Lydia Maria Gurney

“ Do not throw away an old hot-water bag because it leaks. Fasten over the leak, a strong piece of adhesive plaster. Fill the bag with sand or salt and cover with flannel. It will hold heat for a long time, and can be used instead of the water bottle.
To Keep your Hands White
Keep a piece of lemon in your bathroom or kitchen. It will remove stains from the hands.
To Brown Flour
Spread flour upon a tin pie plate, put it in a hot oven, and stir constantly, after it begins to brown, until it is all colored. Keep always on hand. It is good for coloring and thickening gravies. ”

“ When preserving peaches or quinces, wipe them very clean before paring, and save the skins for marmalade. Cook in water enough to cover well and, when tender, press through a colander. Measure, and add the same amount of sugar. Boil half an hour, or until it thickens. Put into tumblers and cover with paraffine. This is nice for school sandwiches, or for filling for Washington pie or queen’s pudding.
To Can Peaches
Be sure to have the jars perfectly clean and warm. Glass covers are always preferable. Make a syrup of the sugar and water. ”

“ The Things Mother Used To Make consist of old fashioned recipes, which have been for the most part handed down by word of mouth from one generation to another, extending over a period of nearly one hundred years. ”

“ If you want good sweet lard, buy from your butcher, leaf lard. Skin carefully, cut into small pieces and put it into a kettle or sauce pan. Pour in a half-cupful of water, to prevent burning, and cook slowly, until there is nothing left but scraps. Remove the scraps with a skimmer, salt it a little, and strain through a clean cloth, into tin pails. Be sure not to scorch it.
How to Keep Eggs
In the summer, when eggs are cheap, buy a sufficient number of freshly laid ones to last through the winter. ”

“ When cold, it is ready for use, and is very nice.
Egg Sauce, for Chocolate Pudding
Beat the egg and sugar together, and pour over it the boiling milk, and flavor.
Pudding Sauce
Cream together the butter and sugar. Wet the cornstarch with a little water; stir it into the pint of boiling water and, when thickened, pour it over the butter and sugar. Add the flavoring.
Salad Dressing
Put the vinegar, water and butter on the stove, in an agate dish, to boil. Mix together sugar, flour, mustard and salt, stir into the beaten egg with the milk, and add to the boiling water and vinegar. ”

“ Instead of rolling and cutting as usual, drop the dough into a large iron pan. The heat of the oven melts them into one sheet. Cut them into squares or long narrow strips. It takes much less time, than the old way of rolling and cutting.
To Clean a Vinegar Cruet on the Inside
Put into it shot, pebblestones, or beans. Fill it with a strong soap suds, and one teaspoonful of bread soda or ammonia. Let stand an hour, shake well and often. Rinse with clean water.
To Make Tough Meat, or a Fowl Tender
Put one tablespoonful of vinegar, into the kettle while boiling. ”

“ When boiling, stir in the dry flour, into which you have put the salt and soda. Stir until smooth and thick. When nearly cool, add three eggs, one at a time. Drop on a buttered pan and bake twenty minutes in a hot oven. This will make twelve cakes. When they are cold, make a slit in the side with a sharp knife, and fill with whipped cream or the following mixture:
One pint of milk, one egg, two-thirds of a cupful of sugar, one large spoonful of flour. Beat the egg, sugar, flour, and a little salt together till smooth and stir into the boiling milk. Flavor with lemon. ”

“ Put the fish into a piece of cheese-cloth, let cold water run over it, and squeeze dry. Mix ingredients all together. Take a little flour in the hand and roll half a tablespoonful of the mixture between the palms, to the size of a small peach. Fry in deep fat.
To Boil a Lobster
Have a large kettle on the fire with plenty of boiling water, deep enough to cover the lobster well. Put into this one cupful of salt, if you cannot get the sea-water. When the water is galloping, put in the lobster, head foremost, and keep it under water. ”

“ Place it right side down on a piece of soft flannel, ironing on the wrong side. If flannel is not at hand, try an old turkish towel.
To Wash Small Pieces of Lace
Put in a horse radish bottle and pour over them, strong soap suds, good and hot, and shake well. Let stand awhile and shake again. Rinse in clear, warm water, by shaking. Dry on a clean cloth in the sunshine.
Never Throw away Sour Milk
It is excellent for graham bread, gingerbread, brown bread, griddle cakes, and doughnuts, also biscuit.
You can make a delicious cottage cheese of a very small quantity. ”

“ When the boiled dinner has been taken up, put these beans into the liquor in which the dinner was cooked. Boil one hour. Wet three tablespoonfuls of flour with water, and stir in while boiling, to thicken. Serve hot, adding a little milk, if you like. ”

“ Do not throw away small pieces of bread. Save them for plum pudding, queen’s pudding, or dressing for fish or fowl. If broken into small pieces and browned in a hot oven, it is very nice to eat with soups. ”

“ Fry the salt pork, with the onion, in the bottom of a kettle, skim from the fat, and pour in about a quart of water. Slice the potatoes thin, after they have been washed and pared. Make alternate layers of fish and potatoes, seasoning each layer with pepper and salt. Cook until both are tender. Then put in the split crackers, which have been soaked in milk or water, as for clam chowder. Cook for ten minutes. Pour in a quart of milk, add a small piece of butter and serve hot. ”

“ Serve hot, with butter.
Quick Graham Bread
Stir soda into the molasses, add sour milk and salt; add all to the meal, beating well. Sweet milk will do with a little less soda. Bake thirty minutes, or according to heat of the oven. A moderate oven is best.
Graham Bread (raised over night)
Mix flour and meal together and rub in lard, sugar and salt. Add yeast cake which has been dissolved in one-half cup of cold water. Mix with warm water at night. Set in a warm place to rise. In the morning stir and let rise to twice its bulk. Knead and put in baking pans. ”

“ This way of boiling eggs, though so simple, is going out of fashion, unfortunately, as it makes a wonderful difference in the appearance of the egg when broken open, and above all, in its digestibility. Eggs should never be boiled in any other way for invalids. ”

“ Stir the sugar, flour and grated chocolate into the molasses and milk. When hot add the butter. Boil until it strings. Pour into buttered tin. When nearly cold mark into squares.
Molasses Candy
Put the molasses, vinegar and butter into a saucepan. Boil until it strings when dropped from a spoon, or until it is brittle when dropped into cold water. Stir the soda in briskly and pour into a buttered tin. When nearly cold, pull until nearly white. ”

“ Shell the nuts and put into boiling water. When they have stood for fifteen or twenty minutes, the skin will slip off easily. When dry, mix a half-teaspoonful of olive oil or butter, and a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt, with a cupful of nut meats. Spread on a tin pan, and place in a hot oven. Bake fifteen or twenty minutes. Watch closely and stir several times, as they burn quickly. ”

“ Boil the sugar and water together, skim, then put into the syrup citron and lemon. Boil until it looks rich and transparent. Skim out the fruit into jars or tumblers, boil down the syrup for ten or fifteen minutes, and pour over the fruit. If jars are used, fill to the brim and seal while hot. ”

“ Remove from the fire, and add soda, butter and ginger. When cooled a little, stir in the flour until thick enough to roll, then roll thin as a postage-stamp. Cut with a cooky-cutter, and bake in a hot oven, being careful not to burn. ”