The Indian Cookery Book by - (good fiction books to read txt) 📕

at Ferozepore, about the

year 1856.

 

N.B.—The dried plant is useless.

 

466.—Cure for Ringworm

 

The parts should be washed twice a day with soft soap and warm water;

when dry, rub them with a piece of linen rag dipped in ammonia from

gas tar; the patient should take a little sulphur and treacle, or some

other gentle aperient, every morning; brushes and combs should be

washed every day, and the ammonia kept tightly corked.

 

467.—Quinine Draught

 

For dyspepsia and hepatic derangement mix two grains of sulphate of

quinine, two drops of diluted sulphuric acid, one drachm of spirit of

nutmegs, and ten drachms of distilled water, and take daily at midday.

 

468.—Seidlitz Powders

 

Two drachms of tartarized soda and two scruples of bicarbonate of soda

for the blue paper; thirty grains of tartaric acid for the white

paper.

 

469.—Ginger-beer Powders

 

Half a drachm of bicarbonate of soda, with a grain or two of powdered

ginger and a quarter of an ounce of sugar, for the blue paper;

twenty-five grains of tartaric acid for the white paper.

 

470.—Lemonade Powders

 

Omit the ginger powder from the above, and to the water add a little

essence of lemon or lemon-juice.

 

PERFUMERY, COSMETICS, AND DENTIFRICE

 

471.—Indian Mode of Preparing Perfumed Oils

 

The natives never make use of distillation. The plan adopted is to

place on a large tray a layer of the flowers, about four inches thick

and two feet square; on this they put some of the til or sesamum seed,

wetted or damped, about two inches thick; on this, again, is placed

another layer of flowers, four inches thick; the whole is then covered

with a sheet, held down by weights at the sides, and allowed to remain

for eighteen hours. The flowers are then removed and replaced by

layers of fresh flowers, and the operation repeated three times, each

layer of fresh flowers being allowed to remain eighteen hours. After

the last process, the seeds are taken in their swollen state and

placed in a clean mill; the oil then expressed possesses most fully

the scent of the flowers. It is kept in prepared skins, called

dubbers, and sold at so much per seer. The jasmine, bela, and

chumbr�l are the flowers from which the natives chiefly produce the

oil.

 

472.—Remedy for Scurf in the Head

 

Drop a lump of fresh quicklime the size of a walnut into a pint of

water, and let it stand all night; pour the water off clear from

sediment, add a quarter of a pint of the best vinegar, and wash the

head with the mixture. It is perfectly harmless; only the roots of the

hair need be wetted.

 

473.—Imitative Bears’ Grease

 

Melt together until combined eight ounces of hogs’ lard and one-eighth

of an ounce each of flowers of benzoin and palm oil; stir until cold,

and scent at pleasure. This will keep a long time.

 

474.—Hair Grease

 

Dissolve a quarter of a pound of lard in a basin of boiling water;

when cold, strain off the water and squeeze the lard dry in a cloth;

after which melt it in a pipkin, and mix well with it three

tablespoonfuls of salad oil and enough palm oil to give it a colour.

When cold, or nearly so, scent it and put it into pots. A little white

wax may be added to make it thicker or stiffer.

 

475.—Pomatum

 

Take a pound of white mutton suet, well boiled in a quart of hot

water, and washed to free it from salt, &c.; when dried, melt it with

half a pound of fresh lard and a quarter of a pound of bees’ wax; pour

it into an earthen vessel, and stir till it is cold; then beat into it

fifteen drops of oil of cloves, or any essential oil whose scent is

preferred. If too hard, use less wax.

 

476.—Another Recipe

 

Take four ounces of lard, an ounce of castor oil, a quarter of an

ounce of spermaceti, an ounce and a half of salad oil, a quarter of an

ounce of white wax, a drachm and a half of tincture of lyt�, and

twenty drops of oil of roses, verbena, bergamot, or cloves. Melt the

wax, spermaceti, and lard with the oils in a glazed earthen pipkin,

and when nearly cold add the scent.

 

477.—Pomade for Hair that is Falling off

 

Take eight ounces of beef marrow, twenty-two drops of tincture of

cantharides, sixty grains of sugar of lead, an ounce of spirits of

wine, and twenty drops of oil of bergamot. Boil the marrow in the

bone, and mix the prescribed quantity, free of bone and fibre, with

the other ingredients, excepting the scent, which is to be added last

of all; if any other scent be preferred, the bergamot may be omitted.

 

478.—Pomade Divine

 

This is a capital pomade for rubbing into bruises, or to give relief

in any similar hurt:—Take a pound and a half of beef marrow, which

will be the produce of six or eight bones; clear it thoroughly from

bone and fibre, and put it in an earthen vessel of spring water;

change the water every night and morning for eight or ten days; then

steep the marrow in a pint of rose-water for twenty-four hours, and

drain it dry through a linen cloth. Take an ounce of flowers of

benzoin, cyprus-root, odoriferous thorn, and Florentine iris-root,

half an ounce of cinnamon, and a quarter of an ounce each of cloves

and nutmeg. Pound all these very fine, and mix them well with the

marrow; then put all into a pewter digester which holds three pints,

and let the top be closely fitted. Spread on linen a paste made of

flour and white of egg, and fix it over the top so that there can be

no evaporation. Suspend the digester by the handles in the middle of a

pot of boiling water, and keep it boiling, adding more boiling water

as often as necessary. Strain the pomade into small wide-mouthed

bottles, and cover it down when quite cold.

 

479.—Another Recipe

 

Take three-quarters of a pound of beef-marrow; clean it well from bone

and fibre, and wash it in water fresh from the spring, which must be

changed night and morning for ten days; then steep it in rose-water

for twenty-four hours, and drain it. Take half an ounce each of

storax, gum benjamin, and odoriferous cyprus-powder, two drachms of

cinnamon, and a drachm of cloves. Let these ingredients be all

powdered and well mixed with the marrow, and put them in a pewter pot

which holds about a pint and a half. Make a paste of white of egg and

flour, and lay it on a piece of linen, and place a second linen to

cover the pot very tight and keep in the steam. Place the pot in a

copper vessel of water, and keep it steady, so that the water may not

reach or touch the covering. As the water evaporates, add more,

boiling hot, and keep it boiling four hours without ceasing. Strain

the pomade into small jars or boules, and cork when quite cold. Take

care to touch it only with silver.

 

480.—Bandoline for the Hair

 

Mix two ounces of olive oil with one drachm each of spermaceti and oil

of bergamot; heat and strain; then beat in six drops of otto of roses.

If colour be desired, add half a drachm of annatto.

 

481.—Dentifrice

 

Scrape as much whiting to a fine powder as will fill a pint pot;

moisten two ounces of camphor with a few drops of brandy, rub it into

a powder, and mix with the whiting half an ounce of powdered myrrh.

Bottle it, and keep it well corked down, taking small quantities out

in a separate bottle for daily use.

 

482.—Another Recipe

 

Dissolve two ounces of borax in three pints of boiling water; before

quite cold, add a teaspoonful of tincture of myrrh and a tablespoonful

of spirits of camphor: bottle the mixture for use. One wineglassful of

the solution, with half a pint of tepid water, is sufficient for each

application. Applied daily, it preserves and beautifies the teeth,

extirpates all tartarous adhesion, produces a pearl-like whiteness,

arrests decay, and induces a healthy action in the gums.

 

483.—Another Recipe

 

No dentifrice in the world can equal that of powdered betel-nut if

properly prepared, but very few know how to do this: the nuts should

not be burnt, but sliced and roasted, like coffee, to a rich brown

colour, and then pulverised and passed through fine muslin; the grit

should then be repounded and strained through muslin, and this

operation continued until all the powder is finely sifted. The colour,

instead of being black, like charcoal, should be a fine rich

chocolate-colour. The dentifrice may then be used as it is, or

tincture of myrrh and camphor and eau de Cologne may be added to it.

 

484.—Rose Lip-salve

 

Take an ounce and a half of spermaceti, nine drachms of white wax,

twelve ounces of oil of sweet almonds, two ounces of alkanet-root, and

one drachm of otto of roses; digest the first four ingredients with

the heat of boiling water for four hours, then strain through flannel,

and add the otto of roses.

 

485.—Essence of Roses

 

Mix two drachms of otto of roses and a pint of rectified spirits of

wine.

 

486.—Essence of Lemon-peel

 

Steep six ounces of lemon-peel, cut very thin and without any particle

of the white skin, in eight ounces of spirits of wine well corked.

 

487.—Eau de Cologne

 

Put twelve drops each of oil of neroli, citron, bergamot, orange, and

rosemary, and a drachm of cardamom-seeds, into a pint of spirits of

wine, and let it stand for a week.

 

488.—Lavender-water

 

Mix two drachms of oil of lavender, half a drachm of oil of bergamot,

a drachm of essence of musk, thirteen ounces of spirits of wine, and

five ounces of water, and let it stand a week.

MISCELLANEOUS USEFUL RECIPES

489.—To Unite Broken Glass or China

 

Rub the edges of the pieces that require mending with the white of an

egg, and then dust some slack lime upon them; hold them together till

they stick, and let them dry. This cement is not liable to be softened

by heat.

 

490.—Cement for Attaching Metal to Glass or Porcelain

 

Mix two ounces of a thick solution of glue with one ounce of

linseed-oil varnish or three-quarters of an ounce of Venice

turpentine. Boil together, agitating until the mixture becomes as

intimate as possible. The pieces cemented should be fastened together

for forty-eight or sixty hours.

 

491.—Japanese Cement

 

This is made by thoroughly mixing rice-flour with cold water, and then

gently boiling it; it is beautifully white, and dries almost

transparent.

 

492.—To Clean Silks, Satins, Coloured Woollen Dresses, &c.

 

Mix well together a quarter of a pound each of soft soap and honey,

the white of an egg, and a wineglassful of gin; the article should be

scoured thoroughly with rather a hard brush, rinsed in cold water,

left to drain, and ironed whilst damp.

 

493.—To Remove Stains from Mourning Dresses

 

Boil a handful of fig-leaves in two quarts of water until reduced to a

pint. Bombazines, crape, cloth, &c., need only be rubbed with a sponge

dipped in this liquor, and the stains will be instantly removed.

 

494.—To Remove Ironmould

 

Rub the spot with a little powdered oxalic acid, or salts of lemon,

and warm water. Let it remain a few minutes, and then well rinse it in

clear water.

 

495.—To Clean Kid Gloves

 

First see that your hands are clean; then put