The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) written by Mrs. F.L. Gillette

M >> Mrs. F.L. Gillette >> The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887)

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_To Remove the Odor of Onion_ from fish-kettle and saucepans in which
they have been cooked, put wood-ashes or sal soda, potash or lye; fill
with water and let it stand on the stove until it boils; then wash in
hot suds, and rinse well.

_To Clean Marble Busts:_--First free them from all dust, then wash
them with very weak hydrochloric acid. Soap injures the color of
marble.

_To Remove old Putty from Window Frames_, pass a red hot poker slowly
over it and it will come off easily.

_Hanging Pictures:_--The most safe material and also the best, is
copper wire, of the size proportioned to the weight of the picture.
When hung the wire is scarcely visible, and its strength is far
superior to cord.

_To Keep Milk Sweet:--_Put into a panful a spoonful of grated
horse-radish, it will keep it sweet for days.

_To Take Rust from Steel Implements or Knives:--_Rub them well with
kerosene oil, leaving them covered with it a day or so; then rub them
hard and well with finely powdered unslaked lime.

_Poison Water:--_Water boiled in galvanized iron becomes poisonous,
and cold water passed through zinc-lined iron pipes should never be
used for cooking or drinking. Hot water for cooking should never be
taken from hot water pipes; keep a supply heated in kettles.

_Scouring Soap for Cotton and Silk Goods:_--Mix one pound of common
soap, half a pound of beef-gall and one ounce and a half of Venetian
turpentine.

_A Paint for Wood or Stone that Resists all Moisture:_--Melt twelve
ounces of resin; mix with it, thoroughly, six gallons of fish oil and
one pound of melted sulphur. Rub up some ochre or any other coloring
substance with a little linseed oil, enough to give it the right,
color and thickness. Apply several coats of the hot composition with a
brush. The first coat should be very thin.

_To Ventilate a Room:_--Place a pitcher of cold water on a table in
your room and it will absorb all the gases with which the room is
filled from the respiration of those eating or sleeping in the
apartment. Very few realize how important such purification is for the
health of the family, or, indeed, understand or realize that there can
be any impurity in the rooms; yet in a few hours a pitcher or pail of
cold water--the colder the more effective--will make the air of a room
pure, but the water will be entirely unfit for use.

_To Fill Cracks in Plaster:_--Use vinegar instead of water to mix your
plaster of Paris. The resultant mass will be like putty, and will not
"set" for twenty or thirty minutes; whereas, if you use water the
plaster will become hard almost immediately, before you have time to
use it. Push it into the cracks and smooth it off nicely with a table
knife.

_To Take Spots from Wash Goods:_--Rub them with the yolk of egg before
washing.

_To Take White Spots from Varnished Furniture:_--Hold a hot stove lid
or plate over them and they will soon disappear.

_To Prevent Oil from Becoming Rancid:_--Drop a few drops of ether into
the bottle containing it.

_Troublesome Ants:_--A heavy chalk mark laid a finger's distance from
your sugar box and all around (there must be no space not covered)
will surely prevent ants from troubling.

_To Make Tough Meat Tender:_--Lay it a few minutes in a strong vinegar
water.

_To Remove Discoloration from Bruises:_--Apply a cloth wrung out in
very hot water, and renew frequently until the pain ceases. Or apply
raw beefsteak.

_A Good Polish for Removing Stains, Spots and Mildew from Furniture_
is made as follows: Take half a pint of ninety-eight per cent,
alcohol, a quarter of an ounce each of pulverized resin and gum
shellac, add half a pint of linseed oil; shake well and apply with a
brush or sponge.

_To Remove Finger-Marks:_--Sweet oil will remove finger-marks from
varnished furniture, and kerosene from oiled furniture.

_To Remove Paint from Black Silk:_--Patient rubbing with chloroform
will remove paint from black silk or any other goods, and will not
hurt the most delicate color or fabric.

_To Freshen Gilt Frames:_--Gilt frames may be revived by carefully
dusting them, and then washing with one ounce of soda beaten up with
the whites of three eggs. Scraped patches might be touched tip with
any gold paint. Castile soap and water, with proper care, may be used
to clean oil paintings; other methods should not be employed without
some skill.

_To Destroy Moths in Furniture:_--All the baking and steaming are
useless, as, although the moths may be killed, their eggs are sure to
hatch, and the upholstery to be well riddled. The naphtha-bath process
is effectual. A sofa, chair or lounge may be immersed in the large
vats used for the purpose, and all insect life will be absolutely
destroyed. No egg ever hatches after passing through the naphtha-bath;
all oil, dirt or grease disappears, and not the slightest damage is
done to the most costly article. Sponging with naphtha will not
answer. It is the immersion for two hours or more in the specially
prepared vats which is effectual.

_Slicing Pineapples:_--The knife used for peeling a pineapple should
not be used for slicing it, as the rind contains an acid that is apt
to cause a swollen mouth and sore lips. The Cubans use salt as an
antidote for the ill effects of the peel.

_To Clean Iron Sinks:_--Rub them well with a cloth wet with kerosene
oil.

_To Erase Discoloration on Stone China:_--Dishes and cups that are
used for baking custards, puddings, etc., that require scouring, may
be easily cleaned by rubbing with a damp cloth dipped in whiting or
"Sapolio," then washed as usual.

_To Remove Ink, Wine or Fruit Stains:_--Saturate well in tomato juice;
it is also an excellent thing to remove stains from the hands.

_To Set Colors in Washable Goods:_--Soak them previous to washing in a
water in which is allowed a tablespoonful of ox-gall to a gallon of
water.

_To Take out Paint:_--Equal parts of ammonia and turpentine will take
paint out of clothing, no matter how dry or hard it may be. Saturate
the spot two or three times, then wash out in soap-suds. Ten cents'
worth of oxalic acid dissolved in a pint of hot water will remove
paint spots from the windows. Pour a little into a cup, and apply to
the spots with a swab, but be sure not to allow the acid to touch the
hands. Brasses may be quickly cleaned with it. Great care must be
exercised in labeling the bottle, and putting it out of the reach of
children, as it is a deadly poison.

_To Remove Tar from Cloth:_--Saturate the spot and rub it well with
turpentine, and every trace of tar will be removed.

_To Destroy Ants:_--Ants that frequent houses or gardens may be
destroyed by taking flour of brimstone half a pound, and potash four
ounces; set them in an iron or earthen pan over the fire until
dissolved and united; afterwards beat them to a powder, and infuse a
little of this powder in water, and wherever you sprinkle it the ants
will fly the place.

_Simple Disinfectant:_--The following is a refreshing disinfectant for
a sick room, or any room that has an unpleasant aroma prevading it:
Put some fresh ground coffee in a saucer, and in the centre place a
small piece of camphor gum, which light with a match. As the gum
burns, allow sufficient coffee to consume with it. The perfume is very
pleasant and healthful, being far superior to pastiles, and very much
cheaper.

_Cure for Hiccough:_--Sit erect and inflate the lungs fully. Then,
retaining the breath, bend forward slowly until the chest meets the
knees. After slowly arising again to the erect position, slowly exhale
the breath. Repeat this process a second time, and the nerves will be
found to have received an access of energy that will enable them to
perform their natural functions.

_To Keep out Mosquitoes and Bats:_--If a bottle of the oil of
pennyroyal is left uncorked in a room at night, not a mosquito, nor
any other blood-sucker, will be found there in the morning. Mix potash
with powdered meal, and throw it into the rat-holes of a cellar, and
the rats will depart. If a rat or a mouse get into your pantry, stuff
into its hole a rag saturated with a solution of cayenne pepper, and
no rat or mouse will touch the rag for the purpose of opening
communication with a depot of supplies.

_Salt will Curdle New Milk_; hence, in preparing porridge, gravies,
etc., the salt should not be added until the dish is prepared.

_To Prevent Rust on Flat-Irons:_--Beeswax and salt will make your
rusty flat-irons as smooth and clean as glass. Tie a lump of wax in a
rag and keep it for that purpose. When the irons are hot, rub them
first with the wax rag, then scour with a paper or cloth sprinkled
with salt.

_To Prevent Rust on Knives:_--Steel knives which are not in general
use may be kept from rusting if they are dipped in a strong solution
of soda: one part water to four of soda; then wipe dry, roll in
flannel and keep in a dry place.

_Flowers May be Kept Very Fresh over Night_ if they are excluded from
the air. To do this, wet them thoroughly, put in a damp box, and cover
with wet raw cotton or wet newspaper, then place in a cool spot.

_To Sweeten Milk:_--Milk which is slightly turned or changed may be
sweetened and rendered fit for use again by stirring in a little soda.

_To Scour Knives Easily:_--Mix a small quantity of baking soda with
your brick-dust and see if your knives do not polish better.

_To Soften Boots and Shoes:_--Kerosene will soften boots and shoes
which have been hardened by water, and render them as pliable as new.
Kerosine will make tin kettles as bright as new. Saturate a woolen rag
and rub with it. It will also remove stains from clean varnished
furniture.

_Faded Goods:_--Plush goods and all articles dyed with aniline colors,
which have faded from exposure to the light, will look as bright as
new after sponging with chloroform.

_Choking:_--A piece of food lodged in the throat may sometimes be
pushed down with the finger, or removed with a hair-pin quickly
straightened and hooked at the end, or by two or three vigorous blows
on the back between the shoulders.

_To Prevent Mold on the Top of Glasses of Jelly_, lay a lump of
paraffine on the top of the hot jelly, letting it melt and spread over
it. No brandy paper and no other covering is necessary. If preferred
the paraffine can be melted and poured over after the jelly is cold.

_To Preserve Ribbons and Silks:_--Ribbons and silks should be put away
for preservation in brown paper; the chloride of lime in white paper
discolors them. A white satin dress should be pinned up in blue paper
with brown paper outside sewn together at the edges.

_To Preserve Bouquets:_--Put a little saltpetre in the water you use
for your bouquets and the flowers will live for a fortnight.

_To Destroy Cockroaches:_--Hellebore sprinkled on the floor at night.
They eat it and are poisoned.

_To Remove Iron Rust:_--Lemon juice and salt will remove ordinary iron
rust. If the hands are stained there is nothing that will remove the
stains as well as lemon. Cut a lemon in halves and apply the cut
surface as if it were soap.

_To Keep Bar Soap:_--Cut it into pieces and put it into a dry place;
it is more economical to use after it has become hard, as it does not
waste so readily.

_To Brighten Carpets:_--Carpets after the dust has been beaten out may
be brightened by scattering upon them corn meal mixed with salt and
then sweeping it off. Mix salt and meal in equal proportions. Carpets
should be thoroughly beaten on the wrong side first and then on the
right side, after which spots may be removed by the use of ox-gall or
ammonia and water.

_Silver Tea and Coffeepot:_--When putting away those not in use every
day lay a little stick across the top under the cover. This will allow
fresh air to get in and prevent the mustiness of the contents,
familiar to hotel and boarding-house sufferers.

_To Prevent Creaking of Bedsteads:_--If a bedstead creaks at each
movement of the sleeper, remove the slats, and wrap the ends of each
in old newspapers.

_To Clean Unvarnished Black Walnut:_--Milk, sour or sweet, well rubbed
in with an old soft flannel, will make black walnut look new.

_To Prevent Cracking of Bottles and Fruit Jars:_--If a bottle or
fruit-jar that has been more than once used is placed on a towel
thoroughly soaked in hot water, there is little danger of its being
cracked by the introduction of a hot liquid.

_To Prevent Lamp-wicks from Smoking:_--Soak them in vinegar and then
dry them thoroughly.

Rub the nickel stove-trimmings and the plated handles and hinges of
doors with kerosene and whiting, and polish with a dry cloth.

_Death to Bugs:_--Varnish is death to the most persistent bug. It is
cheap--ten cents' worth will do for one bedstead--is easily used, is
safe, and improves the looks of the furniture to which it is applied.
The application, must, however, be thorough, the slats, sides, and
every crack and corner receiving attention.

That salt should be eaten with nuts to aid digestion.

That milk which stands too long makes bitter butter.

_To Clean Drain Pipes:_--Drain pipes, and all places that are sour or
impure, may be cleaned with lime-water or carbolic acid.

If oil-cloth be occasionally rubbed with a mixture of beeswax and
turpentine, it will last longer.

_To Remove Mildew from Cloth:_--Put a teaspoonful of chloride of lime
into a quart of water, strain it twice, then dip the mildewed places
in this weak solution; lay in the sun; if the mildew has not
disappeared when dry, repeat the operation. Also soaking the article
in sour milk and salt; then lay in the sun; repeat until all the
mildew is out.

_To Take Ink out of Linen:_--Dip the ink spot in pure melted tallow,
then wash out the tallow and the ink will come out with it. This is
said to be unfailing. Milk will remove ink from linen or colored
muslins, when acids would be ruinous, by soaking the goods until the
spot is very faint and then rubbing and rinsing in cold water.

Ink spots on floors can be extracted by scouring with sand wet in oil
of vitriol and water. When ink is removed, rinse with strong pearl-ash
water.

_To Toughen Lamp Chimneys and Glass-ware:_--Immerse the article in a
pot filled with cold water, to which some common salt has been added.
Boil the water well, then cool slowly. Glass treated in this way will
resist any sudden change of temperature.

_To Remove Paint from Window-glass:_--Rub it well with hot sharp
vinegar.

_To Clean Stove-pipe:_--A piece of zinc put on the live coals in the
stove will clean out the stove-pipe.

_Packing Bottles:_--India-rubber bands slipped over them will prevent
breakage.

_To Clean Ivory Ornaments:_--When ivory ornaments become yellow or
dusky, wash them well in soap and water with a small brush, to clean
the carvings, and then place them, while wet, in the sunshine. Wet
them with soapy water for two or three days, several times a day,
still keeping them in the sunshine, then wash them again, and they
will be perfectly white.

_Stained Brass:_--Whiting wet with aqua ammonia, will cleanse brass
from stains, and is excellent for polishing faucets and door-knobs of
brass or silver. "Sapolio" is still better.

_Hartshorn_ applied to the stings of poisonous insects will allay the
pain and stop the swelling; or apply oil of sassafras, which is
better. Bee stings should be treated in this way.

_For Cleaning Glass Bottles:_--Crush egg-shells into small bits, or a
few carpet tacks, or a small quantity of gunshot, put into the bottle;
then fill one-half full of strong soap-suds; shake thoroughly, then
rinse in clear water. Will look like new.

_Cutting off Glass Bottles for Clips and Jars:_--A simple, practical
way is to take a red-hot poker with a pointed end; make a mark with a
file to begin the cut; then apply the hot iron and a crack will start,
which will follow the iron wherever it is carried. This is, on the
whole, simple, and better than the use of strings wet with turpentine,
etc.

_Cistern Water may be Purified_ by charcoal put in a bag and hung in
the water.

_Salt will Remove the Stain from Silver_ caused by eggs, when applied
dry with a soft cloth.

_Opened Fruit, Fish or Vegetables:_--Never allow opened fruit, fish or
vegetables to stand in the tin can. Never stir anything in tin, or, if
it is done, use a wooden spoon. In lifting pies or cakes from bright
tin pans, use great caution that the knife does not scrape off flecks
of bright metal.

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. Glass for either
is better.

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

_Plate Glass and Mirrors:_--A soft cloth wet in alcohol, is excellent
to wipe off plate glass 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:_--Prick 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 glass 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.

[Illustration]

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 cassia, 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.

MACASSAR 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 coarse
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.

PHALON'S INSTANTANEOUS HAIR DYE.

To one ounce of crystallized nitrate of silver, dissolved in one ounce
of concentrated aqua ammonia, add one ounce of gum arabic and six
ounces of soft water. Keep in the dark. Remember to remove all grease
from the hair before applying the dye.

There is danger in some of the patent hair dyes, and hence the
_Scientific American_ offers what is known as the walnut hair dye. The
simplest form is the expressed juice of the bark or shell of green
walnuts. To preserve the juice a little alcohol is commonly added to
it with a few bruised cloves, and the whole digested together, with
occasional agitation, for a week or fortnight, when the clear portion
is decanted, and, if necessary, filtered. Sometimes a little common
salt is added with the same intention. It should be kept in a cool
place. The most convenient way of application is by means of a sponge.

DYE FOR WHITE OR LIGHT EYEBROWS.

Boil an ounce of walnut bark in a pint of water for an hour. Add a
lump of alum the size of a filbert, and when cold, apply with a
camel's-hair brush.

HAIR WASH.

One penny's worth of borax, half a pint of olive oil, one pint of
boiling water.

Pour the boiling water over the borax and oil; let it cool; then put
the mixture into a bottle. Shake it before using, and apply it with a
flannel. Camphor and borax, dissolved in boiling water and left to
cool, make a very good wash for the hair; as also does rosemary water
mixed with a little borax. After using any of these washes, when the
hair becomes thoroughly dry, a little pomatum or oil should be rubbed
in to make it smooth and glossy--that is, if one prefers oil on the
hair.

OXMARROW-POMADE FOR THE HAIR.

One marrow bone, half a pint of oil, ten cents' worth of citronella.
Take the marrow out of the bone, place it in warm water, let it get
almost to boiling point, then let it cool and pour the water away;
repeat this three times until the marrow is thoroughly "fined." Beat
the marrow to a cream with a silver fork, stir the oil in, drop by
drop, beating all the time; when quite cold add the citronella, pour
into jars and cover down.

TO INCREASE THE HAIR IN THE BROWS.

Clip them and anoint with a, little sweet oil. Should the hair fall
out, having been full, use one of the hair invigorators.

BANDOLINE.

To one quart of rose-water add an ounce and a half of gum tragacanth;
let it stand forty-eight hours, frequently straining it, then strain
through a coarse linen cloth; let it stand two days, and again strain;
add to it a drachm of oil of roses. Used by ladies dressing their
hair, to make it lie in any position.

COMPLEXION WASH.

Put in a vial one drachm of benzoin gum in powder, one drachm nutmeg
oil, six drops of orange-blossom tea, or apple blossoms put in half
pint of rain-water and boiled down to one teaspoonful and strained,
one pint of sherry wine. Bathe the face morning and night; will remove
all flesh-worms and freckles, and give a beautiful complexion. Or, put
one ounce of powdered gum of benzoin in a pint of whisky; to use, put
in water in wash-bowl till it is milky, allowing it to dry without
wiping. This is perfectly harmless.