Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-24
GOOD 1850 ADVICE
Quite as Important and Use
full in 1903.
COOKBOOK PUZZLES
DISCONNECTED ANCIENT HOUSE
KEEPERS AS THEY DO MODERN.
Chapters on Beaches, Washes and Co.'S
metics Prove There is Little New
Under the Sun.
COOKBOOK PUZZLES
Written for The Evening Star.

"AAetcn Aux Aue Evening Stdr.
If the bewildered young housewife Of to-
day who groans over the indefniteness Of
her oilcloth-bound cook book were to peep
Into the parchment-like volumes perused by
her ancestors Of $50 years ago. she would
consider her plight as less deplorable. In
book published two centuries and a half
ago by one John Baptista Porta, and en-
titled Natural Magic" are the present day
receipts in embryonic stages, and also some
curious connections and decoctions highly
amusing to the modern housekeeper. NAT
ural Magic" according to the writer, en-
braced everything from the secret of al
chemy to the proper place for storing win
ter apples. AS a hodge-podge of infor-
nation. 1t outdoes the "One Thousand and
One Household Hints of any Household
Treasury" ever complied
On the subject of cookery the author Is
weak, although he devotes many pages to
the topic. Among other things he remarks
that meat hung upon a brass nail will
not spoil. and he advances as a novelty
FOWL or Joint that is both boiled and
partial submersion Of the meat whereby the
upper surface only will be roasted.
He Is a cautious soul, and frequently
quotes receipts with the remark that he does
not De!leve That they are good, having found
from his own experience that the antici-
pated result does not follow. One of these
unsuccessful experiments is the wrapping
OF roses In paper bags while still upon the
plant, whereby one should have fresh flow
ers at all seasons He does say, however
that II reeds be grown beside the rose
bushes and the blooms be Enclosed In the
split reeds, which are afterward bound nm
the flowers will be preserved
He cautiously avoids the subject of bread
making though he declares that bread may
be made from wahuts. the lotus plant,
dates gourds. and other strange materials
After a learned disquisition on the sub
1eet OF material, he passes off the topic
with the words. "the manner Of making
which should be apparent to you.'
On authorizations he Is better informed
for he advises the use Of chalk to make
bread whittier and of rice to cause it to gain
weight. Incidentally. he discourses at
lehgtn upon the value OF milk in bread,
As food substitute he advises Epimed-
ium compound which is sea onions dried
washed and cut into bits. They are made
fifteenth Of peoples into great olives"
which are supposed to support tie If three
a day be taken.
He runs through the list Of homemade
wines and advises this as a receipt for
Metheglin:
Twenty pounds Of honey are dissolved
in 120 pounds Of water. This is SKINNED
until there are but so pounds of water,
when there are added ounces Of yeast and
drains each Of cinnamon, grains Of para
disc, pepper. garlic and cloves. It Is laid
all winter in the cellar and in the summer
Is summed for forty days, when it is clari-
fled and one-third part of wine added"
Honey must have been a useful article in
those ancient days, for he advises the
housewife that all manner Of fruits may be
preserved in honey. They are simply clean
ed and immersed in the honey. Nuts, he
adds. may be treated in the same manner
after being shelled. The liquor, he declares.
makes a potion that will be very helpful
to cure the arteries and the jaws
or ancC nd 1iyync hn al
that you must take grapes while they be
fresh, and lay them up in a vessel among
olives so placed that every grape shall be
between two olives and every olive betwixt
two grapes" Wine and alcohol he advises
as preservatives. but of sweetmeats as we
know them today he knows nothing.
If Portals is a fair sample Of ancient
cookery books, cooks in those days were
but poorly supplied with information, and
one shudders at the fate of the new-made
husband whose wife practiced her favorite
receipts upon him.
In the number and variety Of suggestions
for identifying milady's person, the writer
Is far more ingenious than the modern
beauty doctor. To be sure, many of his
receipts ror 5ollet preparations suggest the
black art and the confidence and incredulity
of those days when the world was younger;
but then one must take many modern styles
of treatments" more or less on faith
Three receipts are given for the hair dye
now SO fashionable. the hair being first
bleached and then dyed. Seven ways are
offered for acquiring golden hair most of
which are but variants of bleaching by
lime or I've.
Black dye is more original The one ad-
vocated with all seriousness is made by
cutting off the head and tail of a green
lizard and boiling the body in oil. This,
the writer asserts. will make the hair not
only black, but exceedingly long and thick.
Beaches. washes and cosmetics generally
he treats at length. and many of them are
employed today. For discovering false COM
plexions, he advises the inquisitive spirit to
Chew saffron between the teeth, and stand
near to a woman with your mouth. When
you talk to her your breath will make her
face yellow or burn birthstone"
1t Is a question whether the same result
would occur today. but the remedy for
discovering the presence Of red pigment in
milady's complexion is equally sure, for
the author advises the substitution of gar
lie for the saffron. when the woman will
look black"
Depilatories are discussed at length and
lime is suggested an the best remedy, al
though a salamander soaked in oil will
achieve the same results as will pale
frogs" by which. the author explains. is
meant toads.
Time is ungallant: 1t tells on a woman