wendys-llc/domestic-receipts huggingface dataset:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.