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Alcohol-Based Medicines

This recipe for a mid-1800s, homemade medicine was posted in a recipe-sharing group on Facebook:

COUGH SYRUP
1 cup honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 tsp. alum
1/4 to 1/2 cup whiskey
Combine honey, cinnamon, vinegar, and alum and bring to a boil. Stir, remove from heat, and allow to cool. Stir in whiskey, and pour into clean bottle. Shake well before using. [The recipe does not give a recommended dose.]

37-1/2% alcohol content in a 1920s patent medicine

The alcohol content in that homemade cough syrup reminded me of a diagram (see above)  in one of my old textbooks. (Healthy Living Book Two: Principles of Personal and Community Hygiene, by Dr. Charles-Edward Amory Winslow. Published in New York by the Charles E. Merrill Company in 1924.)

In more recent times (1940s-1950s), the patent medicine Hadacol was popular throughout the Southern U.S. and beyond. Hadacol was the concoction of Louisiana State Senator Dudley LeBlanc. It was especially popular in many "dry" counties of the South because of its alcohol content. Besides the alcohol, it contained a fairly long list of vitamins and minerals, and it had a strong, medicinal taste. It's widely reported that some drugstores sold it by the shotglass.

Flikr photo by Logan Molen. Creative Commons
license: Some Rights Reserved.

Related:
Dudley LaBlanc and The Hadacol Boogie
La Valse de Hedacol
The Hadacol Bounce

No. 7 Griswold Skillet

I am not a lucky person. My name is never pulled out of the hat. I never find cash lying on the sidewalk. They never call the numbers I need at Bingo. However, today I found a Griswold skillet in the Hopkinsville Goodwill, so the old saying is proven -- "Every dog has his day."

Griswold skillet, 9-3/4" top diameter
and 8" bottom diameter

I saw this skillet sitting on the shelf among random pot lids and pans, so I picked it up and turned it over. I was amazed to see that it was a Griswold and that it was priced for $3.99.

The person who priced it must not have recognized the name. Griswold is top-of-the-line antique or vintage cast iron cookware. In my opinion, this pan should have been placed in the locked case up front where they keep the treasures.

N0. 7 -- GRISWOLD -- ERIE PA.  --701
(Might be 701 A, but not sure.)

According to what I've read online this evening, this skillet was probably made between 1939 and 1957. In other words, it's approximately the same age as me. Some clues to the skillet's age are the logo size (this logo is small,) the way that the place name is written ("Erie, PA," not  "Erie" and not "Erie, PA, USA",) and the presence or absence of a heat ring (this skillet doesn't have one.)

I washed up the skillet, and with some elbow grease, removed the crusts of old blackening around the upper part of the inner sides. Then I dried it over a hot burner, and wiped it all over with vegetable oil and a paper towel. The inside of the skillet is as smooth as glass. It will blacken evenly over time. It's ready to use.

Here's a good article about some features of Griswold cast ironware that help in estimating the age of a piece.

Eleanor Rigby, Rugmaking Assistant

Little Eleanor Rigby has been staying with us for the last few months. She officially belongs to our son and daughter-in-law, but I must admit that I've become fond of her. She makes life lively around here.

Today, Eleanor helped me with my rugmaking. With her assistance, I unraveled several long rows of crocheting and wound the strip into a ball to use again.  Imagine how boring that process would have been without a cat attached!

Maybe her name should be Eleanor Rugby?

Eleanor Rigby, Cloth Killer

Frosted Christmas Cookies

Last night, I baked a large portion of the 8x batch of sugar cookies that I mixed up the night before. The photos below show some of the variations I came up with for decor.

This is not really frosting. It's the meltable candy coating that comes in blocks. I like to use it for decorating cookies because once it's cooled, it's hard enough that the cookies can be stacked. I melt it very carefully in the microwave (at 20% which is "Cook Power 2" on my microwave) inside a zippered plastic baggie with one corner snipped for piping.

I baked enough cookies for two huge cookie trays and a big plate of cookies for us. That  was about 12 dozen cookies. Then I froze the remaining dough -- if Pillsbury can do it, I can too.

Today I gave my son one of the trays of cookies to take to the post office. (As a CCA -- city carrier assistant -- he has to work Sundays to deliver Amazon, believe it or not.) I took the other tray by my former workplace and put it in the breakroom. It was well received.

Holiday Sugar Cookies to Cut and Paint

This recipe appeared in magazine advertisements for C&H Sugar about 30 years ago. It makes a good dough that can be rolled and cut into shape cookies. I know that the list of ingredients is directly from the C&H recipe. I'm not sure about the directions. I think I may have rewritten them.

Holiday Sugar Cookies to Cut and Paint

1/2 cup soft margarine
1 cup C&H sugar
1 large egg
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Food coloring (optional)

Cream margarine and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, lemon juice, and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients; gradually beat into margarine mixture until well blended. Divide dough into three parts. Add food color if desired. Flatten each part to about 1 inch thick between two sheets of food wrap. Place in freezer until thoroughly chilled. Heat oven to 375°. Roll chilled dough to about 1/8 inch thick. Cut cookies; place on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush with Egg Yolk Paint if desired.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. (About 4 dozen medium cookies.)

Egg Yolk Paint

1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water.
Food coloring (optional)

Mix egg yolk with water. Divide into several cups and add food color as desired. Thin as necessary with water while using. Paint BEFORE baking.

Sugar Cookies For All

I'm glad to report that my knuckle and finger are doing pretty well now. I have to go back to the orthopedist next week for a final inspection. I think he will say that my left hand is OK to  resume its normal life.

For the last few days I have cheating on the buddy-wrap bandage. I only wrap the two fingers when I think there's a real risk of straining my knuckle.

With Christmas just ten days away, I have a long list of things I'd like to do. It will all go much better with both hands participating

Tonight, I intended to make a quadruple batch of my sugar cookie recipe. I planned to take part of them to my former workplace for my friends who are slogging through the holiday season. And I thought I'd give my son a big plate of cookies to take to the post office where he works. They are slogging through the holiday season too.

I glanced at the recipe, did the mental math, and creamed some margarine and sugar together.

An octuple batch of cookies

Then I glanced at my recipe book again and realized that I had added ingredients for the recipe at the bottom of the page, not my sugar cookie recipe at the top of the page.  Uh oh. According to the sugar cookie recipe, I had just creamed enough margarine and sugar for an 8x batch.

"Start where you are." I reminded myself. I moved the cookie dough to a huge metal bowl I ordinarily use for bread dough. Then I made an 8x batch of my sugar cookie recipe. And let me tell you, that is a large quantity of cookie dough. The bowl of dough that is now chilling in my refrigerator is as heavy as a mid-sized watermelon (and as large as a small one.)

So there will be plenty of sugar cookies to share next week. I'll be able to send cookies to my old work friends, my son's post office, AND the neighbors.

I didn't strain the injured knuckle doing this. My little KitchenAid portable hand mixer did the hard work. I hope it's all right. It worked pretty hard.