A Few More Recipes for the Victorian Home

In a previous post I transcribed a few helpful recipes for housekeeping and home maintenance found in a 19th century receipt book.  I promised that some more recipes were soon to follow and here they are!  These recipes and hints come from an older publication, Mrs. Winslow's Domestic Receipt Book, published in 1869 by Jeremiah Curtis & Sons and John I. Brown & Sons of New York, NY.

  To Remove Mortar or Paint from Window Glass:
Rub mortar spots with a stiff brush dipped in sharp, hot vinegar and paint-spots with camphene and sand.

To Purify a Sink or Drain:  Dissolve one-half pound copperas in two gallons of water.  Pour in half this liquid one day, and the other half the next day.

To Extract Oil and Grease Spots from Carpets:  If oil is spilled on a carpet, put on plenty of white flour, and do it as soon as possible, to prevent the oil spreading.  If the oil is near a seam, but does not reach it, rip the seam, in order to stop it.  Put flour on the floor under the oil spot.  The next day brush up all the flour from the carpet and the floor with a stiff brush, and repeat the putting on of fresh flour.  It will not need it the third time.  To take the grease spots rub them with a bit of white flannel dipped in spirits of turpentine.  If they show again, repeat the process.  It is well to put paper under the carpet, when grease spots are on the floor, as no scouring will remove them entirely.   

To Keep Steel Knives from Rust:  Have them rubbed bright, and perfectly dry; have a soft rag, and rub each blade with dry wood ashes.  Wrap them in thick brown paper, and place them in a dry closet.  If taken care of in this way, they may be kept years free from rust.  

And, for the hungry reader:

Tomato Catsup:  Slice the tomatoes, and sprinkle with salt.  Boil one hour, and strain through a course sieve.  For every gallon, slice two large onions, add one-half spoonful of ginger, two spoonful cloves, two spoonful allspice, one teaspoon black pepper.  Boil twenty minutes after these are added, and keep it in a covered jar.

Tripe Curry:  Boil two pounds of tripe and cut it into strips; peel two large onions and cut them into square pieces, and put the onions into a stew pan with three tablespoons butter. Let it stew till brown, stirring well and mixing a tablespoon curry powder.  Now add one pint of milk and cut up the tripe.  Let all stew for an hour, skimming it well.  Serve in a deep dish with boiled rice also to eat it with.  An East India curry powder is made thus: -- Pound very fine in a mortar six ounces of coriander seed, three-fourths of an ounce of cayenne, one and one-half ounces of foenugreek seed, one ounce cummium seed, and three ounces tumeric.  These articles can be bought at a druggists.  Pound fine, sift through fine muslin, spread on a dish and dry before the fire for three hours , stirring frequently.  Keep this in a bottle with a glass stopper.