but this drink, taken as soon as I feel a cold coming on, has always helped.

Crush two aspirin in a glass. Add two shots of whisky (don't waste single malts, single-barrel or good Irish on this--use the blended stuff that's in the back of the liquor cabinet). Cut a lemon in half, and cut off one thick slice. Squeeze the lemon halves into the glass. Take the lemon slice and stick about ten cloves into it. Toss it in the glass. Top off the glass with boiling (or almost boiling) water. Stir.

Drink. Get into bed immediately and sweat the cold out.

JiminLoganSquare wrote:Once Upon A Grille
2758 Dundee Rd, Northbrook, IL 60062
(847) 562-1411

HI,

I phoned this establishment to confirm they are directly related to:

Once Upon A Bagel
1888 1st Street
Highland Park, IL 60035
Tel: 847/433-1411

When I asked the guy what's the difference between the Grille and Bagel places, he advised, "The only thing we don't have is the whitefish salad, otherwise it is the same." Indeed, then your Chicken Noodle soup must have been pretty good. I tend to order the Mish-Mash Soup mostly because I love the variety of noodles, rice, kreplach and a Matzo ball along with the chunks of chicken, carrots and celery.

Last summer they briefly opened a place in Highwood/Highland Park called, 'Once Upon A Submarine.' I guess this concept didn't go over very well because they reopened as a Mexican restaurant called:

La Casa Del Gordo (between Miramar and Carlos)
431 Temple Avenue
Highland Park, IL 60035
847/266-1411

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:

JiminLoganSquare wrote:Once Upon A Grille
2758 Dundee Rd, Northbrook, IL 60062
(847) 562-1411

Indeed, then your Chicken Noodle soup must have been pretty good. I tend to order the Mish-Mash Soup mostly because I love the variety of noodles, rice, kreplach and a Matzo ball along with the chunks of chicken, carrots and celery.


Regards,

I generally stick with just the noodles, but I know the appeal of the mish-mosh style. So, Cathy, when you order soup at Once Upon A [fill in the blank], do you get the "cup" (what the rest of the world would call a 12 oz. bowl) or do you get the "bowl" (of a volume most of the world would use to bathe an infant)?

I came across a recipe for a folk remedy called "Fire Cider." Essentially, you soak a large amount of garlic, horseradish and hot peppers in unfiltered apple cider vinegar for a month. Then you strain out the solids and add a bit of honey and drink it. If you survive drinking this you will probably find that any germs that have been bothering you have been vaporized.

How in the world did you pull this old thread up bw77?!

People make me laugh. They catch a cold, then take something for it that "knocks it out in 3 days." Average length of a cold is... wait for it... three days (with or without taking anything). Soup definitely makes you feel better and clears you out a bit. But a virus is a virus and no soup is going to magically make it go away any sooner.

One thing that does seem to work for me for fending off a cold is Zicam. I'll take it at the first sign of feeling like I'm getting sick and it usually works. I'm talking that "I feel like I should go home because I'm definitely getting sick" feeling to "I feel fine" within 30-60 minutes.

I caught a head cold a couple weeks ago, but it turned into a sinus infection that has lingered on. Zicam didn't take hold on that one. And the soup didn't help either! I think I'll go for the pizza cure.