Recipes for the million

Another way : — Gum-benzoin, one pound ; cloves, half an ounce ; cinnamon, two drams ; gum-water, enough to make it into a paste. Or, storax and benzoin, of each four ounces ; sandal wood and labdanum, of each one ounce ; charcoal, twenty-four ounces ; and gum-water, sufficient to form into a paste. Divide the paste into small cones, and put them into an oven till quite dry. PASTRY (FLAKY). — Put a pound of flour into a basin, mix in a saltspoonful of salt, then rub in with the tips of the fingers a quarter of a pound of shortening until there are no lumps left. Add very gradually half a pint of cold water, mixing with a knife into a soft, crumbly mass ; then knead it lightly. Sprinkle the board with flour, turn out the paste, and roll it as thin as possible. On half of the paste put two ounces of butter, spreading it in pieces over the surface ; lightly flour it, turn the other half over, and roll it out thin again. On this spread another two ounces of butter, flour it, fold it over, and roll out to the desired thickness for the tarts. PASTRY (PUFF). — Beat out the water from ten ounces of butter, and rub two ounces of it into a pound of flour till it is quite fine, then add a pinch of salt. Whisk the white of an egg, and mix with it the juice of a lemon and a small quantity of water ; stir this into the flour to make a paste ; roll it out, and be careful to roll it one way only. Roll out the remainder of the butter, lay it on the paste, sift a little flour over it and the rolling pin, fold the paste into three and roll it twice. Let it lie on a marble slab or in a cool place for ten or twelve hours, and again roll it out before using it. The paste should be made in a cool room and handled as lightly as possible. Bake in a quick oven. PASTRY, To Make Good. — In making pastry for pies, &c., do not melt the shortening. Mix it as cold as possible, and knead it through the flour. Melting it injures the crust. PEACHES (PRESERVED). — Wipe and pick the fruit, then make a thin syrup with a quarter of their weight of fine sugar in powder, sufficient to cover them, and boil them in this till they are soft to the fingernail. Have ready a rich syrup, and when they are taken from the fire add this, with the same quantity of hot brandy as syrup. Put the fruit into jars, place a piece of paper saturated with sweet oil over the fruit, and cover the tops of the jars with white paper dipped in gum-water. This latter pressed around the top of the jar will become quite firm when dry. PEARLS (TINCTURE OF), for the Skin. — Put into half a gallon of boiling water a quarter of a pound of Windsor soap, scraped very fine ; stir it until the soap is all dissolved, let it stand till nearly cold, then add half a pint of rectified spirits of wine and a quarter of an ounce of oil of rosemary. Stir well. This cosmetic will remove freckles. PEARLS, To Remove Stains from. — These gems may be cleansed from external foulness by washing with ground rice and salt, or with Venice soap and warm water, with starch and powdered blue, with sulphate of zinc and tartar, with cuttle-bone, pumice-stone, and other similar substances ; but it is not practicable to remove a stain which reaches deep into the substance of the pearl.