Mackenzie's Ten Thousand Receipts

Ten thousand receipts from the great Victorian household compendium — cookery, brewing, dyeing, gilding, fireworks, medicine, farriery and the rest of the useful arts, in one volume.

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Animal Oils and Fats

Hog's Lard.

This is obtained like the rest of the animal fats, from the raw lard, by chopping it fine, or rather rolling it out, to break the cells in which the fat is lodged, and then melting the fat in a waterbath, or other gentle heat, and straining it while warm. Some boil them in water; but the fats thus obtained are apt to grow rank much sooner than when melted by themselves.

Neat's-foot, or Trotter Oil.

Obtained by boiling neat's-foc: trine, etc. in water. It is a coarse animal oil, very emollient, | maceti will be as clear as crystal; and then, after and much used to soften leather.

To Purify Trotter Oil.

Put 1 qt. of trotter oil into a vessel containing 1 qt. of rose-water, and set them over a fire till the oil melts and mixes with the rose-water. Stir well with a spoon. When properly combined take the vessel from the fire, and let it cool. Now take off the oil with a spoon, and add rose-water as before. When the oil is again separated and cleansed, set it in a cool place. The principal use of trotter oil is for the making of cold cream, in which its qualities exceed those of every other oil. To Prepare Oil from Yolks of Eggs.

Boil the eggs hard, and after separating the whites break the yolks into 2 or 3 pieces, and roast them in a fryingpan till the oil begins to exude; then press them with very great force. Fifty eggs yield about 5 oz. of oil. Old eggs yield the greatest quantity.

Another Method.

Dilute the raw yolks with a large proportion of water, and add spirit of wine to separate the albumen, when the oil will rise on the top after standing some time, and thus may be separated by a funnel.

To Refine Spermaceti.

Spermaceti is usually brought home in casks, as to obtain the denomination of head matter. It and in some cases has so little oil mixed with it is of the consistence of a stiff ointment, of a yellowish color, and not tenacious. Besides the head matter, there is also a quantity of sperm obtained from the oil by filtration. Indeed, in all good spermaceti lamp oil, which is not transparent, particles of the sperm may be seen floating.

Having the head-matter, or filtered sperm, in order to purify it, first put it into hair-cloths, and with an iron plate between each cloth to the number of half a dozen or more, submit it to the action of an iron screw-press; and, as the oil does not separate very readily, it will in general be necessary to let the cakes of sperm be pressed three different times. The third time the cakes will become so dry that they may be broken in small pieces with little trouble, and then put in a furnace containing & water and cake. Let the fire be raised sufficiently under the furnace to melt the cake, which it will do before the water begins to boil; after which boil the whole together for about an hour, taking off during the boiling what scum and other extraneous bodies rise to the top; then let the whole be dipped out into a tub or other coolers. After it is completely cold, take off the cake of spermaceti, which will be on the top of the water, and cut it into pieces. Suppose, for example, that the cake weighs 1 cwt., it will be necessary to have a furnace, or rather a movable kettle, where the light is thrown in such a way that the process can be observed. Having taken 1 cwt. of the unrefined spermaceti prepared as above, melt it together with about 3 galls. of water. As soon as it begins to boil, add from time to time small portions of the following liquor, say pint at a time: Take of the alkaline salt, or potash, 7 lbs.; pour on it 2 galls. of water; let them stand together 24 hours, and from the top dip off the lye as wanted, adding more water occasionally, till the alkali is exhausted. After boiling the spermaceti for about 4 hours, having during the process taken off the scum as it arose, let the kettle be removed from the fire; and after remaining about 1 hour, dip off the spermaceti it is cool, the only thing necessary to make it fit for sale, is to cut it into moderately small pieces, which it has in the shops. when it will break into that flakey appearance To Sweeten, Purify, and Refine Greenland Whale and Seal Oil.

The oil, in its raw state, is filtered through bags about 41 inches long, with circular mouths extended by a wooden hoop about 15 inches in diameter, fixed thereto. These bags are made of jean lined with flannel, between which jean and flannel powdered charcoal is placed, throughout, to a regular thickness of about inch, for the oil and straining it from impurities; and the bags purpose of retaining the glutinous particles of the thicker in one part than another, and to keep the are quilted, to prevent the charcoal from becoming linings more compact. The oil is pumped into a large funnel made of tin, annexed to the pump through a perpendicular pipe, and passed from the funnel into another pipe placed over the bags horizontally, from whence it is introduced into them by cocks. The oil runs from the filteringbags into a cistern about 8 feet long by 4 feet broad, and 44 deep, made of wood and lined with lead, and containing water at the bottom about about 6 oz. of blue vitriol, for the purpose of drawthe depth of 5 or 6 inches, in which are dissolved ing down the glutinous and offensive particles of and thereby rendering it clean and free from the the oil which have escaped through the charcoal; unpleasant smell attendant upon the oil in the raw state; and in order to enable the oil thus to run from the bags, they are hung in a frame or rack made like a ladder, with the spokes or rails at sufficient distances to receive the hoop of the bag between two; and such frame or rack is placed in a horizontal position over the cistern. The oil is suffered to run into the cistern until it stands to the depth of about 2 feet in the water, and there to remain for 3 or 4 days, (according to the quality of the oil), and is then drawn off by a cock which is fixed in the cistern a little above the water, into a tub or other vessel, when it will be found to be considerably purified and refined; and the oil, after having undergone this operation, may be rendered still more pure by passing a second or third time through similar bags and cisterns. But the oil, after such second and third process, is drawn off of jean lined with flannel, inclosed in other bags into, and filtered through additional bags made made of jean, doubled, when the process is complete. Clarifying Coal-Oils.

In a close vessel are placed 100 lbs. of crude coal-oil, 25 qts. of water, 1 lb. of chloride of lime, 1 lb. of soda, and lb. of oxide of manganese.

The mixture is violently agitated, and allowed to rest for 24 hours , when the clear oil is decanted and distilled. The 100 lbs. of coal-oil are to be mixed with 25 lbs. of resin-oil; this is one of the principal points in the manipulation; it removes inodorous. The distillation spoken of may termithe gummy parts from the oil, and renders them nate the process, or the oils may be distilled before they are defecated and precipitated.

To Bleach and Purify Fixed Oils.

Fish and other fat oils are improved in smell and color by passing hot air or steam through them. Dunn's method is to heat the oil by steam to 170° or 200°, and force a current of air through it, under a chimney, till it is bleached and puriinto suitable coolers. This process must in gen- fied. Mr. Cameron's method of bleaching palm eral be repeated 3 times. The third time, if the oil is to keep it at 230°, with continual agitation, processes have been properly conducted, the sper- | by passing into it high pressure steam through 人

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