The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) Part 150

Never use water which has stood in a lead pipe over night. _Not less than a wooden bucketful should be allowed to run._

Never use water from a stone reservoir for cooking purposes.

Never allow fresh meat to remain in paper; it absorbs the juices.

Never keep vinegar or yeast in stone crocks or jugs; their acid attacks the glazing, which is said to be poisonous. Gla.s.s for either is better.

_Squeaking Doors_ ought to have the hinges oiled by putting on a drop from the sewing machine oil-can.

_Plate Gla.s.s and Mirrors:_--A soft cloth wet in alcohol, is excellent to wipe off plate gla.s.s and mirrors, and prevents their becoming frosty in winter.

A red-hot iron will soften old putty so that it can be easily removed.

_To Test Nutmegs:_--p.r.i.c.k them with a pin; if good, the oil will instantly spread around the puncture.

_A Good Way to Clean Mica_ in a stove that has become blackened with smoke, is to take it out, and thoroughly wash it with vinegar. If the black does not come off at once, let it soak a little.

_To Banish Rats from the Premises_, use pounded gla.s.s mixed with dry corn meal, placed within their reach. Sprinkling cayenne pepper in their holes will also banish them. Chloride of lime is an infallible remedy, spread around where they come, and thrown into their holes; it should be renewed once in two weeks. Tar is also a good remedy.

_To Prevent the Odor of Boiling Ham or Cabbage:_--Throw red pepper pods or a few bits of charcoal into the pan they are cooking in.

_To Brighten Gilt Frames:_--Take sufficient flour of sulphur to give a golden tinge to about one and one-half pints of water, and in this boil four or five bruised onions, or garlic, which will answer the same purpose. Strain off the liquid, and with it, when cold, wash with a soft brush any gilding which requires restoring, and when dry, it will come out as bright as new work.

All cooking utensils, including iron-ware, should be washed outside and inside in hot, soapy water; rinsed in clean, hot water, wiped dry with a dry towel; a soapy or greasy dish-cloth should never be used for the purpose.

A cake of sapolio should be kept in every kitchen, to be used freely on all dishes that require scouring and cleansing. All tins that have become discolored can be made as bright and clean as new by the use of sapolio; also shines dishes; and, in fact, almost all articles that require any scouring. Purchased at all groceries. One of the most useful articles ever used in the kitchen.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

TOILET RECIPES, ITEMS.

COLOGNE WATER. (Superior.)

Oil of lavender two drachms, oil of rosemary one drachm and a half, orange, lemon and bergamot, one drachm each of the oil; also two drachms of the essence of musk, attar of rose ten drops, and a pint of proof spirit. Shake all together thoroughly three times a day for a week.

JOCKEY CLUB BOUQUET.

Mix one pint extract of rose, one pint extract of tuberose, half a pint of extract of ca.s.sia, four ounces extract of jasmine, and three ounces tincture of civet. Filter the mixture.

ROSE-WATER.

Preferable to the distilled for a perfume, or for culinary purposes.

Attar of rose, twelve drops; rub it up with half an ounce of white sugar and two drachms carbonate magnesia; then add gradually one quart of water and two ounces of proof spirit, and filter through paper.

BAY RUM.

French proof spirit one gallon, extract bay six ounces. Mix and color with caramel; needs no filtering.

LAVENDER WATER.

Oil of lavender two ounces, orris root half an ounce, spirits of wine one pint. Mix and keep two or three weeks. It may then be strained through two thicknesses of blotting-paper and is ready for use.

CREAM OF LILIES.

Best white castor oil; pour in a little strong solution of sal tartar in water, and shake it until it looks thick and white. Perfume with lavender.

CREAM OF ROSES.

Olive oil one pound, attar of roses fifty drops, oil of rosemary twenty-five drops; mix, and color it with alkanet root.

COLD CREAM.

Melt one ounce oil of almonds, half ounce spermaceti, one drachm white wax, and then add two ounces of rose-water, and stir it constantly until cold.

LIP-SALVE.

Melt one ounce white wax, one ounce sweet oil, one drachm spermaceti, and throw in a piece of alkanet root to color it, and when cooling, perfume it with oil rose, and then pour it into small white jars or boxes.

FOR DANDRUFF.

Take glycerine four ounces, tincture of cantharides five ounces, bay rum four ounces, water two ounces. Mix, and apply once a day and rub well down the scalp.

HAIR INVIGORATOR.

Bay rum two pints, alcohol one pint, castor oil one ounce, carb.

ammonia half an ounce, tincture of cantharides one ounce. Mix them well. This compound will promote the growth of the hair and prevent it from falling out.

MACa.s.sAR OIL FOR THE HAIR.

Renowned for the past fifty years, is as follows: Take a quarter of an ounce of the chippings of alkanet root, tie this in a bit of coa.r.s.e muslin and put it in a bottle containing eight ounces of sweet oil; cover it to keep out the dust; let it stand several days; add to this sixty drops of tincture of cantharides, ten drops of oil of rose, neroli and lemon each sixty drops; let it stand one week and you will have one of the most powerful stimulants for the growth of the hair ever known.

_Another:_--To a pint of strong sage tea, a pint of bay rum and a quarter of an ounce of the tincture of cantharides, add an ounce of castor oil and a teaspoonful of rose, or other perfume. Shake well before applying to the hair, as the oil will not mix.