1332. To make Soft Soap.—Bore some holes in your lye-barrel; put some straw in the bottom; lay some unslaked lime on it, and fill your barrel with good hard-wood ashes; wet it, and pound it down as you put it in. When full, make a basin in the ashes and pour in water; keep filling it as it sinks in the ashes. In the course of a few hours the lye will begin to run. When you have a sufficient quantity to begin with, put your grease in a large iron pot, let it heat, pour in the lye, let it boil, &c. Three pounds of clean grease are allowed for two gallons of soap.
1333.—Of Fish as Food.—As food, fish is easier of digestion than meats are, with the exception of salmon; this kind of fish is extremely hearty food, and should be given sparingly to children, and used cautiously by those who have weak stomachs, or who take little exercise.
The small trout, found in rivers, are the most delicate and suitable for invalids; lake fish are also excellent, and any kind of fresh-water fish, if cooked immediately after being caught, are always healthful.
But the ocean is the chief dependence for the fish-market, and there is little danger (if we except salmon and lobsters) that its kind of aliment will, in our country, be eaten to excess. It would be better for the health of those who do not labor, if they would use more fish and less flesh for food. But then fish cannot be rendered so palatable, because it does not admit the variety of cooking and flavors that other animal food does.
Fish is much less nutritious than flesh. The white kinds of fish, cod, haddock, flounders, white fish, &c., are the least nutritious; the oily kinds, salmon, eels, herrings, &c., are more difficult to digest.
Shell fish have long held a high rank as restorative food; but a well-dressed chop or steak is much better to recruit the strength and spirits.
Cod, whiting, and haddock, are better for being a little salted, and kept one day before cooking.
1334.—Of Beef as Food.—Ox beef is considered the best; heifer beef is excellent where well fed, and is most suitable for small families. If you want the best, choose that which has a fine smooth grain—the lean of a bright red; the fat white or nearly so.