Chapter IV: Preface (3)

BOILED TURBOT OR SHEEP'S-HEAD FISH.--Having cleaned and washed the fish, soak it an hour or two in salt and water to draw off the slime. Then let it lie half an hour or more in cold water. Afterwards drain, and wipe it dry. Score the back deeply with a knife. The whiteness of the fish will be improved by rubbing it over with a cut lemon. The fish kettle must be large, and nicely clean. Lay the fish with its back downward, on the strainer of the kettle. Cover it well with cold water, (milk and water in equal portions will be better still,) and add a small spoonful of salt. Do not let it come to a boil too fast, and skim it carefully. When the scum has ceased to rise, diminish the heat under the kettle, and let it simmer for about half an hour or more; not allowing it to boil hard. When the fish is done, take it up carefully with a fish-slice; and having prepared the sauce, pour it over the fish and send it to table hot.

For the sauce, mix together very smoothly, with a broad-bladed knife, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and two table-spoonfuls of flour. Put them into a clean sauce-pan, and hold it over the fire, and stir them till melted. Then add a large salt-spoonful of powdered mace, and as much cayenne as will lie on a sixpence. It will be much improved by the addition of some boiled lobster, chopped small. When the sauce has simmered five minutes, add very gradually half a pint of rich cream, and let it come almost to a boil, stirring all the time. After the fish is taken up, pour the sauce over it hot. Or you may send it to table in a sauce-boat. In this case ornament the fish with the coral of the lobster put on in a handsome figure.

Another way of dressing this fish is, after it has been boiled, to set it on ice to get cold; and then, having carefully removed the bones, cut the flesh into small squares, put it into a stew-pan, and having mixed the above sauce, add it to the fish, and let it stew slowly in the sauce; but do not let it come to a boil. When thoroughly hot, take it up, and send it to table in a deep dish.

BAKED TURBOT OR SHEEP'S-HEAD FISH.--Having cleaned the fish, soak it an hour or two in salt and water, and afterwards wash it well through two or three fresh waters. Then dry it in a clean towel. Score it deeply across the back; and then lay it in a deep white baking-dish. Mix together a large tea-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg; add a salt-spoon of cayenne; a few sprigs of sweet marjoram and sweet basil, finely minced; two large table-spoonfuls of fresh butter; and two table-spoonfuls of grated bread-crumbs. Stir this mixture into a pint of rich cream. Pour this marinade over the fish, cover it, and let it stand half an hour. Then bake it in the marinade; and send it hot to table.

If the fish is too large to be baked whole, cut it into fillets, extracting the bone.

Salmon-trout may be baked in this manner.

SEA BASS WITH TOMATOS.--Take three large fine sea-bass, or black-fish. Cut off their heads and tails, and fry the fish in plenty of lard till about half done. Have ready a pint of tomatos, that have been pickled cold in vinegar flavored with a muslin bag of mixed spices. Drain the tomatos well from the vinegar; skin them, and mash them in a pan; dredging them with about as much flour as would fill a large table-spoon heaped up. Pour the mixture over the fish while in the frying pan; and continue frying till they are thoroughly done.

Cutlets of halibut may be fried in this manner with tomatos: also, any other pan-fish.

Beef-steaks or lamb-chops are excellent fried thus with tomatos.

BAKED SALMON-TROUT.--Having cleaned the fish, and laid it two hours in weak salt and water, dry it in a cloth, and then rub both the inside and outside with a seasoning of cayenne pepper, powdered mace, nutmeg, and a little salt, mixed well together. Then lay it in a deep baking-pan, turn the tail round into the mouth, and stick bits of fresh butter thickly over the fish. Put it into an oven, and bake it well; basting it frequently with the liquid that will soon surround it. When you suppose it to be nearly done, try it by sticking down to the backbone a thin-bladed knife. When you find that the flesh separates immediately from the bone, it is done sufficiently. Serve it up with lobster-sauce.

Any large fresh fish may be baked in this way.

CREAM TROUT.--Having prepared the trout very nicely, and cut off the heads and tails, put the fish into boiling water that has been slightly salted, and simmer them for five minutes. Then take them out, and lay them to drain. Put them into a stew-pan, and season them well with powdered mace, nutmeg, and a little cayenne, all mixed together. Put in as much rich cream as will cover the fish, adding the fresh yellow rind of a small lemon, grated. Keep the pan covered, and let the fish stew for about ten minutes after it has begun to simmer. Then dish the fish, and keep them hot till you have finished the sauce. Mix, very smoothly, a small table-spoonful of arrow-root, the juice of the lemon, and two table-spoonfuls of sugar, and stir it into the cream. Pour the sauce over the fish, and then send them to table.

Turbot or sheep's-head fish may be dressed as above; of course it will require a larger proportion of seasoning, &c., and longer time to cook.

Carp is very nice stewed in this manner.

STEWED CODFISH.--Take fine _fresh_ cod, and cut it into slices an inch thick, separated from the bones. Lay the pieces of fish in the bottom of a stew-pan: season them with grated nutmeg; half a dozen blades of mace; a salt-spoonful of cayenne pepper; and a small saucer full of chopped celery; or a bunch of sweet herbs tied together. Add a pint of oyster liquor, and the juice of a lemon. Cover it close, and let it stew gently till the fish is almost done, shaking the pan frequently. Then take a piece of fresh butter the size of an egg; roll it in flour, and add it to the stew. Also, put in two dozen large fine oysters, with what liquor there is about them. Cover it again; quicken the fire a little, and let the whole continue to stew five minutes longer. Before you send it to table, remove the bunch of sweet herbs.

Rock-fish may be stewed in this manner. Fresh salmon also.

FRIED CODFISH.--Take the middle or tail part of a fresh codfish, and cut it into slices not quite an inch thick, first removing the skin. Season them with a little salt and cayenne pepper. Have ready in one dish some beaten yolk of egg, and in another some grated bread-crumbs. Dip each slice of fish twice into the egg, and then twice into the crumbs. Fry them in fresh butter, and serve them up with the gravy about them.

Halibut may be fried as above.

STEWED HALIBUT.--Cut the fish into pieces about four inches square, of course omitting the bone. Season it very slightly with salt, and let it rest for half an hour. Then take it out of the salt, put it into a large deep dish, and strew over it a mixture of cayenne pepper, ground white ginger, and grated nutmeg. Lay among it some small bits of fresh butter rolled in grated bread. Add half a pint of vinegar, (tarragon vinegar if you have it.) Place the dish in a slow oven, and let the halibut cook till thoroughly done, basting it very _frequently_ with the liquid. When nearly done, add a large table-spoonful or more of capers, or pickled nasturtions.

Halibut is a very insipid fish; but this mode of cooking will give it taste.

STEWED ROCK-FISH.--Take a large rock-fish, and cut it in slices near an inch thick. Sprinkle it _very slightly_ with salt, and let it remain for half an hour. Slice very thin half a dozen large onions. Put them into a stew-pan with a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, cut into bits. Set them over a slow fire, and stir them continually till they are quite soft, taking care not to let them become brown. Then put in the sliced fish in layers; seasoning each layer with a mixture of white ground ginger, cayenne pepper, and grated nutmeg; add some chopped parsley, and some bits of butter rolled in flour. Pour in a pint of water, and, if you choose, a wine-glass of vinegar, (tarragon vinegar will be best.[B]) Set it over a good fire and let it cook about an hour. When done, take out the fish carefully, to avoid breaking the slices. Lay it in a deep dish that has been made hot, and cover it immediately. Have ready the beaten yolks of two eggs. Stir them into the gravy. Give it one boil up; and then either pour it over the fish, or serve it up in a sauce-boat.

[B] To make this vinegar--half fill a bottle with tarragon leaves, and
fill it quite up with the best cider vinegar. Cork it tightly, and do
not remove the tarragon, but let it remain always at the bottom. The
flavor is very fine.

Halibut, fresh cod, or any other large fish may be stewed in this manner.

TO KEEP A SHAD FRESH.--By the following process, (which we can highly recommend from experience,) a shad may be kept twenty-four hours, or indeed longer, so as to be perfectly fresh in taste and appearance. For instance, if brought _fresh_ from market on Saturday morning, it may be broiled for breakfast on Sunday, and will seem like a fresh shad just from the water. Immediately on bringing it in, let it be scaled, cleaned, washed, split, and wiped dry; cutting off the head and tail. Spread the shad open on a large flat dish. Mix well together in a cup, a heaped table-spoonful of brown sugar; a heaped tea-spoonful of cayenne pepper, and a tea-spoonful of fine salt; and then rub the mixture, thoroughly and evenly, all over the inside of the fish; which, of course, must be spread with the skin or outside downward. Cover it closely with a large tin cover or with another dish, and set it immediately on ice or in a very cold place, and let it rest till next morning, or till it is wanted for cooking. Immediately before you put it on the gridiron, take a clean towel and carefully wipe off the _whole of the seasoning_, not letting a particle of it remain round the edges, or anywhere else. Then put the shad on a previously heated gridiron, over hot coals, and broil it well. Butter it, and send it hot to table, where every one can season it again, according to their taste.

PLANKED SHAD.--This is the best way of cooking shad when in perfection, just out of the river; and it is much in use at fishing party dinners. A board or plank, about three inches thick and two feet square, must be provided for the purpose. This plank should be of well-seasoned oak or hickory, and very clean. A pine board will very soon catch fire and burn; besides communicating to the fish a taste of turpentine or rosin. Take a very fine shad, and (having cut off the head and tail,) split it down the back, clean it, wash it well, and wipe it dry. Sprinkle it with salt, and cayenne. Stand up the board before the fire till it becomes very hot, and almost begins to char. Then nail to the hot board the spread-open shad, with the back or skin-side next to the plank, securing it with a few nails, not driven in so hard that they cannot easily be drawn out. Begin to roast it with the head downward. After a while turn the other end of the plank, so as to place the tail downward. Turn it frequently up or down, that the juices of the fish may be equally dispersed throughout. When done, butter it with fresh butter, and send it to table on the board; under which, place a large dish or tray. Help it to the company off the plank. This mode of cooking a shad will be found superior to all others; and is so generally liked, that two at least will be required, one at each end of the table. It is much enjoyed by parties who have dinners on the banks of the river, and bespeak of the fishermen shad just out of the water.

Lake salmon may be cooked in this manner on a plank. Also, blue fish, and the lake white fish.

At the principal household stores, shad-boards of oak are now to be purchased ready made. The cost is from a dollar to seventy-five cents. They are very strong and smooth, and furnished with thick wires crossing the board diagonally. Behind these the fish is to slip in without nailing. They are much used, and we advise every house-keeper to get one. We see very nice ones at Carryl's Furnishing Store, Chestnut street, Philadelphia.

SHELL FISH.

TO CHOOSE OYSTERS.--Insert a knife, and if the shell instantly closes firmly on the knife, the oysters are fresh. If it shuts slowly and faintly, or not at all, they are dying, or dead. When the shells of raw oysters are found gaping open they are fit for nothing but to throw away, and should not have been seen in the market, as they are quite dead and decomposition has commenced. Clams the same.

TO FEED OYSTERS.--When it is necessary to keep oysters a day or two before they are cooked, they must be kept clean and fed, otherwise they will die and spoil. Put them into a large tub of clean water; wash from them the mud and sand, and scrub them with a birch broom. Then pour off _that_ water, and give them a clean tubful, placing the oysters with the deep or large side downward, and sprinkling them well, with salt mixed with it, allowing about a pint of salt to every two gallons of water. But if you have a very large quantity of oysters, add to the salt and water several handfuls of indian meal. Repeat this every twelve hours, with fresh water and meal. Always at the time of high water, oysters may be seen to open their shells, as if in expectation of their accustomed food. If this is carefully continued, they will remain plump and healthy for two days.

Terrapins also, and other shell fish, should have the salt and water changed every twelve hours, and be fed with corn meal.

Turtle must also be well fed, and allowed salted water to swim in.

STEWED OYSTERS.--Get two hundred or more fine large fresh oysters. Drain them from their liquor, (saving it in a pitcher,) and put them into a stew-pan with a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and set them over the fire. When they have simmered, and have almost come to a boil, remove them from the fire; and have ready a pan of very cold water. Take out the oysters, (one at a time, on a fork,) and put them into the cold water. This will plump them, and render them firm. Having saved about half their liquor, put it into the stew-pan, seasoned well with blades of mace, grated nutmeg, whole pepper-corns, and a little cayenne. Stir in half a pint or more of thick rich cream; and if you cannot procure cream, an equal quantity of nice fresh butter divided into bits, slightly dredged with a very little flour. Boil the liquor by itself, and when it comes to a boil, take the oysters out of the cold water, and put them into the boiling liquor. In five minutes remove the pan from the fire, (the oysters having simmered,) and transfer them to a tureen or deep dish, in the bottom of which has been laid a buttered toast, that has previously been dipped a minute in hot water or milk.

FRENCH STEWED OYSTERS.--Wash fifty fine large oysters in their own liquor, then strain it into a stew-pan, putting the oysters in a pan of cold water. Season the liquor with a large glass or half a pint of white wine, (sherry or Madeira,) the juice of two lemons, six or seven blades of mace, and a small grated nutmeg. Boil the seasoned liquor; and skim, and stir it well. When it comes to a boil, put in the oysters. Give them one good stir, and then immediately take them from the fire, transfer them to a deep dish, and send them to table. They are not to boil.

Many persons consider this the finest way of cooking oysters for company. Try it. The oysters must be of the very best.

FRIED OYSTERS.--For frying, take only the largest and finest oysters. They should be as fresh as you can get them. Salt oysters are not good for frying. Take them out of their liquor, carefully, with a fork, picking off whatever bits of shell may be about them. Dry them in a clean napkin. Prepare some grated bread-crumbs, or pounded cracker, or soda biscuit, seasoned with cayenne pepper. Have ready plenty of yolk of egg beaten till very light; and to each egg allow a large tea-spoonful of rich cream, or of the best fresh butter. Beat the egg and cream together. Dip each oyster first into the egg, &c., and then into the crumbs. Repeat this twice till the oysters are well-coated all over. Have ready boiling, in a frying-pan, an equal mixture of fresh butter and lard. It must come nearly to the edge or top of the frying-pan, and be boiling fast when the oysters go in; otherwise they will be heavy and greasy, and sink to the bottom. Fry them of a yellow brown on both sides. Send them to table very hot.

Oysters will be found much the best when fried in grated bread-crumbs. Cracker-crumbs form a hard, tough coating that is very indigestible, and also impairs the flavor. Use no salt in making the batter. Omit it entirely. It overpowers the taste of the oysters.

OYSTER FRITTERS.--Allow to each egg a heaped table-spoonful of flour, and a jill or small tea-cupful of milk. Beat the eggs till very light and thick; then stir them, gradually, into the pan of milk, in turn with the flour, a little at a time. Beat the whole very hard. Have ready the oysters, that you may proceed immediately to baking the fritters. The oysters should be fresh, and of the largest size. Having drained them from their liquor, and dried them separately in a cloth, and dredged them with flour, set over the fire a frying-pan nearly full of lard. When it boils fast, put in a large spoonful of the batter. Then lay an oyster upon it, and cover the oyster with another spoonful of batter. Fry the fritters of a nice yellow. As they are done, take them up, drain off the lard from the oysters, and keep them hot till they go to table. This will be found a very fine receipt if _exactly_ followed.

CLAM FRITTERS.--Put a sufficient quantity of clams into a pot of boiling water. The small sand-clam will be best. When the shells open wide, take them out, extract the clams from the shells, and put them into a stew-pan. Strain their liquor, and pour about half of it over the clams; adding a little black pepper. They will require no salt. Let them stew, slowly, for half an hour; then take them out; drain off all the liquor; and mince the clams as fine as possible, omitting the hardest parts. You should have as many clams as will make a large pint when minced. Make a batter of seven eggs, beaten till very thick and light, and then mixed gradually with a quart of milk, and a pint of sifted flour, stirred in by degrees, and made perfectly smooth and free from lumps. Then, gradually, mix the minced clams with the batter, and stir the whole very hard. Have ready in a frying-pan over the fire, a sufficiency of boiling lard. Put in, with a spoon, the batter so as to form fritters, and fry them light brown. Drain them well when done and serve them up hot.

Oyster fritters may be made as above: except that the oysters must be minced raw, and mixed into the batter without having been stewed.

_Soft-crab Fritters._--Use only the bodies of the crabs, and proceed as above.

SCOLLOPED CLAMS.--Having boiled a quantity of small sand-clams till they open of themselves, remove them from the shells. Drain away the liquor, and chop them small, omitting the hardest parts. Season them with black pepper and powdered mace, and mix them with grated bread-crumbs and fresh butter. Get some large clean clam-shells, and fill them to the edge with the above mixture, moistened with _a very little_ of the liquor. Cover the surface with grated crumbs, and add to each one a small bit of butter. Set them in an oven, and bake them light brown. Send them to table in the shells they were baked in, arranged on large dishes. They are eaten at breakfast and supper. Clams must always have the shells washed before they are boiled.

Oysters are frequently scolloped in this manner, minced, and served up in large _clam_ shells.

Boiled crabs, also, are cooked, minced, and prepared in this way, and sent to table in the back-shell of the crab.

All these scollops are improved by mixing among them some hard-boiled eggs, minced or chopped; or some raw egg beaten.

ROASTED OYSTERS.--The old-fashioned way of roasting oysters is to lay them on a hot hearth, and cover them in hot cinders or ashes, (taking them out with tongs when done,) or to put them into a moderate fire. When done, their shells will begin to open. The usual way now is to broil them on large gridirons of strong wire. Serve them up in their shells on large dishes, or on trays, at oyster suppers. At every plate lay an oyster knife and a clean coarse towel, and between every two chairs set a bucket to receive the empty shells. The gentlemen generally save the ladies the trouble of opening the oysters, by performing that office for them.

Have on the table, to eat with the oysters, bread-rolls, biscuits, butter, and glasses with sticks of celery scraped, and divested of the green leaves at the top. Have also ale or porter.

Or, you may take large oysters out of their shells, dredge them lightly with flour, lay them separately on a wire gridiron, and broil them. Serve them up on large dishes, with a morsel of fresh butter laid on each oyster.

SCOLLOPED OYSTERS.--Drain the liquor from a sufficient quantity of fine fresh oysters; and season them with blades of mace, grated nutmeg, and a little cayenne. Lay about a dozen of them in the bottom of a deep dish. Cut some slices of wheat bread, and put them to soak in a pan of the oyster liquor (previously strained.)

Soak the bread till it is soft throughout, but not dissolved. Cover the oysters in the bottom of the dish, with some slices of the soaked bread, (drained from the liquor,) and lay upon the bread a few small bits of nice fresh butter. Then put in another layer of seasoned oysters; then another layer of soaked bread with bits of butter dispersed upon it. Repeat this with more layers of oysters, soaked bread, and bits of butter, till the dish is full, finishing with a close layer of bread on the top. Set this into a hot oven, and bake it, a short time only, or till it is well browned on the surface. Oysters require but little cooking, and this bread has had one baking already. The liquid that is about the bread is sufficient. It requires no more.

Scolloped oysters may be cooked in large, clean, clam-shells and served up on great dishes.

PICKLED OYSTERS.--Take a hundred fine large oysters--set them over the fire in their own liquor--add two ounces of nice fresh butter, and simmer them slowly for ten minutes; skimming them well. If they boil fast and long, they will become hard and shrivelled. Take them off the fire and strain from them their liquor; spread the oysters out on large dishes, and place them in the air to cool fast, or lay them in a broad pan of cold water. This renders them firm. Strain the liquor, and then mix with it an equal quantity of the best and purest clear cider-vinegar. Season (if the oysters are fresh,) with a small tea-spoonful of salt, two dozen whole pepper-corns, and a table-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg, mixed. Let the liquor boil till it is reduced to little more than enough to cover the oysters well. Put the oysters into a tureen, or a broad stone jar. Pour the hot liquor over them, and let them grow quite cold before they are eaten. You may give them a fine tinge of pale pink color by adding to the liquor (while boiling,) a little prepared cochineal.

PICKLED OYSTERS.--_For keeping._--Have five or six hundred oysters of the finest sort and largest size. Proceed as in the foregoing receipt, but increase, proportionately, the quantity of spice and vinegar. Put them in stone-ware jars, securing the covers by pasting all round, bands or strips of thick white paper; and place on each jar, on the top of the liquor, a table-spoonful of salad oil.

Use no other than _genuine cider-vinegar_. Much that is sold for the best white-wine vinegar is in reality a deleterious compound of pernicious drugs, that will eat up or dissolve the oysters entirely, leaving nothing but a sickening whitish fluid. This vinegar is at first so overpoweringly sharp and pungent, as to destroy, entirely, the taste of the spices; and, while cooking, emits a disagreeable smell. The oysters immediately become ragged, and in less than an hour are entirely destroyed. This vinegar acts in the same manner on all other pickles, and the use of it should always be shunned.

_Drugs_ should not be employed in any sort of cookery, though their introduction is now most lamentably frequent. They ruin the flavor and are injurious to health.

OYSTER PATTIES.--Make sufficient puff-paste for at least a dozen small patties. Roll it out thick, and line with it twelve small tin patty-pans. Bake them brown in a brisk oven; and when done set them to cool. Have ready two or three dozen large, fine, fresh oysters. Wash and drain them, and put them into a stew-pan with no other liquid than just enough of their own liquor to keep them from burning. Season them with cayenne, nutmeg, and mace, and a few of the green tops or leaves of celery sprigs minced small. Add a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, divided into bits, and laid among the oysters. To enrich the gravy, stir in, at the last, the beaten yolks of three or four eggs, or some thick cream or butter. Let the oysters stew in this gravy about five minutes. When the patties are beginning to cool, fill each with one or two large oysters. If you choose, you can bake for every patty a small round lid of pastry, to be laid lightly on the top, so as to cover the oysters when they go to table. For company, make a large quantity of oyster patties, as they are much liked.

OYSTER LOAVES.--Take some tall fresh rolls, or small loaves. Cut nicely a round or oval hole in the top of each, saving the pieces that come off. Then carefully scoop out most of the crumb from the inside, leaving the crust standing. Have ready a sufficient quantity of large fresh oysters. Put the oysters with one-fourth of their liquor into a stew-pan; adding the bread-crumbs, a large piece of fresh butter, some powdered nutmeg, and mace. Stew them about ten minutes. Then stir in two or three large table-spoonfuls of cream; take them off just as they are coming to a boil. If cooked too long the oysters will become tough and shriveled, and the cream will curdle. Fill the inside of your scooped loaves with the oysters, reserving as many large oysters as you have loaves. Place the bit of upper-crust carefully on the top of each, so as to cover the whole. Arrange them on a dish, and lay on each lid one of the large oysters kept out for the purpose. These ornamental oysters must be well drained from any liquid that is about them.

OYSTER OMELET.--Having strained the liquor from twenty-five oysters of the largest size, mince them small; omitting the hard part or gristle. If you cannot get large oysters, you should have forty or fifty small ones. Break into a shallow pan six, seven, or eight eggs, according to the quantity of minced oysters. Omit half the whites, and, (having beaten the eggs till very light, thick, and smooth,) mix the oysters gradually into them, adding a little cayenne pepper, and some powdered nutmeg. Put three ounces or more of the best fresh butter into a small frying-pan, if you have no pan especially for omelets. Place it over a clear fire, and when the butter, (which should be previously cut up,) has come to a boil, put in the omelet-mixture; stir it till it begins to set; and fry it light brown, lifting the edge several times by slipping a knife under it, and taking care not to cook it too much or it will shrivel and become tough. When done, clap a large hot plate or dish on the top of the omelet, and turn it quickly and carefully out of the pan. Serve it up immediately. It is a fine breakfast dish. This quantity will make one large or two small omelets.

Clam omelets may be made as above.

An omelet pan should be smaller than a common frying-pan, and lined with tin. In a large pan the omelet will spread too much, and become thin like a pancake.

Never turn an omelet while frying, as that will make it heavy and tough. When done, brown it by holding a red-hot shovel or salamander close above the top.

Excellent omelets may be made of cold boiled ham, or smoked tongue; grated or minced small, mixed with a sufficiency of beaten eggs, and fried in butter.

BROILED OYSTERS.--Take the largest and finest oysters. See that your gridiron is very clean. Rub the bars with fresh butter, and set it over a clear steady fire, entirely free from smoke; or on a bed of bright hot wood coals. Place the oysters on the gridiron, and when done on one side, take a fork and turn them on the other; being careful not to let them burn. Put some fresh butter in the bottom of a dish. Lay the oysters on it, and season them with pepper and grated nutmeg. Send them to table hot.

OYSTER PIE.--Having buttered the inside of a deep dish, line it with puff-paste rolled out rather thick; and prepare another sheet of paste for the lid. Pat a clean towel into the dish (folded so as to support the lid) and then put on the lid; set it into the oven, and bake the paste well. When done, remove the lid, and take out the folded towel. While the paste is baking, prepare the oysters. Having picked off carefully any bits of shell that may be found about them, lay them in a sieve and drain off the liquor into a pan. Put the oysters into a skillet or stew-pan, with barely enough of the liquor to keep them from burning. Season them with whole pepper, blades of mace, some grated nutmeg, and some grated lemon-peel, (the yellow rind only,) and a little finely minced celery. Then add a large portion of fresh butter, divided into bits, and very slightly dredged with flour. Let the oysters simmer over the fire, but do not allow them to come to a boil, as that will shrivel them. Next beat the yolks only, of three, four, or five eggs, (in proportion to the size of the pie,) and stir the beaten egg into the stew a few minutes before you take it from the fire. Keep it warm till the paste is baked. Then carefully remove the lid of the pie; and replace it, after you have filled the dish with the oysters and gravy.

The lid of the pie may be ornamented with a wreath of leaves cut out of paste, and put on before baking. In the centre, place a paste-knot or flower.

Oyster pies are generally eaten warm; but they are very good cold.

CLAM PIE.--Take a sufficient number of clams to fill a large pie-dish when opened. Make a nice paste in the proportion of a pound of fresh butter to two quarts of flour. Paste for shell fish, or meat, or chicken pies, should be rolled out double the thickness of that intended for fruit pies. Line the sides and bottom of your pie-dish with paste. Then cover the bottom with a thin beef steak, divested of bone and fat. Put in the clams, and season them with mace, nutmeg, and a few whole pepper-corns. No salt. Add a spoonful of butter rolled in flour, and some hard-boiled yolks of eggs crumbled fine. Then put in enough of the clam liquor to make sufficient gravy. Put on the lid of the pie, (which, like the bottom crust, should be rolled out thick,) notch it handsomely, and bake it well. It should be eaten warm.

SOFT CRABS.--These are crabs that, having cast their old shells, have not yet assumed the new ones. In this, the transition state, they are considered delicacies. Put them into fast-boiling water, and boil them for ten minutes. Then take them out, drain them, wipe them very clean, and prepare them for frying by removing the spongy part inside and the sand-bag. Put plenty of fresh lard into a pan; and when it boils fast, lay in the crabs, and fry them well, seasoning them with cayenne. As soon as they are done of a nice golden color, take them out, drain off the lard back into the pan, and lay them on a large _hot_ dish. Cover them to keep warm while you fry, in the same lard, all the best part of a fresh lettuce, chopped small. Let it fry only long enough to become hot throughout. When you serve up the crabs cover them with the fried lettuce. Stir into the gravy some cream, or a piece of nice fresh butter rolled in flour; and send it to table in a sauce-boat, seasoned with a little cayenne.

Soft crabs require no other flavoring. They make a nice breakfast-dish for company. Only the large claws are eaten, therefore break off as useless the small ones.

Instead of lettuce, you may fry the crabs with parsley--removed from the pan before it becomes brown. Pepper-grass is still better.

TERRAPINS.--In buying terrapins select the largest and thickest. Like all other delicacies, the best are the cheapest in the end. Small poor terrapins are not worth the cost of the seasoning. A poor terrapin, poorly dressed, is indeed a poor thing, and is always recognized as such, by those who are expected to eat it. _Get fine terrapins only._ Put them into a pot of water that is boiling very hard at the time, and let them boil for about ten minutes. Immediately on taking them out, proceed to rub, with a coarse clean cloth, all the skin from the head, neck, and claws--also, the thin shell, as it comes loose. Having washed them in warm water, put the terrapins into a clean pot with fresh water, and a table-spoonful of salt, and boil them again till they are thoroughly done, and the paws are perfectly soft. Remove the toe-nails. Some terrapins require three hours. When they are quite soft, open them carefully, remove the spongy part, the sand-bag, the gall, and the entrails--it being now the custom to throw away the whole of the disgusting garbage, always tasteless, tough, and disagreeable to look at. Be careful not to break the gall, as it will give an unpleasant bitter taste to the whole. Cut into small pieces all the meat of the terrapins, put them into a stew-pan, (adding the juice they have yielded in cutting up, _but no water_,) and proceed to season them, beginning with cayenne and black pepper, to your taste; also, a handful of flour for the thickening. Stir all well together, and in a short time add four table-spoonfuls of cream, or fresh butter, and a half pint of Madeira or sherry to every four terrapins. If they have no eggs, make up some artificially; crumbling the yolks of hard-boiled common eggs, mashed to a paste with a little nice butter, and then made into balls with beaten raw egg. Add plenty of these to the stew, and let the whole cook together for a quarter of an hour longer. Serve it up hot, in a well heated covered dish.

Four fine large terrapins generally make one dish; and the above is the usual quantity of seasoning for them.

NEW WAY OF DRESSING TERRAPINS.--In buying terrapins, select those only that are large, fat, and thick-bodied. Put them whole into water that is boiling hard at the time, and (adding a little salt) boil them till thoroughly done throughout. Then, taking off the shell, extract the meat, and remove carefully the sand-bag and gall; also, _all the entrails_,--they are disgusting, unfit to eat, and are no longer served up in cooking terrapin for the best tables. Cut the meat into pieces, and put it into a stew-pan with its eggs, and sufficient fresh butter to stew it well. Let it stew till quite hot throughout, keeping the pan carefully covered that none of the flavor may escape; but shake it over the fire while stewing. In another pan, make a sauce of beaten yolk of egg, highly flavored with Madeira or sherry, and powdered nutmeg and mace, and enriched with a large lump of fresh butter. Stir this sauce well over the fire, and when it has _almost_ come to a boil, take it off. Send the terrapin to table hot in a covered dish, and the sauce _separately_ in a sauce-tureen, to be used by those who like it, and omitted by those who prefer the genuine flavor of the terrapin when simply stewed with butter.

This is now the usual mode of dressing terrapins in Maryland and Virginia, and will be found superior to any other.

No dish of terrapins can be good unless the terrapins themselves are of the best quality. It is mistaken economy to buy poor ones. Besides being insipid and tasteless, it takes more in number to fill a dish. The females are the best.

A TERRAPIN POT-PIE.--Take several fine large terrapins, the fattest and thickest you can get. Put them into a large pot of water that is boiling hard; and boil them half an hour or more. Then take them out of the shell, pulling off the outer skin and the toe-nails. Remove the sand-bag and the gall, taking care not to break it, or it will render the whole too bitter to be eaten. Take out also the entrails, and throw them away; as the custom of cooking them is now, very properly, exploded. Then cut up all the meat of the terrapins, taking care to save all the liquid that exudes in cutting up, and also the eggs. Season the whole with pepper, mace, and nutmeg, adding a little salt; and lay among it pieces of fresh butter slightly rolled in flour.

Have ready an ample quantity of paste, made in the proportion of a pound of butter to two large quarts (or pounds) of flour, or a pound and a half of butter to three quarts of flour, and rolled out thick. Butter the inside of an iron pot, and line the sides with paste, till it reaches within one-third of the top. Then put in the pieces of terrapin, with the eggs, butter, &c., and with all the liquid. Lay among the terrapin, square pieces of paste. Then pour in sufficient water to stew the whole properly. Next, cover all with a circular lid, or top-crust of paste, but do not fit it so closely that the gravy cannot bubble up over the edges while cooking. Cut a small cross slit in the top crust. Place the pot, with the pie, over a good fire, and boil it till the whole is thoroughly done, which will be in from three quarters to an hour after it comes to a boil. Take care not to let it get too dry, but keep at hand a kettle of boiling water to replenish the pot when necessary. To ascertain if the pie is done, lift up with a fork a little of the paste, at one side, and try it low down in the pot.

It may be much improved, by mixing among the pieces of terrapins, (before putting them into the pie,) some yolks of hard-boiled eggs, grated or minced. They will enrich the gravy.

A pot-pie may be made, (a very fine one too,) of some of the best pieces of a green turtle.

A SEA-COAST PIE.--Having boiled a sufficient number of crabs and lobsters, extract all the meat from the shells, and cut it into mouthfuls. Have ready some fine large oysters drained from the liquor. Cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish with puff-paste; and put in a thick layer of crab or lobster, seasoned with a little cayenne pepper, and a grated lemon-peel. Mix it with some hard-boiled yolk of egg, crumbled fine, and moistened with fresh butter. Next, put a close layer of oysters, seasoned with pounded mace and grated nutmeg. Put some bits of butter rolled in flour on the top of the layer. Proceed in this manner with alternate layers of crab or lobster, and of oysters, till the dish is nearly full. Then pour in, at the last, a tea-cupful or more of the oyster liquor, with an equal quantity of rich cream. Have ready a thick lid of puff-paste. Put it on the pie, pressing the edges closely, so as to unite them all round; and notch them handsomely. Make a wreath of leaves cut out of paste, and a flower or knot for the centre; place them on the top-crust; and bake the pie well. While it is baking, prepare some balls made of chopped oysters; grated bread-crumbs; powdered nutmeg, or mace; and grated lemon-peel; also, some hard-boiled yolks of eggs, grated. Having fried these balls in butter, drain them, and when the pie is baked, lay a circle of them round the top, between the border of paste-leaves and the centre-knot.

This pie will be found so fine that it ought to be baked in a dish which will contain a large quantity.

TO DRESS A TURTLE.--The turtle should be taken out of water, and killed over night in winter, and early in the morning in summer. Hang it up by the hind fins, and before it has had time to draw in its neck, cut off its head with a very sharp knife, and leave the turtle suspended. It should bleed two or three hours or more, before you begin to cut it up. Then lay it on its back upon a table: have at hand several vessels of cold water, in which to throw the most important parts as you separate them; also a large boiler of hot water. Take off the fins at the joint, and lay them by themselves in cold water; next divide the back-shell from the under-shell. The upper part of the turtle is called the calipash--the under part the calipee. In cutting open the turtle, be very careful not to break the gall, which should be taken out and thrown away; if broken, its bitterness will spoil all around it. Take out the entrails and throw them away. The practice of cooking them is now obsolete. So it is with the entrails of terrapins. Using a sharp knife, cut off the fins carefully, also the liver, lungs, heart, kidneys, &c. Wash them well, and lay them in a pan of cold water, the liver in a pan by itself. If there are eggs, put them also into cold water. Having extracted the intestines, stand up the turtle on end, to let the blood run out. Afterwards cut out all the flesh from the upper and under shells, and remove the bones. Cut the calipee (or meat belonging to the under-shell) into pieces about as large as the palm of your hand, and break the shell. The calipash, or meat next the back-shell, may be cut smaller--the green fat into pieces about two inches square. Put all the meat into a large pan, sprinkle it slightly with salt, and cover it up. Lay the shells and fins in a tub of boiling water, and scald them till the scales can be scraped off with a knife, and all the meat that still adheres to the shells easily removed, as it is worth saving. Clean the fins nicely, (taking off the dark skin,) and lay them in cold water. Wipe the back-shell dry, and set it aside. Then proceed to make the soup. For this purpose, take the coarser pieces of flesh with the bone likewise. Put them into a pot with a pound of cold ham cut into pieces, and eight large calves'-feet (two sets) that have been singed and scraped, but not skinned. If you cannot conveniently obtain calves'-feet, substitute a large fore-leg or knuckle of veal. Add four onions, sliced thin; two tablespoonfuls of sweet-marjoram leaves; a large bunch of basil; a dozen blades of mace; and a salt-spoon of cayenne. The ham will make any other salt unnecessary. Pour on as much water as will completely cover the whole, and let it simmer slowly over a steady fire during five hours, skimming it well. If after a while the soup seems to be boiling away too much, replenish it with a little hot water from a kettle, kept boiling hard for the purpose. When it has simmered five hours, take up the whole, and strain the soup through a sieve into a deep pan. Wash out the soup-pot with hot water, and return the strained soup to it, with the liver, &c., cut in small pieces, and some of the best of the meat, and a portion of the green fat. Have ready two or three dozen force-meat balls, the size of a hickory nut, and made of the usual proportions of minced veal, bread-crumbs, butter, grated lemon-peel, mace, nutmeg, and beaten yolk of egg. Put them into the soup, and let it boil an hour longer; also the eggs of the turtle, or some hard-boiled yolks of eggs. After it has thus boiled another hour, add the juice and grated yellow rinds of two lemons, and a pint of Madeira. Boil the soup a quarter of an hour longer, and it will then be ready for the tureen. It must never boil hard.

In the mean time, stew in another pot the finest of the turtle-meat, seasoned with a little salt and cayenne, and a liberal allowance of sweet-marjoram leaves rubbed fine, and mixed with powdered mace and nutmeg. Add a pound of fresh butter, cut into pieces and rolled in flour. When the turtle-meat has stewed an hour, put in the green fat, and add the juice and grated yellow rinds of two lemons, and a pint or more of Madeira, and let the whole stew slowly an hour longer. While the meat is stewing, take the shell of the back; wash it clean, and wipe it dry; lay a band of puff-paste all round the inside of the shell, two inches below the edge, and two inches above it. Notch the paste handsomely, and fill the shell with the stewed turtle. Have ready the oven, heated as if for bread. Lay a large iron baking-sheet or a square pan upon four bricks (one at each corner) to elevate the turtle-shell from the floor of the oven. Place on it the shell with its contents, and let it bake till well browned on the surface. Send it to table with the shell placed on a large dish. At the other end set the tureen of soup. Have ready (on two side dishes) the fins stewed tender in a little of the soup, and the liver fried in butter.

This receipt is for a turtle of moderate size. A large one will, of course, require an increased proportion of all the articles used in seasoning it--more wine, &c. In serving up turtle at a dinner-party, let it constitute the first course, and have nothing else on the table while the turtle is there.

We have seen elegant silver turtle-dishes, representing the back-shell of the animal, superbly chased and engraved, the feet for it to stand on being paws of silver; and the fins having hollow places to hold the sauce. This was for the stew; making a dish separate from the soup, which is always sent to table in a tureen.

TURTLE PASTY.--When the meat has been all extracted, scrape and wash the large back shell of the turtle till it is perfectly clean. Make a rich puff-paste. Roll it out thin, and line with it the bottom and sides, in fact the whole of the back-shell. Having prepared and seasoned the best pieces of the turtle-meat, as in the preceding receipt, stew them till thoroughly done, and very tender, and when cool, fill the shell with them. Have ready an upper lid of the same puff-paste, rolled out rather _thick_. Cover the pie with it. Unite the edges of the upper and under crusts, very neatly, wetting your fingers with water. Then notch them handsomely all round, and cut a cross slit in the centre of the top or cover. Set it directly into a rather quick oven. Bake the crust of a light brown, and send it to table hot.

LOBSTERS.--If you buy a lobster ready boiled, see that his tail is stiff and elastic, so that when you bend it under, it springs back immediately; otherwise he is not fresh. If alive or unboiled, he will be lively and brisk in his motion when newly caught. The same with prawns, and crabs.

The heaviest lobsters are the best.

To boil a lobster, have ready a pot of fast-boiling water, very strongly salted. Put in the lobster head downward; and if the water is really hot (it is cruel to have it otherwise,) he will be dead in a moment. Crabs, of course, the same. A moderate sized lobster (and they are the best,) will be done in half an hour. A large one requires from three-quarters to an hour. Before it is sent to table, the large claws should be taken off, and laid beside it. The head also should be separated from the body, but laid so near it that the division is nearly imperceptible. The head is never eaten. Split the body, and lay it open all the way down, including the tail. If there is a good dresser of salads in the house, the lobster may be served up ready dressed, in a deep dish, seasoned with the proper condiments, after being cut small or minced, heaped up towards the centre of the dish, and decorated with the small claws laid across on the top, with the addition of green celery leaves, or parsley sprigs.