THE REGENCY LIBRARY
Recipes for Medicinals and Cosmetics
Reprinted from How to Cook (1810)
Almond Paste.—Mix 2 ozs. of almond powder, 2 tablespoonfuls of brandy, 2 oz. of honey, 2 of rose water, and the yoks of 2 eggs.
Another way—Take one-half pound of bitter almonds, rub them clean, but do not blanch them; pound them very fine in a mortar; then take one-half ounce of oil of tarter, 2 ozs of oil of sweet almonds, 1 oz of spermaceti; melt them together, and when warm, mix them with the almonds which will make a paste. In winter you may add a lemon.
Burns. Best Remedy For.—Pound and sift wood soot, and mix it with sweet lard, and apply it, spread on linen rags. It will ease a burn quicker than anything. If the skin is off, the great thing is to keep it covered close from the air. If the burns are large and bad, give salts or cream of tartar as a cathartic.
Camphor Julep.—Take 1 drachm of camphor, 2 or 3 lumps of sugar, 3 tablespoonfuls of spirits of wine; rub them all together in a marble mortar, and add thereto one pint of boiling water. Let it be close covered till cold.
Cold Cream.—Take 2 ozs. of oil of almonds, one half oz of spermaceti, 2 ozs of white wax and one half pint of water; melt them in a new pipkin, and when all is melted, whip it till cold; then let it lay in a little rose water till you put it in pots.
Faded Silks—Salt of tartar dissolved in water, will recover lilac or purple silks, when faded, rubbed over with a piece of flannel.
Flies. Liquid to destroy.—Take 4 ozs of quassia chips and boil for 10 minutes in soft water, strain it, and add a small quantity of sugar, then set in saucers where the flies are troublesome.
Ginger Tea.—Pour one half pint of boiling water on a teaspoonful of ginger; add sugar and milk to taste.
Glouchester Jelly.—Take an ounce of hartshorn shavings, rue, sage, pearl-barley, and eryngo root, boil them in 3 pints of water till reduced to one. Strain it and when cold it will be a jelly. Give it in wine or milk.
Hoarhound Beer.—Take as much dried hoarhound as you can grasp; boil it one half hour in soft water, then strain it off, and add 2 lbs of moist sugar; boil it again for another half hour, then pour it into a pan, with a few cloves and some ginger. When milk-warm, put in a wine glassful of yeast, to be left to work for 24 hours. Bottle it, but be sure not to cork it tight. It may be used immediately. When first poured out, it will look thick, but if allowed to stand a few minutes, it will soon become clear.
Lavender Water.—To a pint of the best rectified spirits of wine, add one quarter oz. of oil of lavender. 8 drs. of essence of ambergris, and 6 drachms of essence of musk; mix them together, and shake the bottle often. It is the better for the keeping.
Linen, To Perfume.-Take dried rose leaves, cloves and mace beaten to a powder, with a very small proportion of bay salt; sew it up in little bags. You may add a few grains of musk if you please.
Lip Salve, To Make.—Take 2 oz. of the best white wax, 2 ozs. of ox marrow, that has been well steeped in water for 3 days; melt them in a bath heat, then squeeze in a pound of best musk grapes, through a fine sieve; add a drachma of alkanet. Let them simmer, then beat it with a silver spoon till nearly cold, when you must run it into the boxes.
Mad Dog, For the Bite of.—Take leaves of rue, and 6 ozs. of garlic, all pickled from the stalks, and bruised, Venice treacle or mithridate, and scrapings of pewter of each 4 ozs. Boil all these over a slow fire, in 2 quarters of strong ale, till 1 pint is consumed; then keep it in bottles closely stopped, and give 9 spoonfuls of it to man or woman warm for 7 mornings together, fasting. This, if given within 9 days after the biting of the dog, will prevent the hydrophobia. Apply some of the ingredients from which the liquor was strained, to the bitten place.
This recipe was taken some years ago, out of Calthrop church, Lincolnshire. Many of the inhabitants being bitten by a mad dog; all that took this medicine, did well, while the rest died mad.
Milk of Roses.—To 1 quart of rose-water, add 2 ozs. of oil of almonds, and 18 drops of the oil of tarter. Be sure you let the oil of tartar be poured in last.