The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887), Hugo Ziemann [world of reading .TXT] 📗

be more than one-eighth of weight of goods. Mixtures of reds and yellows with blues and blacks, or simple dyes, will make any shade.

Orange:—For five pounds of goods, muriate of tin six tablespoonfuls, argol four ounces; boil and dip one hour and add again to the dye one teacupful of madder; dip again one-half hour. Cochineal, about two ounces, in place of madder, makes a much brighter color.

Purple:—For each pound of goods, two ounces of cudbear; rinse the goods well in soap-suds, then dissolve cudbear in hot suds—not quite boiling, and soak the goods until of required color. The color is brightened by rinsing in alum water.

Yellow—Rich:—Work five pounds of goods one-half hour in a boiling bath with three ounces bichromate of potassa and two ounces alum; lift and expose till well cooled and drained; then work one-half hour in another bath with five pounds of fustic. Wash out and dry.

Crimson:—Work for one hour in a bath with one pound cochineal paste, six ounces of dry cochineal, one pound of tartar, one pint of protochloride of tin. Wash out and dry.

Salmon:—For each pound of goods, one-fourth pound of annotto, one-fourth pound of soap; rinse the goods well in warm water, put them into mixture and boil one-half hour. Shade will be according to the amount of annotto.

Dove and Slate Colors of All Shades:—Boil in an iron vessel a teacupful of black tea with a teaspoonful of copperas and sufficient water. Dilute till you get the shade wanted.

COTTON GOODS.

Black:—For five pounds of goods, boil them in a decoction of three pounds of sumach one-half hour and steep twelve hours; dip in lime-water one-half hour; take out and let them drip one hour, run them through the lime-water again fifteen minutes. Make a new dye with two and one-half pounds log-wood (boiled one hour) and dip again three hours; add bichromate potash two ounces, to the log-wood dye and dip one hour. Wash in clear, cold water and dry in the shade. Only process for permanent black.

Sky Blue:—For three pounds of goods, blue vitriol four ounces; boil a few minutes, then dip the goods three hours; then pass them through a strong lime-water. A beautiful brown can be obtained by next putting the goods through a solution of prussiate of potash.

Green:—Dip the goods in home-made blue; dye until blue enough is obtained to make the green as dark as required; take out, dry and rinse a little. Make a dye with fustic three pounds, of log-wood three ounces, to each pound of goods, by boiling dye one hour; when cooled so as to bear the hand put in the goods, move briskly a few minutes, and let lie one hour; take out and thoroughly drain; dissolve and add to the dye for each pound of cotton, blue vitriol one-half ounce, and dip another hour. Wring out and let dry in the shade. By adding or diminishing the log-wood and fustic any shade may be had.

Yellow:—For five pounds of goods, seven ounces of sugar of lead; dip the goods two hours; make a new dye with bichromate of potash four ounces; dip until the color suits; wring out and dry. If not yellow enough, repeat.

Orange:—For five pounds of goods, sugar of lead four ounces; boil a few minutes; when a little cool, put in the goods; dip for two hours; wring out; make a new dye with bichromate potash eight ounces, madder two ounces; dip until it suits; if color is too red, take a small sample and dip into lime-water and choose between them.

Red:—Muriate of tin two-thirds of a teacupful; add water to cover the goods; raise to boiling heat; put in the goods one hour, stir often; take out, empty the kettle, put in clean water with nic-wood one pound; steep one-half hour at hand heat; then put in the goods and increase the heat one hour—not boiling. Air the goods and dip them one hour as before. Wash without soap.

SMALL POINTS ON TABLE ETIQUETTE.

Delicacy of manner at table stamps both man and woman, for one can, at a glance, discern whether a person has been trained to eat well—i.e. to hold the knife and fork properly, to eat without the slightest sound of the lips, to drink quietly, to use the napkin rightly, to make no noise with any of the implements of the table, and last, but not least, to eat slowly and masticate the food thoroughly. All these points should be most carefully taught to children, and then they will always feel at their ease at the grandest tables in the land. There is no position where the innate refinement of a person is more fully exhibited than at the table, and nowhere that those who have not been trained in table etiquette feel more keenly their deficiencies. The knife should never be used to carry food to the mouth, but only to cut it up into small mouthfuls; then place it upon the plate at one side, and take the fork in the right hand, and eat all the food with it. When both have been used finally, they should be laid diagonally across the plate, with both handles toward the right hand; this is understood by well-trained waiters to be the signal for removing them, together with the plate.

Be careful to keep the mouth shut closely while masticating the food. It is the opening of the lips which causes the smacking which seems very disgusting. Chew your food well, but do it silently, and be careful to take small mouthfuls. The knife can be used to cut the meat finely, as large pieces of meat are not healthful, and appear very indelicate. At many tables, two, three or more knives and forks are placed on the table, the knives at the right hand of the plate, the forks at the left,—a knife and a fork for each course, so that there need be no replacing of them after the breakfast and dinner is served. The smaller ones, which are for game, dessert, or for hot cakes at breakfast, can be tucked under the edges of the plate, and the large ones, for the meat and vegetables, are placed outside of them. Be very careful not to clatter your knives and forks upon your plates, but use them without noise. When passing the plate for a second helping, lay them together at one side of the plate, with handles to the right. When you are helped to anything, do not wait until the rest of the company are provided, as it is not considered good breeding. Soup is always served for the first course, and it should be eaten with dessert spoons, and taken from the sides, not the tips, of them, without any sound of the lips, and not sucked into the mouth audibly from the ends of the spoon. Bread should not be broken into soup or gravy. Never ask to be helped to soup a second time. The hostess may ask you to take a second plate, but you will politely decline. Fish chowder, which is served in soup plates, is said to be an exception which proves this rule, and when eating of that it is correct to take a second plateful if desired.

Another generally neglected obligation is that of spreading butter on one's bread as it lies in one's plate, or but slightly lifted at one end of the plate; it is very frequently buttered in the air, bitten in gouges, and still held in the face and eyes of the table with the marks of the teeth on it; This is certainly not altogether pleasant, and it is better to cut it, a bit at a time, after buttering it, and put piece by piece in the mouth with one's finger and thumb. Never help yourself to butter, or any other food with your own knife or fork. It is not considered good taste to mix food on the same plate. Salt must be left on the side of the plate and never on the tablecloth.

Let us mention a few things concerning the eating of which there is sometimes doubt. A cream-cake and anything of similar nature should be eaten with knife and fork, never bitten. Asparagus—which should be always served on bread or toast so as to absorb superfluous moisture—may be taken from the finger and thumb; if it is fit to be set before you the whole of it may be eaten. Pastry should be broken and eaten with a fork, never cut with a knife. Raw oysters should be eaten with a fork, also fish. Peas and beans, as we all know, require the fork only; however food that cannot be held with a fork should be eaten with a spoon. Potatoes, if mashed, should be mashed with the fork. Green corn should be eaten from the cob; but it must be held with a single hand.

Celery, cresses, olives, radishes, and relishes of that kind are, of course, to be eaten with the fingers; the salt should be laid upon one's plate, not upon the cloth. Fish is to be eaten with the fork, without the assistance of the knife; a bit of bread in the left hand sometimes helps one to master a refractory morsel. Fresh fruit should be eaten with a silver-bladed knife, especially pears, apples, etc.

Berries, of course, are to be eaten with a spoon. In England they are served with their hulls on, and three or four are considered an ample quantity. But then in England they are many times the size of ours; there they take the big berry by the stem, dip into powdered sugar, and eat it as we do the turnip radish. It is not proper to drink with a spoon in the cup; nor should one, by-the-way, ever quite drain a cup or glass.

Don't, when you drink, elevate your glass as if you were going to stand it inverted on your nose. Bring the glass perpendicularly to the lips, and then lift it to a slight angle. Do this easily.

Drink sparingly while eating. It is far better for the digestion not to drink tea or coffee until the meal is finished. Drink gently, and do not pour it down your throat like water turned out of a pitcher.

When seating yourself at the table, unfold your napkin and lay it across your lap in such a manner that it will not slide off upon the floor; a gentleman should place it across his right knee. Do not tuck it into your neck like a child's bib. For an old person, however, it is well to attach the napkin to a napkin hook and slip it into the vest or dress buttonholes, to protect their garments, or sew a broad tape at two places on the napkin, and pass it over the head. When the soup is eaten, wipe the mouth carefully with the napkin, and use it to wipe the hands after meals. Finger bowls are not a general institution, and yet they seem to be quite as needful as the napkin, for the fingers are also liable to become a little soiled in eating. They can be had quite cheaply, and should be half-filled with water, and placed upon the side table or butler's tray, with the dessert, bread and cheese, etc. They are passed to each person half filled with water, placed on a parti-colored napkin with a dessert plate underneath, when the dessert is placed upon the table. A leaf or two of sweet verbena, an orange flower, or a small slice of lemon, is usually put into each bowl to rub upon the fingers. The slice of lemon is most commonly used. The finger tips are slightly dipped into the bowl, the lemon juice is squeezed upon them, and then they