Rendering Lard.
The leaf lard should be rendered by itself, as it does not take so long
as that with the skin on. Cut it up fine and put it in a clean pot with
half a pint of water, stir it frequently and let it boil fast at first,
when the cracklings are light-brown and float on the top, it is nearly
done, and should cook slowly, when done, strain it into your vessels
with a thin cloth put over a colander. If you put lard in stone or
earthen jars, it should be cooled first, as there is danger of their
cracking, white oak firkins with iron hoops, and covers to fit tight,
are good to keep lard, and if taken care of will last for twenty years.
The fat that has the skin on should be cut very fine, taking the skin
off first. It takes longer to boil than leaf lard, and there is more
danger of burning, put a pint of water in the pot.
The skins should be boiled alone, and will do for soap-fat after the
lard is out of them.
Soak the inside fat all night in salt and water; wash it in the morning,
and put it to boil without any water in the pot. It is not so nice as
other lard, and should be strained by itself. It does very well for
frying. Lard keeps well in large tin vessels with tight covers and is
not apt to mould.
Rendering Tallow.
Cut the tallow fine, and put it to boil in a large pot with a quart of
water; stir it frequently and keep it boiling moderately for six hours;
when the cracklings begin to turn brown, it should boil very slowly
till done.
Put a little water in the bottom of your dutch-ovens or tin pans, and
strain it in with a cloth over the colander, or the settlings will run
through and hurt the looks of your candles.
Soap.
It requires some care and experience to have good soap; but when you
once get beforehand, it is easy to keep up the supply if the ashes are
good. The leystand should be made of cedar or pine boards, in the shape
of a mill-hopper, and have holes bored in the bottom for the ley to run
through; have four posts planted in the ground to support it; let it be
high enough for a small tub to set under.
If you cannot have it under a shed, there should be a tight cover of
boards to protect it from the rain. Put some sticks in the bottom of the
leystand, and some straw, and pack in a bushel of ashes, then half a
peck of lime, and when it is half full of ashes, put in two buckets of
water, and another when you get near the top; pack it well, and put on
some more water; then cover it over; pour on hot water three times a day
for several days. When you are ready to make soap, have a large pot of
water, which must be kept boiling, and put it on as fast as it will
bear, save the strongest ley by itself, (if the ley will float an egg,
it will answer,) have your soap-fat laying in strong ley through the
winter, put a gallon of this in a large pot, and put to it a gallon of
the strongest ley; let it boil an hour, stirring it often, then put in
two gallons more of strong ley, when this has boiled, put in weak ley
till the pot is full, let it boil an hour or two slowly, and be careful
that it does not go over, cool some on a plate, and if thick, it is
done, but if not, boil it longer. Put it away in a tight barrel, and
prepare to make more soap, if you have two large pots both of them can
be kept going at the same time. Several barrels of soap can be made from
one ley stand. A large oil cask is good to keep soap in. If a barrel
leaks, set it under a spout in a rain, or fill it with water. It is of
the greatest importance to keep the soap-fat in strong ley. Have an oil
barrel in the cellar, half full of strong ley, and put in cracklings,
bacon skins, pot skimmings, beef bones, or any scraps, when eaten by ley
it will take but little boiling. It is much the easiest and safest way,
where there are children, to make the soap without boiling. Put four
gallons of soap-fat that has been eaten with ley, in a barrel with eight
gallons of strong ley, stir it two or three times a day, for a week or
two, then fill it up with weaker ley, you may have several barrels
making at a time, so as always to have some for use, it takes some time
to make it in this way. But if you are careful, and once get ahead, you
need not boil the soap unless you prefer it so, if your ley is not
strong, dissolve potash in hot water and add to strengthen it.
Hard Soap.
Have fifteen pounds of clean fat to twenty gallons of clear strong ley;
let it boil until thick, when put in half a peck of coarse salt; if it
does not curdle in two hours, put in more salt till it does, then pour
it out in a tub to cool till the next day, when put on your pot with
some weak ley, cut the soap out of the tub and boil it in this an hour,
then put it in the tub, let it get cold, cut it in squares and put it on
a board to dry. Unless you have plenty of ashes and soap-fat, it is much
cheaper to buy hard soap than to make it. If you have but a barrel full
of ashes you can make a barrel of soap, bore a hole in the bottom of a
barrel, put a few sticks across, when half full of ashes put in a quart
of lime and some water; keep the hole plugged up till you are ready to
make the soap.
You can have a barrel of ashes put in the cellar in winter to use for
washing and scrubbing, keep a tub under it to hold the ley as it drops.
Potash Soap.
Persons living in cities frequently have grease that would do to make
soap, but are at a loss for ley, in consequence of burning coal instead
of wood. Twelve pounds of pure grease of any kind, put with ten pounds
of potash in an oil barrel, and filled with water, makes good thick
soap, and is much cheaper than buying hard soap. It should be stirred
frequently, and if the ingredients are put together in warm weather, and
the barrel stands where it can be exposed to the heat of the sun,
without danger of getting rain in it, it will be fit for use in a few
weeks without the aid of fire, if you wish to make soap immediately put
three pounds of potash, four of grease, and about ten gallons of water
in a large iron pot, boil it over the fire, and it will make good thick
soap in a few hours, it need only boil long enough to dissolve the
potash, which is sometimes in very hard lumps. If you use the crumbled
potash, you must put rather more of it, as it is not so strong, and a
little lump of quick lime will make it turn quicker.
Another Receipt.
Two days before you wish to commence your soap, pour about two gallons
of boiling water on ten or twelve pounds of potash, to dissolve it, then
put it in an iron pot or kettle, with ten gallons of rain water, hang it
over the fire, and when it has dissolved, pour twelve pounds of grease,
which has been purified by boiling in water, (or weak ley,) into a well
hooped barrel, (an oil barrel from which one head has been taken, and
the bung well fastened, is best,) then pour the water in which the
potash was dissolved over the grease in the barrel, and stir it for half
an hour; afterwards fill up the barrel with cold soft water, and stir it
every day for two weeks. If at the end of that time, the fat swims on
the top, beat a pound or two more of potash fine, throw it in the
barrel, stir it well, and the soap will be finished.
Labor-saving Soap.
Take two pounds salt soda, two pounds yellow bar soap, ten quarts of
water. Cut the soap in thin slices, and boil all together two hours, and
strain it through a cloth, let it cool and it is fit for use. Put the
clothes in soak the night before you wash, and to every pail of water in
which you boil them, add one pound of the soap. They will need no
rubbing, merely rinse them out, and they will be perfectly clean and
white. This soap can be made for two cents per pound.
Ley and Soda Preparation for Washing Clothes.
To sixteen gallons of water, put one gallon of lime water; twelve ounces
of soft soap, or if hard soap it must be first melted, and four ounces
of soda, put them together in your wash kettle, and when nearly boiling,
put in the clothes, being careful to have them as much of a kind as
possible, they should be wet first with common water, boil one hour,
then wash, scald and blue as usual. The limestone should remain in the
water at least four days before it is used, and be about of the strength
of lime-water for drinking, and the same stone will do for several times
if good. The ley will do for boiling a second set of clothes by adding a
little more, and afterwards for towels and coarse things. Prints and
flannels must not be boiled.