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Several Ways of Preparing Chickens for the Sick

_Chicken tea_ is made by boiling any part of the chicken, and using the broth weak with only a little salt. _Chicken broth_ is made by boiling a chicken a good deal, and skimming very thoroughly and seasoning with salt. A little rice, or pearl barley improves it, or a little parsley may be used to flavor it. _Chicken panada_ is made by pounding some of the meat of boiled chicken in a mortar, with a little broth, and also a little salt and nutmeg. Then pour in a little broth and boil it five minutes. It should be a thick broth.

Milk Porridge

Make a thin batter with Indian meal and wheat flour, a spoonful of each, and pour it into a quart of boiling milk and water, equal portions of each. Salt it to the taste. Boil ten minutes.

Rice Gruel, and Oatmeal Gruel

Make a thin paste of ground rice or Indian meal, and pour into boiling water, or boiling milk and water. Let the rice boil up once, but the corn meal must boil half an hour. Season with salt, sugar, and nutmeg. A little cream is a great improvement.

Arrowroot and Tapioca Gruels

Jamaica arrowroot is the best. Make a thin paste, and pour into boiling water, and flavor with sugar, salt, and nutmeg. A little lemon juice improves it. Tapioca must be soaked in twice the quantity of water over night, then add milk and water, and boil till it is soft. Flavor as above.

Dropped Egg

Salt some boiling water, and drop in it a raw egg out of the shell, taking care not to break the yolk; take it up as soon as the white is hardened. Dip some toast in hot water, and put salt or butter on to it, and lay the egg on the top.

Wheat Gruel for Young Children with weak stomachs, or for Invalids

Tie half a pint of wheat flour in thick cotton, and boil it three or four hours; then dry the lump and grate it when you use it. Prepare a gruel of it by making a thin paste, and pouring it into boiling milk and water, and flavor with salt. This is good for teething children.

Another Panada

Boil a mixture of one-fourth wine, and three-fourths water, and flavor it with nutmeg or lemon. Stir in grated bread or crackers, and let it boil up once.

Herb Drinks

Balm tea is often much relished by the sick. Sage tea also is good. Balm, sage, and sorrel, mixed with sliced lemon and boiling water poured on, and then sweetened, is a fine drink. Pennyroyal makes a good drink to promote perspiration. Herb drinks must often be renewed, as they grow insipid by standing.

Other Simple Drinks

Pour boiling water on to tamarinds, or mashed cranberries, or mashed whortleberries, then pour off the water and sweeten it. Add a little wine if allowed. Toast bread very brown, and put it in cold water, and it is often relished. Pour boiling water on to bread toasted very brown, and boil it a minute, then strain it, and add a little cream and sugar. Make a tea of parched corn pounded, and add sugar and cream.

Cream Tartar Whey

Warm a pint of fresh milk, when scalding hot, stir in a teaspoonful of cream tartar, and if this does not turn it, add more, till it does. Strain it, and sweeten with loaf sugar. Those who cannot eat wine whey can eat this without trouble, and it is good in fevers.

Simple Wine Whey

Mix equal quantities of water, milk, and white wine. Warm the milk and water, and then add the wine. Sweeten it to the taste.

A great Favorite with Invalids

Take one third brisk cider and two thirds water, sweeten it, and crumb in toasted bread, or toasted crackers, and grate on nutmeg. Acid jellies will answer for this, when cider cannot be obtained.

A New Way of making Barley Water

Put two tablespoonfuls of pearl barley into a quart jug, two great spoonfuls of white sugar, a small pinch of salt, a small bit of orange, or lemon peel, and a glass of calve’s foot jelly, and then fill the jug with _boiling_ water. Shake it, and then let it stand till quite cold. It is best made over night, to use next day. When the liquor is all poured off, it may be filled again with boiling water, and it is again very good.

Panada

Take two crackers, pour on boiling water, and let it simmer five minutes; beat up an egg, sweeten and flavor it to your taste, and then put the cracker to it.

Arrowroot Blanc Mange

Take two tablespoonfuls of arrowroot to one quart of milk, and a pinch of salt. Scald the milk, sweeten it, and then stir in the arrowroot, which must first be wet up with some of the milk. Let it boil up once. Orange water, rose water, or lemon peel, can be used to flavor it. Pour it into moulds to cool.

Rice Flour Blanc Mange

Four tablespoonfuls of ground rice and a pinch of salt wet up with a little milk and stirred into a quart of boiling milk. Rub the rind of a lemon with hard, refined sugar, till all the oil is absorbed, and use the sugar to sweeten to your taste. Boil, stirring well, for eight minutes; then cool it, and add the whites of three eggs cut to a froth. Put it on to the fire, and stir constantly till boiling hot, then turn it into moulds, or cups, and let it stand till cold.

Another Receipt for American Isinglass Jelly

One ounce of gelatine, or American isinglass. Three pints of boiling water. A pound and a half of loaf sugar. Three lemons, cut in slices, leaving out the peel of one. The whites of four eggs, cut to a stiff froth. Soak the isinglass half an hour in cold water, then take it out and pour on the boiling water. When cool, add the sugar, lemon, and whites of eggs; boil all three or four minutes, then strain through a jelly-bag, and add wine to your taste.

Tapioca Jelly

One cup full of tapioca. Wash it two or three times, soak it in water, for five or six hours. Then simmer it in the same water in which it has been soaked, with a pinch of salt and bits of fresh lemon peel, until it becomes transparent. Then add lemon juice, wine, and loaf sugar to flavor it. Let all simmer well together, then pour into glasses to cool.

Caudle

To rice, or water gruel, add a wine-glass of wine, or ale, and season with nutmeg and sugar.

Sago Jelly

Soak a tea-cup full of sago in cold water, half an hour, then pour off the water, and add fresh, and soak it another half hour; and then boil it slowly with a pinch of salt, a stick of cinnamon, or a bit of orange, or lemon peel, stirring constantly. When thickened, add wine and white sugar to suit the taste, and let it boil a minute; then turn it into cups.

Spiced Chocolate

One quart of milk. Two squares of chocolate. One stick of cinnamon. A little nutmeg. Grate the chocolate. Boil the milk, reserving a little cold to moisten the chocolate, which must be mixed perfectly smooth to a thin paste. When the milk boils (in which the cinnamon must be put when cold, and boil in it), stir in the chocolate, and let it boil up quickly, then pour into a pitcher, and grate on the nutmeg. Rich cream added to the milk, will improve it.

Barley Water

Put two ounces of pearl barley to half a pint of boiling water, and let it simmer five minutes; pour off the water, and add two quarts of boiling water, add two ounces sliced figs, two of stoned raisins, and boil till it is reduced to a quart. Strain it for drink.

Water Gruel

To two quarts of boiling water, add one gill of Indian meal and a heaped tablespoonful of flour, made into a paste and stirred in the water. Let it boil slowly twenty minutes. Salt, sugar, and nutmeg to the taste. Oatmeal makes a fine gruel in the same way.

Beef Tea

Broil a pound of tender, juicy beef ten minutes, salt and pepper it, cut it in small pieces, pour on a pint of boiling water, steep it half an hour, and then pour it off to drink. Another way is slower, but better. Cut the beef in small pieces, fill a junk bottle with them, and keep it five hours in boiling water. Then pour out, and season the juice thus obtained.

Tomato Syrup

Express the juice of ripe tomatoes, and put a pound of sugar to each quart of the juice, put it in bottles, and set it aside. In a few weeks it will have the appearance and flavor of pure wine of the best kind, and mixed with water is a delightful beverage for the sick. No alcohol is needed to preserve it. The medical properties of the tomato are in high repute, and it is supposed that this syrup retains all that is contained in the fruit.

Arrowroot Custard for Invalids

One tablespoonful of arrowroot. One pint of milk. One egg. One tablespoonful of sugar. Mix the arrowroot with a little of the cold milk, put the milk into a sauce-pan over the fire, and when it boils, stir in the arrowroot and the egg and sugar, well beaten together. Let it scald, and pour into cups to cool. A little cinnamon boiled in the milk flavors it pleasantly.

Sago for Invalids

Wash one large spoonful of sago, boil it in a little water, with a pinch of salt and one or two sticks of cinnamon, until it looks clear; then add a pint of milk, boil all well together, and sweeten with loaf sugar.

Rice Jelly

Make a thin paste of two ounces of rice flour, and three ounces of loaf sugar, and boil them in a quart of water till transparent. Flavor with rose, orange, or cinnamon water. It can be made also by boiling whole rice long and slowly. A pinch of salt improves it.

Sassafras Jelly

Take the pith of sassafras boughs, break it in small pieces, and let it soak in cold water till the water becomes glutinous. It has the flavor of sassafras, and is much relished by the sick, and is also good nourishment.

Buttermilk Whey

One quart of good buttermilk. When boiling, beat up the yolk of an egg, and stir in, and, if it can be allowed, some thick cream, or a little butter. Then beat the white to a stiff froth and stir in. Sugar and spice if liked.

Alum Whey

Mix half an ounce of pounded alum with one pint of milk. Strain it, and add sugar and nutmeg to the whey. It is good in cases of hemorrhages, and sometimes for colic.

Another Wine Whey

One pint of boiling milk. Two wine-glasses of wine. Boil them one moment, stirring. Take out the curd, and sweeten and flavor the whey.

Mulled Wine

One pint of wine and one pint of water. Beat eight eggs and add to the above, while boiling, stirring rapidly. As soon as it begins to boil it is done.

Tamarind Whey

Mix an ounce of tamarind pulp with a pint of milk, strain it, and add a little white sugar to the whey. _Egg Tea and Egg Coffee_ (_very fine_). Beat the yolk of an egg with a great spoonful of sugar, and put it to a tea-cup of cold tea or cold coffee. Add a half a tea-cup of water, cold in summer and boiling in winter, and as much cream. Then whip the white of the egg to a stiff froth and stir it in. It is very much relished by invalids.

Cranberry Tea

Wash ripe cranberries, mash them, pour boiling water on them, and then strain off the water and sweeten it, and grate on nutmeg.

Apple Tea

Take good pippins, slice them thin, pour on boiling water, and let it stand some time. Pour off the water, and sweeten and flavor it.

Egg and Milk

Beat the yolk of an egg into a great spoonful of white sugar, or more. Add a coffee cup of good milk, then beat the white of the egg to a stiff froth, and stir it in. A little wine, or nutmeg to flavor it.

Sago Milk

Soak one ounce of sago in a pint of cold water an hour. Pour off the water, and add a pint and a half of new milk. Simmer it slowly till the sago and milk are well mixed. Flavor with sugar, nutmeg, and wine.

Tapioca Milk

Made like sago milk, only not boiled so long.

Bread and Milk

Take a slice of good bread and soak it in milk, and then put on a little butter, and it is often very acceptable to the sick. In some cases sprinkle a little salt on instead of butter.

Egg Gruel

Beat the yolk of an egg with a spoonful of white sugar, and then beat the white separately, to a stiff froth. Pour water when boiling to the yolk, then stir in the white and add spice, or any seasoning, to suit the taste. When a person has taken a violent cold, after being warm in bed give this as hot as it can be taken, and it is often a perfect cure.

Ground Rice Gruel

Take two tablespoonfuls of ground rice, and a pinch of salt, and mix it with milk enough for a thin batter. Stir it with a pint of boiling water, or boiling milk, and flavor with sugar and spice.

Oatmeal Gruel

Four tablespoonfuls of _grits_ (coarse oatmeal) and a pinch of salt, into a pint of boiling water. Strain and flavor it while warm. Or, take fine oatmeal and make a thin batter with a little cold water, and pour it into a sauce-pan of boiling water.

Simple Barley Water

Take two ounces and a half of pearl barley, cleanse it, and boil it ten minutes in half a pint of water. Strain out this water and add two quarts of boiling water, and boil it down to one quart. Then strain it, and flavor it with slices of lemon and sugar, or sugar and nutmeg. This is very acceptable to the sick in fevers.

Compound Barley Water

Take two pints of simple barley water, a pint of hot water, two and a half ounces of sliced figs, half an ounce of liquorice root sliced and bruised, and two ounces and a half of raisins. Boil all down to two pints, and strain it. This is slightly aperient.

Cream Tartar Beverage

Take two even teaspoonfuls of cream tartar, and pour on a pint of boiling water, and flavor it with white sugar and lemon peel to suit the taste. If this is too acid, add more _boiling_ water, as cold, or lukewarm water, is not so good.

Seidlitz Powders

Two drachms of Rochelle salts, and two scruples of bicarbonate of soda, in a white paper; thirty-five grains of tartaric acid in a blue one. Dissolve that in the white paper in nearly half a tumbler of water, then add the other powder, dissolved in another half tumbler of water. Syrup mixed with the water makes it more agreeable. It is a gentle laxative.

Blackberry Syrup, for Cholera and Summer Complaint

Two quarts of blackberry juice. One pound of loaf sugar. Half an ounce of nutmegs. A quarter of an ounce of cloves. Half an ounce of cinnamon. Half an ounce of allspice. Pulverize the spice, and boil all for fifteen or twenty minutes. When cold, add a pint of brandy.

Remarks on the Combinations of Cooking

The preceding receipts have been tested by the best housekeepers. In reviewing them, it will be seen that there are several ways of combining the various articles, all of which have, in the hands of good housekeepers, proved successful. Still it will be found that some methods are more successful than others. In most cases, the receipts have been written as given by the ladies, who endorse them as _the best_. But it is believed that the following general rules will enable a housekeeper to modify some of them to advantage. In using _the whites of eggs_, it is found, as shown by several receipts, that various combinations are much lighter when they are cut to a froth, and put in _the last thing_. This is so in batter puddings, and several other receipts. It seems, therefore, probable that in all cases, cake and pies, and puddings that will allow it, will be lighter by adding the cut whites of the eggs _the last minute before cooking_. Sponge cake especially would most probably be most easily made light by this method. In using alkalies with acids to raise mixtures, the poorest is pearlash, the next best is saleratus; bicarbonate of soda is still better, and sal volatile is best of all. But one thing must be remembered in reference to sal volatile, and that is, that the lightness made by it is owing to the disengagement of the gas by _heat_. It is mixed with the flour, and when set in the oven, the heat volatilizes and expels the gas, and thus the lightness is induced. Of course _hot_ water must not be used to dissolve it, as it would expel much of the gas. Sal volatile must be kept powdered, and closely confined in glass bottles with ground glass stoppers. It is certain to make any mixture light that can be raised by anything. Cream tartar is best bought in lumps, and then pulverized and kept corked. When saleratus is used with sour milk or buttermilk, the flour should be wet up with the sour milk, and then the alkali dissolved, and worked in. This makes the effervescence take place _in the mixture_; whereas, if the alkali is put into the sour liquid, much of the carbonic acid generated is lost before it reaches the flour. In all cases, then, where saleratus is used with acid wetting, it would seem best to wet up the flour with at least a part of the sour liquid, before putting in the alkali. When the alkali is a light powder, it may sometimes be mixed thoroughly with the flour, and then the sour liquid be mixed in. The experiment can be made by any who like to learn the result. A lady who understands chemistry may often improve her receipts by applying chemical principles. All the lightness made by an acid and an alkali is owing to the disengagement of carbonic acid, which is retained by the gluten of the flour. Of course, then, that mode is best which secures most effectually all the carbonic acid generated by the combination. Cooking is often much improved by a judicious use of _sugar_ or _molasses_. Thus, in soups, a very little sugar, say half a teaspoonful to the quart, gives _body_ to the soup, and just about as much sweetness as is found in the juices of the best and sweetest kinds of meat. It is very good when the meats used are of inferior kind, and destitute of sweetness. So in preparing vegetables that are destitute of sweetness, a little sugar is a great improvement. Mashed turnips, squash, and pumpkin, are all of them much improved by extracting all the water, and adding a little sugar, especially so when they are poor. A little molasses always improves all bread or cakes made of unbolted wheat or rye. A little lard or butter always improves cakes made of Indian meal, as it makes them light and tender. The careful use of _salt_ is very important in cooking. Everything is better to have the salt cooked in it, but there should always be a _little less_ salt than most would like, as it is easy for those who wish more to add it, but none can subtract it. When the shortening is butter, no salt is needed in cakes and puddings, but in all combinations that have no salt in shortening, it must be added. A little salt in sponge cake, custards, and the articles used for desserts, made of gelatine, rice, sago, and tapioca, is a great improvement, giving both _body_ and flavor.

Articles used in Making Cheese

The articles used in making cheese are, a large tub, painted inside and outside, to hold the milk, a large brass kettle to heat it, a cheese basket, cheese hooks, cheese ladders, strainers of loose linen cloth, and a cheese press. It is indispensable that all the articles used be first washed thoroughly, then scalded, and then dried thoroughly, before putting away.

Mode of Preparing the Rennet

Do not remove any part of the curd that may be found in the rennet (which is the stomach of a calf), as it is the best part. Take out everything mixed with the curd in the stomach. Soak the rennet in a quart of water, then hang it to dry, where flies will not reach it, and keep the water bottled for use. Rennet differs in strength, so that no precise rule can be given for quantity, but say about half a tea-cup full to two pails of milk.

To Make Cheese

Strain the milk into the tub, keeping in all the cream. Heat a portion, and then add it to the cold, till the whole is raised to 98° or 100° Fahrenheit; no more and no less. Then put in the rennet, stirring well, and take enough to have the curd form well in an hour. If it does not form well, more must be stirred in. When the curd is formed, cut it in small checks to the bottom, and then break it gently with a skimmer, to make the whey separate. If this is not done gently, the milk runs off, the whey turns white, and the cheese is injured. The greener the whey, the better the cheese. When the whey is separated, set the basket over the tub, spread the strainer over, and dip the curd into it, occasionally lifting the corners to hasten the draining. Then draw up the corners, twist them, and set a stone on, to press out the whey for ten minutes. Then again cut up the curd, and press it again as before. Continue thus till it is thoroughly drained. Then press it all into some regular form, and in cool weather it may stand till next morning for more cheese to be added. But if the weather is hot, it must be scalded the first day.

To Scald the Curd

Cut, or chop the curd into cakes the fourth of an inch in size, put it in the strainer, and immerse it in the brass kettle of warm water, enough to cover it. Then raise the temperature to 105°. Stir it well till warmed through, say half an hour. Then gradually add cold water, till reduced to 88° or 90°. Then drain the curd thoroughly as before, and salt it, allowing four ounces of salt to every ten pounds of curd, and mixing very thoroughly. Then put it into the small strainers, and then into the cheese hoops, laying the strainer over smoothly, and placing the follower on it. Put it to press, and let it remain two days. When taken from the press, grease it with common butter or butter made of whey cream, and set it on a shelf in a dark, cool room. Grease and turn it every day till firm, and for six months grease and turn it often. If the cheese is to be colored, boil anatto with ley, and put to the milk with the rennet. To make sage cheese, put in sage juice (some add to the sage spinach juice) when you put in the rennet. Sew strips of strong cotton around large cheeses, when taken from the press, to preserve their form. In fly time, put cayenne pepper in the butter you rub on. _Stilton cheese_ is made of milk enriched by cream, and of a small size. _Cottage cheese_ is made by pressing the curds of milk, and when free from whey, adding cream or butter and salt. _Welsh rabbit_ is made by melting cheese and adding wine and other seasoning. Old and dry cheese is very good grated and mixed with a little brandy, just enough to wet it up.

Directions for making Butter

Two particulars are indispensable to success in making _good_ butter; the first is, that the churning be frequent, so that the cream will not grow bitter, or sour; and the second is _cleanliness_ in all the implements and processes connected with it. In hot weather it is important to keep the milk, cream, and butter as cool as possible. For this purpose, those who have no ice-house, or very cool milk-room, hang their cream down a well. In winter it is needful to raise the temperature of the cream a little, while churning, but care must be taken to do it very slightly, or the butter is injured. The best way is to warm the churn, and churn in a warm room. After the weather gets cold, the cream rises more perfectly after allowing the milk to stand say ten or eleven hours, to set it over a furnace a while till it is warmed through, but not heated hot enough to boil. Then take it back, let it stand eleven hours longer, and skim it. This secures more, and better cream. In hot weather, set the churn into a tub of cold water, and churn steadily, as stopping puts back the process, and injures the butter. In hot weather, do not churn very fast, as it makes soft butter. When the butter has come, collect it in a wooden bowl, which is the best article to work it in, having first scalded it, and then put it in cold water till cold. _Do not use the hand_ in working over butter, as it injures it so much that a higher price is often paid for butter made without using the hand. A wooden spad made for the purpose is the proper article for working over butter. As soon as the butter is put in the bowl, pour in as much of the coldest water as will allow you to work the butter, and keep adding and pouring off cold water, as you work it, until the water will run off clear. It is continuing this process until _all_ the buttermilk is extracted, which alone will secure butter that will keep good and sweet. Water hastens the process, but butter keeps longer not to have it used. No precise direction can be given for salting, as tastes vary so much in regard to this. It is a good way to notice the proportions which are most agreeable, and note the measure, and then measure ever after. In salting down in firkins, use the nicest rock salt, as much depends on the nature of the salt. The firkins must be very thoroughly seasoned, and the bottom covered with salt, and the sides rubbed with it. Pack the butter in layers, with salt between. After a few days, the butter will shrink from the sides, and then the space must be filled with new and nice brine. Muslin spread under and over the layer of salt, between the layers of butter is a good plan, as it saves the butter. It is said that butter will be preserved sweet a long time for journeys, or voyages, by working into it very thoroughly a mixture composed of one-fourth salt, one-fourth saltpetre, and two-fourths white sugar. In large dairies, the milk is churned soon after it is taken from the cow. The quality of butter depends very much upon the kind of cows. Those who give a great deal of milk, are usually small and thin. Every cow should have a tea-cup full of salt each week, and must be well fed. Green cornstalks and carrots, are excellent for cows. Turnips, cabbage, and parsnips spoil the milk. The waste of the kitchen, with a quart of corn meal, and as much hay as she will eat daily, is good fare. Skimmed milk for drink is good, and if it is refused, withhold water, and the cow will learn to love it. Milk three times a day, and you get much more cream; stripping must be done thoroughly, or you lose cream, and dry up the cow. Never make a cow run, as it injures the milk. Use tin vessels for milk. A stoneware churn is best, and a tin one is better than wood. Keep milk in a cool place, where air circulates freely; close air spoils milk and cream. Never stir milk after it is set, as it stops the rising of the cream. Skim milk as soon as it becomes _loppard_. Put a little ice in each pan in hot weather, and you get more cream. In skimming milk, do not scrape off the hardest portion that adheres to the pan, as it injures the butter. Put a spoonful of salt to each pailful of milk (except what is for family use), and it makes the butter sweeter, and come easier. Salt your cream as you gather it, and it keeps better, and makes sweeter butter. In hot weather churn in the coolest part of the day, and in a cool place, and do not shut the air out of the churn, as it is necessary to make the butter come. Butter is best, to work it enough the first time. Never work it three times. It will keep better to work out the buttermilk without putting in water. The more entirely it is freed from buttermilk, the longer it will keep sweet. A good brine is made for butter by dissolving a quart of fine salt, a pound of loaf sugar, and a teaspoonful of saltpetre in two quarts of water, and then strain it on to the butter. Packed butter is most perfectly preserved sweet by setting the firkin into a larger firkin, and filling in with good brine, and covering it. Butter will keep sweet a year thus. Buttermilk kept in potter’s ware dissolves the glazing, and becomes poisonous. Never scald strainers or milky vessels till thoroughly washed, as the milk or cream put in them will be injured by it. The best way to scald such vessels is to plunge them all over into scalding water, and then every spot is scalded. Butter will sometimes not come because the air is too much excluded from the churn.

Directions for Preserving Fruits and Vegetables

Blackberries, whortleberries, currants, raspberries, peaches, plums, apples, pears, and quinces, can all be preserved by drying them in the sun, and then storing them in bags in a cool, dry place. Green currants, and green gooseberries, can be preserved thus. Gather them when perfectly dry, put them into very dry junk bottles, free from stems and eyes, set the bottles uncorked into a kettle of cold water, and then make the water boil. Then cork the bottles (the fruit should come up to the cork), and seal them with bee’s wax and rosin. Store them in a dry, cool place, where they will not freeze. Everything depends on success in excluding _air and water_. Putting them in boxes, and filling the interstices with dry sand, is the surest mode of storing the bottles. There is a receipt for _Preserving Fruit in Water_, that has found its way into many receipt books, which seems to the writer to be a dangerous and useless one, and never should be tried. It directs that fruit be put in bottles, then water poured in, and then the bottles _corked tight_, and the cork tied. Then the bottles are to be set in a kettle of water, which is to be heated _till it boils_. Of course this must burst the bottles, or throw out the corks. It is probable that the design of some plan of this sort was to exclude all air from the fruit. This could be done by setting the bottles filled with fruit and water, _uncorked_, in a kettle of water, and making the water boil. Then cork the bottles and seal them, and the water will remain, but all air will be excluded. The writer never has seen a person who has tried this method, and perhaps it may be one in which fruit can be preserved. _Peach Leather_ is much relished by invalids, and is prepared thus. Squeeze out the pulp of very ripe peaches, and spread it half an inch thick on plates or shingles, and let it dry till quite hard and tough. Then roll it up in layers, with clean paper between. _Tomato Leather_ can be made in the same way. But the following is the best mode of preserving tomatoes. Pour boiling water on to the ripe tomatoes, and peel them. Boil them till reduced to half the original quantity, throwing in, at first, a tea-cup of sugar and a large spoonful of salt for every gallon. When reduced to one half the quantity, spread it on flat dishes half an inch thick, and dry it eight or ten days in the sun, and air. Then put it in layers, with paper between. In preparing it for table, stew it slowly in a good deal of water, adding bread crumbs and seasoning. Some persons dry them in a brick oven instead of the sun. A quicker, but not so nice a way, is simply to cut them in two without peeling, and dry them in the oven. _Tomato Figs_ are prepared thus:--Scald and peel them, and then boil them in one-third the weight of sugar, till they are penetrated by it. Then flatten and dry them in the sun, occasionally turning them and sprinkling with sugar. When dry, pack them in layers, with sugar sprinkled between. _Green Corn_ can be preserved by simply turning back the husk, all but the last thin layer, and then hanging it in the sun, or a very warm room. When it is to be used, boil it till soft, and then cut it off the cob and mix it with butter, and add, if you like, dried Lima beans cooked soft, in another vessel. The summer sweet corn is the proper kind to dry. Lima beans can be dried in the sun when young and tender. They are good to bake, when dried after they are ripe. Another mode is to parboil sweet corn, cut it from the cobs, and dry it in the sun. Then store it in a dry, cool place, in a bag. Another way is to take off all the husks but the thin one next the corn; tie this over the corn tight, and pack it in salt. Try each of these ways, and make _succotash_ with dried Lima beans, adding a little cream to the broth. If done right, it is excellent in winter. In cutting corn from cobs, in all cases take care not to cut off any cob, as it gives a bad taste. Peas, also, are good to dry, and make a fine dish thus. Take six or eight pounds of corned beef, put it in a large pot and fill it with water, and put in two quarts of dried peas. Let them boil till soft, and then add the sweet herb seasoning, or take it up without any other seasoning than a little pepper and the salt of the meat. Beef, cooked thus, is excellent when cold, and the pea soup, thus made, is highly relished. No dish is cheaper, or more easily prepared. Pumpkins and squashes can be peeled and cut in strips and dried in the sun. The stalks of rhubarb or the pie plant can be slivered fine and dried in the sun for winter use. A housekeeper who will take pains to have these things done in the proper season, and well stored, will always keep an inviting table, in those months when others so much complain that they can find no variety. It is a good plan for a housekeeper the first day, or week of every month, to make a calculation of her bill of fare for that month, going over such a receipt-book as this, and ascertaining how many of the varieties offered she can secure. At the same time she can be laying in stores of articles for future use. System in this matter is of essential service.

Setting the Table

The table should be set early in the forenoon, by the waiter, under the direction of the lady of the house, and in the manner exhibited in Fig. 7. The table rug must first be laid exactly square with the room, and the tables also set exactly parallel with the sides of the room. If the tables are handsome ones, put on two white table-cloths, one above the other. If the tables are not handsome, cover them with a colored table-cloth, and put two white ones over. Then set the castors in the exact centre of the table. Some prefer to have them on a side-table, and the waiter carry them around, but the table looks better to have them put in the centre. If they are put on the side-table, the celery stand may be placed in the centre of the table. Next place the plates and knives as in Fig. 7, with a napkin and tumbler at the right of each plate, as in the drawing. If it is cold weather, set the plates to warm, and leave them till wanted. Set the salt stands at the four corners, with two large spoons crossed by each, as in the drawing. Then place table-mats in the places where the dishes are to be set. The host is to be seated at one end, and the hostess at the other, and at their plates put two knives and two forks. Put a carving knife and fork, and carver stand, at each place where a dish is to be carved. Put the jelly and pickles at diagonal corners, as marked on the drawing. If wine is to be used, put two wine-glasses by each tumbler. Just before dinner is to be served, a bit of bread, cut thick, is to be laid with a fork on each napkin. Then prepare the side-table thus: As the party, including host and hostess, will be twelve, there must be one dozen soup plates, and one dozen silver spoons. Then there must be two dozen large knives, and three dozen large plates, besides those on the table. This is to allow one plate for fish, and two for two changes of meat for each guest. Some would provide more. Then, there must be three dozen dessert plates, and two dozen dessert knives and forks. One dozen saucers, and one dozen dessert spoons. One or two extra of each kind, and three or four extra napkins, should be added for emergencies. (At a side stand, or closet, should be placed, at dinner-time, a wash dish of hot water, and two or three wiping towels.) On the side-table, also, is to be placed all articles to be used in helping the dessert; and unless there is a convenient closet for the purpose, the dessert itself must be set there, and covered with napkins. All the dishes and plates to be used, except those for desserts and soups, must, in cold weather, be set to warm by the waiter. If coffee is to be served at the dinner-table, the furniture for this must be put on the side-table, or in an adjacent room, or closet.

Tea Parties and Evening Company

In one respect, fashion has aided to relieve a housekeeper of much care in providing evening entertainments. It is now fashionable to spread a table for evening parties, and not to serve tea and coffee, as was formerly done. As this is the easiest, and most rational way of entertaining evening company, no other method will be so minutely described. If a lady designs to invite from forty to sixty friends to pass the evening, or even to have a much larger company invited, the following would be called a plain but genteel arrangement, for company in New York, Philadelphia, or any of our large cities. Set a long table in the dining-room, and cover it with a handsome damask cloth. Set some high article containing flowers, or some ornamental article, in the centre. Set Champagne glasses with flowers at each corner. Set loaves of cake at regular distances, and dispose in some regular order about the table, preserves, jellies, lemonade, and any other articles that may be selected from the abundant variety offered in the collection of Receipts for Evening Parties in this book. Where a very large company is to be collected, and a larger treat is thought to be required, then a long table is set in the centre of the room, as above, and on it are placed cakes, pastry, jellies, and confectionary. Then smaller tables are set each side of a mantle, or in corners, one of which is furnished with sandwiches, oysters, salad, celery, and wine, and the other with coffee, chocolate, and lemonade. Sometimes all are placed on one long table, and in this case, cakes, jellies, and confectionary are put in the centre, coffee and lemonade at one end, and oysters, sandwiches, celery, and wines at the other. A great deal of taste may be displayed in preparing and arranging such a table. As it is often the case, that the old mode of serving tea and coffee will be resorted to, one modification is proposed, which decreases the labour and anxiety to the housekeeper, and increases the enjoyment of the company. It is this. Set a table in one of the parlors, and cover it with a damask cloth. Let the tea and coffee be served at this table, the lady of the house presiding. Then let the gentlemen wait upon the ladies around the room, and then help themselves. This is particularly convenient when it is difficult to get good waiters. Most of the articles used for evening parties (with the exception of rich cakes, wine, and high-seasoned chicken salad) are not unhealthful, if taken moderately. When these parties break up at seasonable hours, they may prove one of the most rational and harmless modes of securing social enjoyment; but when connected with highly exciting amusements, and late hours, they are sure to wear upon the constitution and health, and rational and conscientious persons, for these and other reasons, will avoid them.

Directions for the Cook

_Sunday._--Rise as early as on other days. No work is to be done that can be properly avoided. _Monday._--Rise early in hot weather, to have the cool of the day for work. Try to have everything done in the best manner. See that the clothes line is brought in at night, and the clothes pins counted and put in the bag. Put the tubs, barrel, and pails used, on the cellar bottom. Inquire every night, before going to bed, respecting breakfast, so as to make preparation beforehand. _Tuesday._--Clean the kitchen and sink-room. Bake, and fold the clothes to iron the next day. _Wednesday._--Rise early in warm weather, so as to iron in the cool of the day. _Thursday._--Fold off the clothes. No other special work. _Friday._--Clean all the closets, the kitchen windows, the cellar stairs, and the privies. Try up all the grease, and put it away for use. _Saturday._--Bake, and prepare a dinner for Sunday. Every day but Monday, wipe the shelves in the pantry and kitchen closet. Be careful to have clean dish towels, and never use them for other purposes. Keep a good supply of holders, both for cooking and ironing, and keep them hung up when not in use. Keep your boiler for dish water covered. Sweep and dust the kitchen every day. Never throw dirt, bones, or paper around the doors or yard. Never give or lend what belongs to the family without leave. Try to keep everything neat, clean, and in order. _Have a time for everything, a place for everything, and everything in its place._ The hour for going to bed is ten o’clock. Those who work hard should go to bed early, or else health and eyesight will fail.

Directions for the Chambermaid

Sweep the sitting-room before breakfast on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Wednesday, give all the chambers a thorough sweeping, and wash down the stairs. Thursday, sweep the bedroom and nursery, and wipe the paint. Put up the clean clothes, after the cook folds them. Friday, wash the windows and the piazzas. Saturday, sweep the chambers, wash the bowls and pitchers in hot suds, and scald the other vessels, unless they are washed in hot suds daily, when they will not need it. After doing the daily chamber-work, collect the lamps, and fix them in this manner: First pick up the wicks, and cut them off square (and for this purpose keep sharp scissors), then clean all the black sediment from the tubes. Wash them in suds as hot as you can bear your hand in, and wipe them dry with a cloth kept clean for the purpose, and used for nothing else. Be careful not to fill them full, lest the oil swell and run over. Screw them very tight, and see that the little air-hole is kept open, or the lamp will not burn. Wash the outside of the oil filler, and wipe the scissors clean. Wash the cloths used in fresh, clean suds, dry them, and then put them in their place. Wipe the basin used, and put it in its place. After cleaning the lamps, wash and scour the knives, thus: Wash them first, and be careful not to put the handles in the water. Wipe them dry, and then scour them with Bath brick, and a cork dipped in soft soap. Never rub a knife on a board in scouring it, as it wears it out very fast. After scouring, do not wash them, but wipe them with a dry cloth, and be careful to get the brick out from between the fork tines. Use a small stick prepared for the purpose. If the handles are soiled by scouring, wipe them with a damp cloth. Lay the large knives in one side of the knife basket, and the small ones the other side, and put the handles of the knives one way, and the handles of the forks the opposite way. Always fill the boiler after you take out dish water, lest the cook be disturbed by your neglecting it. Arrange the china-closet in order, after putting up the breakfast dishes. Dishes not often used must be wiped when used. In doing chamber-work, turn up the vallance of the beds, set the windows open, brush down cobwebs, move every moveable article, to sweep under it, and _sweep with short strokes_. Always hang the cloths kept for wiping bowls and pitchers on the towel frames, and use them for nothing else. Have a dust cloth with a loop for every room, and put it in the wash once a fortnight. Wash the breakfast dishes thus:--Rinse the cups, scrape the plates very clean, put the bits of butter on the butter plate, and empty all the slops into the slop bowl, and then empty it. First wash the glass things with a swab in suds, as hot as possible, wiping each one as soon as taken out of the water. When glass is very cold, put a little warm water in it before putting it into the hot suds, or you will crack it. Next wash the silver and Britannia, wiping each as soon as taken out. Then wash the other articles. Keep the castors bright and clean, and well filled. Wipe the salt spoons dry, and do not lay them so as to touch the salt. If the salt is damp, take it out and dry it, mashing it to powder. Wipe off the china-closet shelves every day, and Saturdays wash them. Rub the silver and Britannia every Saturday, after washing them. * * * * * In the Domestic Economy, at p. 318, will be found directions for washing dishes _in the kitchen_, which are to be hung over the sink. Every family must vary somewhat from all others in its routine of family work, and it often is the case, that such written directions will be of little or no use to domestics. But the fact of having them written, and the reading of them over to all new-comers, as what is expected of them, and occasional reference to them, as what was agreed on when making the bargain, often will be of much service. And it is an aid to the housekeeper herself, who is liable to forget many things in teaching new-comers their duties.

Odds and Ends

There are certain _odds and ends_, where every housekeeper will gain much by having a _regular time_ to attend to them. Let this time be the last Saturday forenoon in every month, or any other time more agreeable, but let there be a _regular fixed time_ once a month, in which the housekeeper will attend to the following things: First, go around to every room, drawer, and closet in the house, and see what is out of order, and what needs to be done, and make arrangements as to time and manner of doing it. Second, examine the store-closet, and see if there is a proper supply of all articles needed there. Third, go to the cellar, and see if the salted provision, vegetables, pickles, vinegar, and all other articles stored in the cellar are in proper order, and examine all the preserves and jellies. Fourth, examine the trunk, or closet of family linen, and see what needs to be repaired and renewed. Fifth, see if there is a supply of dish towels, dish cloths, bags, holders, floor cloths, dust cloths, wrapping paper, twine, lamp-wicks, and all other articles needed in kitchen work. Sixth, count over the spoons, knives, and forks, and examine all the various household utensils, to see what need replacing, and what should be repaired. A housekeeper who will have _a regular time_ for attending to these particulars, will find her whole family machinery moving easily and well; but one who does not, will constantly be finding something out of joint, and an unquiet, secret apprehension of duties left undone, or forgotten, which no other method will so effectually remove. A housekeeper will often be much annoyed by the accumulation of articles not immediately needed, that must be saved for future use. The following method, adopted by a thrifty housekeeper, may be imitated with advantage. She bought some cheap calico, and made bags of various sizes, and wrote the following labels with indelible ink on a bit of broad tape, and sewed them on one side of the bags:—_Old Linens_; _Old Cottons_; _Old Black Silks_; _Old Colored Silks_; _Old Stockings_; _Old Colored Woollens_; _Old Flannels_; _New Linen_; _New Cotton_; _New Woollens_; _New Silks_; _Pieces of Dresses_; _Pieces of Boys’ Clothes_, &c. These bags were hung around a closet, and filled with the above articles, and then it was known where to look for each, and where to put each when not in use. Another excellent plan is for a housekeeper once a month to make out _a bill of fare_ for the four weeks to come. To do this, let her look over this book, and find out what kind of dishes the season of the year and her own stores will enable her to provide, and then make out a list of the dishes she will provide through the month, so as to have an agreeable variety for breakfasts, dinners, and suppers. Some systematic arrangement of this kind at regular periods will secure great comfort and enjoyment to a family.

Weights and Measures

It is a good plan to have a particular measure cup kept for the purpose, and after once weighing all those receipts that are given by weight, to _measure_ the quantity by this cup, and then write the measures in your receipt book, and keep the cup only for this purpose. The following is some guide in judging of the relative proportion between measures and weights. A quart of flour, or of sifted loaf sugar, or of softened butter, each weigh about a pound. The flour, if sifted, must be heaped. A pint equals eight ounces. A half a pint equals four ounces. One gill equals two ounces. Half a gill equals one ounce. A quart of brown sugar, or of Indian meal, equals a pound and two ounces of the same. One great spoonful of flour, loaf sugar, or of melted butter, equals a quarter of an ounce of the same. It should be a little heaped. Four spoonfuls equal an ounce, or half a gill. Eight spoonfuls equal one gill. Sixteen spoonfuls equal half a pint. Spoons differ so much in size that this is an uncertain guide. A medium-sized teaspoon holds sixty drops of water. Ten eggs usually weigh a pound. Four gills make a pint. Two pints make a quart. Four quarts make a gallon. Eight quarts make a peck. Four pecks make a bushel.

Avoirdupois Weight

Sixteen drachms make an ounce. Sixteen ounces make a pound. Twenty-eight pounds make a quarter. Four quarters make a hundred. Twenty hundred make a ton.

Apothecaries’ Weight

Twenty grains make a scruple. Three scruples make a drachm. Eight drachms make an ounce. Twelve ounces make a pound.

On Purchasing Wood

Wood that is straight and solid makes more in a load, and is the most profitable. A cord of small crooked sticks does not contain half the wood there is in a load of solid logs. The best wood for fires is the hickory, hard maple, white ash, black birch, yellow birch, beech, yellow oak, and locust. The best are placed first. The following are inferior in quality. Elm, soft maple, white birch, pepperage, and pine. The following are not fit to burn, either because they snap, or will not burn. Chestnut, butternut, cedar, sassafras, red oak, and buckeye. Any person can learn to distinguish each kind by a little attention and instruction. Wood is bought by measurement. A cord of wood is 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 4 feet high. To know the amount of a load, multiply the length by the breadth, and the product by the height, and you have the number of square feet. If it is 128 feet, it is a cord.

Items of Advice

If you keep an account of your stores, and the dates when they are bought, you can know exactly how fast they are used, and when they are wasted, or stolen. Stale bread is improved by steaming it half an hour or more. Grate up dry cheese, and cheese crusts, moisten it with wine or brandy, and keep it in a jar for use. It is better than at first. Boil old earthenware soaked with grease in hot lye, and it will cleanse it. Wheat should always be washed before grinding. When you clean house, begin with the highest rooms first, so that clean rooms be not soiled when done. Repair house linen, turn sheets, and wash bedclothes in summer. Clean house in the fall instead of spring, and you get rid of all the filth made by flies. But when you burn bituminous coal, spring is the proper time for house cleaning. Keep coarse mats on the kitchen table for keeping it clean. Use a coarse apron and gloves for cleaning grates. Have coal cinders sifted, and save the coarse part to burn again. Buy your wood in August and September, when it usually is cheapest and plenty. Have the backs of your chimneys kept clean by sweeping. Never try a new dish for company. To purify water, put common charcoal pounded in a common flower-pot, and fine sand over it, and let the water trickle through. Or, take an old sieve, and fill it with sand and pounded charcoal, and strain the water, and then cool it with ice. Keep a receipt book for yourself, and write in it the improvements of your own experience. Keep bits of potter’s clay in the house, to use for a paste to extract grease from carpets, floors, and broadcloths. Dry bran around grapes and other fruit preserves it. All fat should be tried up once a week, for cooking, or soap grease. Good fat saves butter. When a stove-pipe or other iron is cracked, make a cement with ashes, salt, and water, and it will stop the opening. _Faded colors_ often are improved by strong salt and water. _Sal volatile_, or spirits of hartshorn, will restore colors taken out by acids. _Eggs_ are preserved longer by packing them close, standing on their small ends. Another way is to pack them in fine salt, small end down. Another way is to pack them, small end down, and then pour on them a mixture of four quarts of cold water, four quarts of unslacked lime, two ounces of salt, and two ounces of cream-tartar. This will serve for nine dozen eggs. Try all these ways. _Rancid butter_ is said, by good judges, to be restored thus:--Put fifteen drops of chloride of lime to a pint of water, and work the butter in it till every particle has come in contact with the water. Then work it over in fair cold water. _Indelible Ink_ is thus prepared:--Buy three drachms of nitrate of silver, and put it in a vial with two spoonfuls of water. Let it stand a few days, then color it with a little ink, and add a tablespoonful of brandy. The preparation is made of strong pearlash water, stiffened with gum-arabic, and colored with red wafers. _Buy cheap red wafers_, and scatter them about, and cockroaches will eat them and be destroyed. The roots of _black hellebore_ scattered in their haunts is an infallible remedy. _Cold cream_ for sore lips, is made by mixing two ounces of oil of almonds, one ounce of spermaceti, one drachm of white wax, and melting them together, adding rose water to perfume them. _Jelly-bags_ should be made of flannel, and _pudding cloths_ of thick linen, with strings sewed on to them. _Rose leaves_ should be gathered and preserved by crowding them into a jar with brandy, to use for cooking. _Potato starch_ is made by grating peeled potatoes, and rubbing them in water. Then pour off the water, after stirring it, and dry what sinks to the bottom. _Orange_ and _lemon peel_ can be saved thus:--Dry it in an oven, pound it, and then bottle it close. _Orange_ or _lemon water_ is prepared thus:--Pound the fresh skins in a mortar, pour in boiling water, cover close, and when cold bottle close. Or use wine or brandy. _Cologne water_ is made thus:--Buy at the apothecary’s one drachm each of oil of lavender, oil of lemon, oil of rosemary, and oil of cinnamon. Add two drachms of oil of bergamot. Mix in a vial, and add a pint of alcohol. When _Pearlash_ or _Saleratus_ becomes damp, dissolve it in as much water as will just entirely dissolve it, and no more. A tablespoonful of this equals a teaspoonful of the solid. Keep it corked in a junk bottle. The following is a very useful receipt for children who go to school where blackboards are used.

To make nice Crayons for Blackboards

These directions are given by Prof. Turner, of the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, as follows: “Take 5 pounds of Paris white, 1 pound of Wheat flour, wet with water, and knead it well; make it so stiff that it will not stick to the table, but not so stiff as to crumble and fall to pieces when it is rolled under the hand. “To _roll_ out the crayons to the proper size, two boards are needed, _one_ to roll them _on_; the _other_ to roll them _with_. The first should be a smooth pine board three feet long and nine inches wide. The other should also be pine, a foot long and nine inches wide, having nailed on the under side near each edge a slip of wood one-third of an inch thick, in order to raise it so much above the under board as that the crayon, when brought to its proper size, may lie between them without being flattened. “The mass is rolled into a ball, and slices are cut from one side of it about one-third of an inch thick: these slices are again cut into strips about four inches long and one-third of an inch wide, and rolled separately between these boards until smooth and round. “Near at hand should be another board 3 feet long and 4 inches wide, across which each crayon, as it is made, should be laid, so that the ends may project on each side--the crayons should be laid in close contact, and straight. When the board is filled, the ends should all be trimmed off so as to make the crayons as long as the width of the board. It is then laid in the sun, if in hot weather, or if in winter, near a stove or fireplace, where the crayons may dry gradually, which will require twelve hours. When thoroughly dry they are fit for use. “An experienced hand will make 150 in an hour.” Young boys can make them and sell to their companions.

Stewed Beef

Take a shank or hock of beef, with all the meat belonging to it, and put it into a pot full of water early in the morning and throw in a tablespoonful of salt. Let it simmer _very_ slowly, till the beef is soft, and cleaves from the bone, and the water is reduced to about two quarts. Then peel some potatoes, and cut them in quarters, and throw in with two teaspoonfuls of black pepper, two of sweet marjoram, and two of thyme, or summer savory. Add some _celery flavor or sauce_, and more salt if it requires it. Stew until the potatoes are cooked enough, but not till they are mashed. Then take dry bread, and throw in, breaking it into small pieces, and when soaked, take up the whole and serve it, and everybody will say it is about the best dish they ever tasted. Those who love onions slice in three or four with the potatoes. Rice can be put in instead of bread.

Tomato Beef

Stew a shank or hock of beef as above, except you put in nine or ten peeled tomatoes instead of potatoes and sweet herbs, and also leave out the bread. Some would add a little chopped onion. This is excellent and a very healthful mode of preparing beef, especially if it is tough.

A good Way to use Cold Rice

Heat the rice in milk, add a well-beaten egg or two, a little salt, butter, and sugar, let it boil up once, and then grate on nutmeg.

To prepare Good Toast

Toast the bread very quick, dip each slice in boiling water as soon as you have toasted it, and then lay thin bits of butter over. Cover and keep hot as you proceed. A _tin bonnet_ is very useful for this. Make milk toast in the same way, keeping the milk at nearly boiling heat. It is better to spread the butter thin on to the toast after it is dipped in hot milk, than to melt it in it.

A Good Pudding

Line a buttered dish with slices of wheat bread, first dipped in milk. Fill the dish with sliced apple, and add sugar and spice. Cover with slices of bread soaked in milk, cover close with a plate, and bake three hours.

Loaf Pudding

When bread is too stale, put a loaf in a pudding-bag and boil it in salted water an hour and a half, and eat it with hard pudding sauce.

A Plain Lemon Pudding

Nine spoonfuls of grated apple, one grated lemon, (peel and pulp,) half a cup of butter, and three eggs. Mix and bake, with or without a crust, about an hour. Cream improves it.

An Excellent Indian Pudding without Eggs

Take seven heaping spoonfuls of Indian meal, half a teaspoonful of salt, two spoonfuls of butter or sweet lard, a teacup of molasses, and two teaspoonfuls of ginger or cinnamon, to the taste. Pour into these a quart of milk while boiling hot. Mix well, and put it in a buttered dish. Just as you set it in the oven stir in a teacup of cold water, which will produce the same effect as eggs. Bake three quarters of an hour, in a dish that will not spread it out thin.

Pork and Potato Balls

Take one-third chopped salt pork or ham, either raw or cooked, and two-thirds of cold cooked potatoes chopped fine. Mix them up with egg, _a little_ salt and pepper, and then make into balls and fry, or merely cook in a skillet. Chop cold potatoes fine, and then add some pork fat and a little pepper, salt, and water, and warm slowly, and it is very good.

Oyster Pie

Make a crust by working flour into mashed boiled potatoes with a little salt. Line a deep dish with it, invert a small teacup in the middle to hold the juice in and to hold up the upper crust. Put in the oysters with a little pepper and butter, and dredge in some flour. Cover with crust, make a large slit on the top, and bake an hour.

Green Corn Patties (like Oysters)

Twelve ears of sweet corn grated. (Yellow corn will do, but not so well.) One teaspoonful of salt and one of pepper. One egg beaten into two tablespoonfuls of flour. Mix, make into small cakes, and fry brown in butter or sweet lard.

Ohio Wedding Cake (Mrs. K.)

Two pounds of flour. One pound of butter. One pound of sugar--brown is best. Two pounds of currants or one of raisins. Ten eggs. Two teacups of molasses. One gill of wine, and one of brandy. One gill of cream, spice and citron to the taste. Mix the butter and sugar, add the molasses, then the beaten yolks of eggs, then the flour, then the spice, wine, and cream, then the whites of the eggs in a stiff froth. Put in the fruit in the manner previously directed, and the citron with it at the same time. This is a very fine cake.

Best Way of making Corn Cakes of all Sorts

There is often a sharp and strong taste to corn meal, which is remedied by wetting it up the day before it is used. The best kind of corn cakes are made by wetting up a large quantity of Indian meal with milk, and letting it stand for several days. Take a quantity of it, and first make it as thin as you want, either for griddle cakes, or drop cakes, or thicker cakes. Add salt and a spoonful of melted butter or lard for every quart, also sugar to your taste. A little always improves all corn cakes. Then dissolve soda or salaratus, a teaspoonful for each quart. If it is very sour it will want more, and _tasting_ is the surest guide. Just as you are ready to bake, stir in enough salaratus to sweeten it, and stir quickly and only long enough to mix it well, and then _bake immediately_ in buttered tins. Domestics often use too much salaratus, which is bad for the stomach, and the housekeeper should ascertain by trial the right quantity, and then direct to have it _carefully measured_ every time. Corn cakes, made as above, just thick enough to form into round cakes half an inch thick and baked on a griddle, are excellent.

Molasses Candy

As all children are fond of this article, the following directions may be acceptable. Boil the molasses (maple is the best) till it will, if dropped in cold water, become crisp. Then, for each quart, put into it an even teaspoonful of salaratus dissolved in a little warm water, and stir it till well mixed. This makes it tender and crisp. Take a part and cool it in a buttered pan, to work white and draw into sticks. Into the remainder stir roasted corn, either pounded or whole, or peanuts or almonds, or walnuts or hazelnuts. _Whole Popped_ corn made into cakes with candy is excellent. Roasted corn pounded and mixed with half the quantity of maple sugar is good, and some eat it thus in milk.

To make Simple Cerate

Melt together equal quantities of white wax and spermaceti, and then add an equal quantity of sweet oil, or a little more. Never use rancid oil.

Best Remedy for Burns

Pound and sift _wood soot_, and mix it with sweet lard, and apply it, spread on linen rags. It will ease a burn quicker than anything. If the skin is off, the great thing is to keep it covered close from the air. If the burns are large and bad, give salts or cream tartar as a cathartic.

Ginger Tea

Pour half a pint of boiling water on to a teaspoonful of ginger; add sugar and milk to the taste.

Indian Bannock

Take one pint of Indian meal, and stir into it a pint of sour milk, half a teaspoonful of salt, a spoonful of molasses, and a spoonful of melted butter. Beat two eggs and add, and then stir in a pint of wheat flour. Then thin it with milk to the consistency of drop cakes, and when ready to bake, stir in a heaping teaspoonful of salaratus dissolved in hot water. Pour into square buttered tins an inch thick, and bake fifteen minutes.

Egg and Bread

Put bread crumbs into a sauce pan, with cream, salt, and pepper, and a little grated nutmeg. When the bread has absorbed the cream, break in eight eggs and fry it like an omelet, or bake it in buttered tins, or muffin rings.

Floating Island

Beat the whites of eggs till _very_ stiff, then put in one tablespoonful of some acid jelly for each white, and beat it a good while. Boil rich sweetened milk, and put it in a glass dish, and _when cold_, put the jelly and eggs on the top.

A New Mode of cooking Cucumbers

Pare them, cut them in quarters lengthwise, dip them in corn meal or wheat flour, pepper and salt them, and then fry them brown, and they are very fine. * * * * * Transcriber's Notes Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation, spelling and punctuation remain unchanged. Italics are represented thus _italic_. The following changes have been made. In the section on Kitchen Furniture a vial tunnel, a larger tunnel has been changed to a vial funnel, a larger funnel In the section Items of Advice Boil old earthen soaked with grease in hot ley, and it will cleanse it. has been changed to Boil old earthenware soaked with grease in hot lye, and it will cleanse it. *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS BEECHER'S DOMESTIC RECEIPT BOOK ***