Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1875 — RECIPES, ETC. [ARTICLE]

RECIPES, ETC.

—Coal oil is a sure cure for chilblains and frosted feet, and also for corns. The only question is to keep the affected parts constantly saturated. For chapped hands use glycerine. Ten cents’ worth will last a whole season. —Remedy for Rats.—The rat is a cleanly animal and loves a sleek coat. If coal tar is applied about the entrance to a rat’s burrow so that the animal's coat will be smeared with it he will leave in disgust. At least the rats of Burlington. V t., thus expressed their dislike to a tarry coat and tarry no longer. —A genuine erasive soap that will remove grease and stains from clothing is said to be made as follow’s: Two pounds of good castile soap; half a pound of carbonate of potash, dissolved in half a pint of hot water. Cut the soap in thin slices; boil the soap with the potash.until it is thick enough to mold in cakes ; add alcohol, half an ounce; camphor, half an ounce; hartshorn, half an ounce; color with half an ounce of pulverized charcoal. —Baked Lobster. —Two medium-sized lobsters, one small onion, one pint of milk, yolk of one egg, one teaspoonful of flour, butter size of half an egg, cracker crumbs, salt, pepper. Chop the lobster fine; scald the milk with the onion chopped fine in it; add flour (made into a paste with a very little cold milk); add salt, pepper and butter; put the lobster in the dish in which it is to be served; pour the dressing over it and sprinkle bread crumbs on the top; bake about half an hour. —Almond Cake. —One pound sugar, quarter pound of butter, six eggs, half pound of blanched almonds, half tablespoonful of rose-w’ater, half pound flour. Beat the whites and yolks of the eggs separately. To blanch the almonds, drop them for a moment in boiling water, then remove the skins with a napkin. Put the nuts in a mortar, add the rosewater, and pound until the almonds are very fine. Rub the sugar and butter to a cream. Add the eggs, almonds and flour —Caramel Custard.—Six eggs, one quart of milk; sugar to taste; flavoring. Beat the yolks and the whites of the eggs separately, until they are very light. Let the milk come to a boil, then add it to the eggs; stir well, and put in one tablespoonful of sugar. Take five tablespoonfuls of light brown sugar, put it into a round, deep pan, and place it on the range for the sugar to melt. Stir until it is seft, or can be rubbed round the pan with a spoon. Set this pan in a dripping-pan half full of hot water. Flavor, and strain the custard into the sugar. Put the pan in the oven and bake the custard until it is firm, or until a knife can be run in and taken out clean. Take from the oven and set away to cool. When it is to be served run a knife around the edge of the custard and turn ic out on a dish. This must be done carefully and quickly, so as not to break the custard. as it should be whole and firm. —Stains for Wood.—The following are given in the London Chemist and Druggist-. A green stain—take three pints of strong vinegar, four ounces best verdigris, ground fine, half ounce sap green*; thoroughly mix these ingredients. A purple stain—take one pound of logwood chips, three quarts water, four ounces pearlash, and one ounce powdered indigo; boil the logwood in the -water for half an hour, then add the pearlash and indigo. A cherry stain—take ■ three quarts of rain water, four ounces annatto; boil in a copper kettle till the annatto is dissolved, then put in a piece of potash of the size of a walnut; keep the mixture over the fire half an hour longer, and then it may be bottled for use. A mahogany stain —wash the wood with diluted nitric acid (ten parts of water to one of the acid); for rosewood, glaze the same with carmine or Munich lake. Asphaltum, thinned with turpentine, forms an excellent mahogany color. A blue stain—dissolve copper filings in aqua-fortis; brush the wood with it, and then go over the work with a hot solution of pearlash {two ounces—to one pint of water) till it assumes a perfectly blue color.