Chapter I: Part 1

Note: Images of the original pages are available through
Internet Archive. See
https://archive.org/details/oystersfish00murr

Transcriber's note:

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).

OYSTERS AND FISH

by

THOMAS J. MURREY

Author of “Fifty Soups,” “Fifty Salads,” “Breakfast Dainties,” “Puddings and Dainty Desserts,” “The Book of Entrées,” “Cookery for Invalids,” “Practical Carving,” “Luncheon,” “Valuable Cooking Recipes,” etc.

New York Copyright, 1888, by Frederick A. Stokes & Brother 1888

DEDICATION.

_To the Inventor of the_

SHELDON CLOSE-TOP GAS-STOVE,

_Who spent the best part of his life solving the
perplexed problem of Economy in Fuel and
Labor in our homes, and to those gentlemen
connected with gas companies, who assisted
and encouraged him, this little work is
most respectfully dedicated by_

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTORY 11

THE OYSTER 11

THE OYSTER SEASON 11

OYSTERS OUT OF SEASON 12

OYSTERS PRESERVED IN SHELL 12

THE FOOD OF THE OYSTER 14

FORMATION OF THE DEEP SHELL 14

COCK OYSTERS 15

GREEN OYSTERS 15

BANQUET OYSTERS 16

ORDERING OYSTERS FOR THE FAMILY TABLE 17

HOW OYSTERS SHOULD BE OPENED 18

HOW TO SERVE RAW OYSTERS 18

COLLATION SERVICE 19

HOW TO EAT A RAW OYSTER 19

A BARREL OF OYSTERS 20

READ THIS! 20

COOKED OYSTERS 21

STEWED OYSTERS 21

PHILADELPHIA FRIED OYSTERS 22

CURRY OF OYSTERS 24

PICKLED-OYSTER OMELET 24

DEVILED OYSTERS ON TOAST 24

PICKLED OYSTERS 24

SCALLOPED OYSTERS 25

OYSTER SALAD 25

PLAIN FRIED OYSTERS 26

MISS PARLOA’S “NEW COOK-BOOK” 26

OYSTER TOAST 26

OYSTER OMELET 26

OYSTERS, BROILED 27

TRIPE WITH OYSTERS 27

OYSTERS EN BROCHETTE 27

FRIED OYSTERS 28

OYSTER AND CANNED SALMON PIE 28

OYSTER PATTIES 28

OYSTERS À LA POULETTE 29

PIE OF OYSTERS AND SCALLOPS 29

STEAMED OYSTERS 30

TO SERVE STEAMED OYSTERS 30

ROAST OYSTERS 31

BAKED OYSTERS 31

CLAMS 31

LITTLE-NECK CLAMS 31

SOFT CLAMS IN CHAFING-DISH 32

STEWED LITTLE-NECK CLAMS 33

SOFT CLAMS 33

SOFT-SHELL CLAMS SCALLOPED 33

CLAM TOAST 34

CLAM BROTH 34

CLAM FRITTERS 34

FRIED SOFT CLAMS 35

CRABS 35

HARD-SHELL CRABS 35

CRAB PATTIES, CREAM SAUCE 36

SOFT-SHELL CRABS 37

THE CARE OF SOFT CRABS 38

CRABS, SOFT-SHELL 39

CRAB CROQUETTES 39

CRAB PATTIES, À LA BECHAMEL 40

CRABS, À L’AMÉRICAINE 41

CRABS, DEVILED 41

SCALLOPS 42

SCALLOP BROTH 42

SMALL PATTIES OF SCALLOPS 43

FRIED SCALLOPS 43

SCALLOPS EN BROCHETTE 44

STEWED SCALLOPS 44

MUSSELS 44

THE MUSSEL 44

THE LOBSTER 45

REMARKS ON THE LOBSTER 45

THE SEASON FOR LOBSTER 45

SOFT-SHELL LOBSTER NOT EDIBLE 46

SELECTING LOBSTERS 46

VALUE OF THE LOBSTER AS FOOD 46

BROILED LOBSTER 47

LOBSTER CROQUETTES WITH PEASE 48

LOBSTERS EN BROCHETTE 48

DEVILED LOBSTER 49

STEWED LOBSTER, À LA CRÉOLE 49

CURRY OF LOBSTER 50

LOBSTER SALAD 50

THE OYSTER CRAB 51

TO SERVE OYSTER CRABS 52

OYSTER-CRAB OMELET 52

OYSTER-CRAB SAUCE 52

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 53

SHRIMPS 53

MARKET PRICE OF SHRIMPS 54

SHRIMP OMELET 54

SHRIMP SAUCE 54

PRAWNS 54

CURRY OF PRAWNS 55

PRAWNS, DEVILED, EN COQUILLE 55

PRAWNS, SAUTÉ, À LA MARENGO 55

PRAWN SALAD 56

CRAYFISH 56

CRAYFISH OMELET 57

SALMON 57

SALMON STEAK 57

CANNED SALMON 57

SALMON PATTIES 58

SALMON SURPRISE 59

SALMON À LA CRÉOLE 59

SALMON PIE 60

SALMON IN JELLY 60

SALMON OMELET 61

SALMON, GERMAN STYLE 61

SALMON À L’ITALIENNE 61

SALMON À LA HOLLANDAISE 62

SALMON, HUNTER’S STYLE 62

BOUILLABAISSE 63

CODFISH 63

BOILED CODFISH, OYSTER SAUCE 63

CODFISH TONGUES 64

CODFISH STEAK 64

NEW-ENGLAND CODFISH BALLS 65

BAKED COD 66

SALT CODFISH WITH CREAM 66

SCROD 67

BROOK TROUT 67

BROOK TROUT, SPORTSMAN STYLE 68

BROILED TROUT 69

BROOK TROUT, BAKED 69

BROOK TROUT, BOILED 70

MISCELLANEOUS 70

CATFISH, FRIED 70

TENDERLOIN TROUT 71

FRICASSEED EELS 71

EEL PATTIES 72

STEWED EELS, HOBOKEN TURTLE CLUB STYLE 72

PAN BASS, ANCHOVY BUTTER 73

FILLET OF FLOUNDER, TARTAR SAUCE 74

FRIED TOMCODS 75

BROILED SALT CODFISH 75

BROILED SALT MACKEREL 76

FRIED PORGIES WITH SALT PORK 77

FISH CURRIES 78

A PLAIN FISH CURRY 78

CURRY OF SCALLOPS 78

CURRY OF CRAYFISH 79

CURRY OF EELS, WITH RICE 79

CURRY OF SHAD ROE 79

CURRY OF FROGS’ LEGS 80

BROILED WEAKFISH 80

BAKED WHITEFISH, BORDEAUX SAUCE 81

HALIBUT, EGG SAUCE 82

EGG SAUCE 82

FRIED BUTTERFISH 82

BROILED SHAD 82

BAKED SHAD 83

SHAD ROE À LA POULETTE 83

BROILED ROYANS 84

BROILED SARDINES 84

BROILED SMELTS, SAUCE TARTARE 84

SMELTS FRIED, SAUCE TARTARE 85

BROILED WHITEFISH 85

SHEEP’S-HEAD WITH DRAWN BUTTER 85

DRAWN BUTTER 86

BROILED SHEEP’S-HEAD 86

INTRODUCTORY.

Would it not be beneficial, were the average American to substitute fish for the everlasting steak and chop of the breakfast-table?

For the sake of variety, if for no other reason, we should eat more fish; and it need not always be fried or broiled. A well-made fish stew or a curry should be acceptable to the majority of us, and undoubtedly would be if appetizingly prepared.

This little work does not by any means propose to exhaust the subject of sea-food, for the subject is almost inexhaustible; but it places within the reach of all a series of recipes and suggestions extremely valuable to the average housewife.

THE OYSTER.

=The Oyster Season= opens in the city of New York on the first day of September, and closes on the last day of April in each year. The annual amount of business done in the oyster trade is close on to $5,000,000. Each successive year witnesses an increase in the business.

Notwithstanding the R canon, there are thousands of persons who eat oysters at the summer resorts along the seashore throughout hot weather.

=Oysters out of Season.=--The writer does not recommend the eating of oysters out of their season, no matter how fresh they may be, or how appetizing they may appear.

To supply the demands made upon them by summer resorts, oyster-planters shift the oysters, during the spawning season, from warm shallow water to cold deep water. This checks or prevents the oysters from spawning, and to all appearance they are edible; but the writer firmly believes that interfering with the laws of nature affects the health of the oyster, and they cannot be as wholesome as planters would have us believe.

=Oysters Preserved in Shell.=--So long as the oyster retains its natural juices, it will live out of water, provided the changes in the temperature are not too sudden. The moment the oyster opens its shells, however, the juices run out, and in a short time afterward the oyster dies. To prevent the oyster opening its stony overcoat, is the object of oyster-shippers; and the Patent Office bears witness to their many devices having this object in view. Some wire the shells, others clasp or envelope the broad end of the shells with tin or other metal. No doubt these devices aid in keeping the oyster alive and fresh a little longer. Whether the nervous system of the oyster is affected by the process, is a question. Scientists tell us that oysters possess organs of sensation, and all who have handled oysters learn in time that a sudden jar or shock will kill them. The jar of the machinery of a steamboat will sometimes kill an oyster. When shipped to Europe they are ordered to be stored as far away from the machinery as possible. Some authorities claim that the oyster can hear. One cannot noisily approach an oyster-bed at feeding time without their hearing, and instantly every shell is closed. A cloud or a boat passing over an oyster-bank will cause every shell to close with proverbial tightness, and the sound of thunder will often kill them while they are in transit,--conclusive evidence that the nervous system in an oyster, while not highly developed, is of sufficient importance to merit attention from those who roughly handle oysters.

=The Food of the Oyster= consists of minute animal and vegetable organisms and small particles of organized matter. Ordinary sea-water contains an abundance of this sort of food, which is drawn into the gills with the water. As the water strains through the pores into the water tubes, the food particles are caught on the surface of the gills by a layer of adhesive slime. As soon as they are entangled, the microscopic hair-like projections on the gills strike against them in such a way as to slide them along the gills toward the mouth. When they reach the anterior ends of the gills, they are pushed off, and fall between the lips, which are also covered with thin hair-like projections, which carry the particles forward until they slide into the mouth. No wonder the intelligent tramp wished that he might become an oyster. His food would then come to him in a sort of endless progression.

=Formation of the Deep Shell.=--Although the oyster lies upon the bottom with one shell above and one below, the shells are not upon the top and bottom of the body, but upon the right and left sides. The two shells are symmetrical in the young oyster; but after it becomes attached, the lower or attached side grows faster than the other, and becomes deep and spoon-shaped, while the free valve remains nearly flat. In nearly every case the lower or deep valve is the left.

=Cock Oysters.=--There is a belief among oyster-eaters, that the dark-gray or black oysters are male oysters, and are therefore superior to the female oyster. Such misinformation was evidently promulgated by oyster-openers in anticipation of a tip for serving selected oysters. There is no truth in the assertion, however, for there are just as many black female oysters as there are black male oysters. There is no characteristic color by which a male or cock oyster can be distinguished from a female oyster. Microscopic examination, or a scientific eye, is the means of discovering the sex of an oyster.

The black-oyster romance is of ancient origin. The Roman oyster-smashers successfully “worked it” on Pliny, Horace, and other ancient writers and epicures.

=Green Oysters.=--At least a million dollars worth of oysters are annually destroyed in New-York waters by sludge acid from the oil refineries and illegal dumpings. The acid kills the oysters the instant it touches them, and turns them green. There is very little danger that a poisoned oyster will reach the consumer, but the loss to the planter is enormous.

The green tint of the oyster, or in fact any distinguished color the oyster may possess, is due to the color of its food and to the nature of the surrounding bottom. The bottom of the Shrewsbury River is mud; the oysters take on a peculiar tawny color from their muddy bed. Rockaway oysters exist on a hard sandy bottom. If the beds are covered with sea-lettuce, as they often are, the oysters take on a delicate green tint. When the lettuce is removed by a strong tide or high wind, the oysters gradually assume their white, slightly grayish color. Their shells are round, thin, and brittle. The shells from mud bottoms are long, narrow, thick, and spongy. Intruded mud is enclosed by a thin layer of pearly shell.

The oyster epicure may rest assured of one fact. No matter what the color of an oyster may be, so long as it is alive and seasonable it is wholesome. It cannot absorb enough foreign matter to injure the epicure without committing suicide, and there is no possible danger of any one _swallowing_ a dead oyster.

=Banquet Oysters.=--As served at the average public banquet, the raw oyster is a thing of terror to appetite and to weak digestive organs. When looking for one’s seat, where, through an oversight, one is not furnished with a chart of the tables, one beholds six very small emaciated oysters. The heat in the room has absorbed their moisture, afterwards the bed of fine ice on which they were placed has melted, and the water overflowed them, thereby finishing the work of destruction. One must be under the influence of the sherry and Vermouth of the reception-rooms, to be willing to begin the feast with such an introductory course. No wonder fashionable society demands a substitute for the oyster as the dinner season progresses. In the name of humanity, order the oysters to table and announce the dinner at the same time. Guests are willing to wait a few moments for toothsome oysters, provided they are direct from the ice-box.

=Ordering Oysters for the Family Table.=--Send the servant to the nearest dealer, a few minutes before the oysters are wanted, and let her wait for them. In this way one is quite sure of procuring freshly opened oysters. Many dealers begin opening oysters for their family orders hours before they are to be served; and the result is, they have lost much of their juices before being served.

Miss Parloa’s “New Cook Book” says, “Six large oysters are usually allowed each person.” This error should be corrected in future editions. Large raw oysters on the half-shell are only served at oyster-counters to countrymen, and are not served at a dinner, no matter how unpretentious or how elaborate the affair may be.

=How Oysters should be opened.=--In the author’s work on “Luncheon,” reference is made to the great care which should be exercised in opening oysters; and it will bear repeating. Reject all oysters opened by the “smashing” process. The shells are not only broken and ragged, but, should a person swallow a ragged splinter of oyster-shell, there is great danger of its killing him. Insist on it that your oysters are opened by the so-called “stabbing” process.

=How to serve Raw Oysters.=--If for a quiet family affair, where “opened” oysters are used, keep the plates in ice-water, and dry them before placing the oysters on them. For more pretentious affairs, but where fancy oyster-plates are not a part of the dinner service, use soup-plates. Fill them with fine cracked ice, place a dainty doily over each, and set the oysters on top of the doily. The lemon should be served on a side-dish, and not in the centre of the dish as though one were dining in a restaurant. Four small Rockaways are sufficient to serve at the ordinary course dinner. In nine cases are out of ten, Rockaways are served instead of the Blue Points. It is therefore advisable to order the former; the dealer might make a mistake if he had them in stock, and send the latter.

It is quite English to serve raw oysters on the flat half-shell, but it is quite American to serve them on the deep shell. The American way is the best.

=Collation Service.=--At evening collations, the oysters are served in the centre of a block of ice. A clear, square block of ice is selected, and a cavity or receptacle is made in it by the aid of a hot flat-iron held close to the ice. If one has patience, the cavity may be shaved out with an ice shave; if a pick is used, one is likely to split the cake of ice. An ice boat is easily formed by holding a hot flat-iron to a long piece of ice. Holes may be made through the bottom of the block of ice, and filled with brilliant flowers; and the outer sides and top should be handsomely decorated with flowers and smilax. If electric lights are used in the house, it is an easy matter to place them in the cake of ice: the effect is striking. The wires are carried from the room below the dining-room, or under the carpet.

=How to eat a Raw Oyster.=--Avoid as much as possible the use of condiments, when eating oysters. They were never intended as an accompaniment of the oyster, and are only used by country people. A suspicion of lemon; a dash of salt when the dealer has kept them covered with cracked ice, and the descending ice-water washed out all sea flavor; and, for palates grown callous, a dash of cayenne. Such abominations as ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, etc., should never be used. Do not bolt the oyster, but masticate it; and one will soon learn to tell the different oysters by their different flavors. By bolting them, one will never know how to thoroughly appreciate them.

=A Barrel of Oysters.=--Persons living away from the city are advised to purchase oysters by the barrel. If kept with the deep shell down, and in a cool place, they will live a long time. The novice is likely to bruise fingers in vain attempts to open them; but, like carving, the opening of oysters should be part of a man’s education. Then there is the charm of roasting the oysters in the old-fashioned fire-place. Here the novice may burn a finger or two, but then it’s fun for the youngsters.

=Read this!=--In W. Mattieu Williams’s “Chemistry of Cookery,” I find the following: “More than half a century has elapsed since Dr. Beaumont published the results of his experiments on Alexis St. Martin. These showed that fresh raw oysters required two hours and fifty-five minutes to digest, and stewed fresh oysters three and a half hours for digestion; against one hour for boiled tripe, and three hours for roast or boiled beef or mutton.”

The general impression among the people is, that raw oysters digest almost as soon as they become of the same temperature of the stomach.

COOKED OYSTERS.

=Stewed Oysters.=--Boil half a pint of milk; add to it eleven good-sized oysters, a walnut of butter, a dash of salt and of pepper. Allow the milk to boil up just once, and serve.

The average cook puts the oysters on first, and after they boil cold milk is added. When the milk boils, the stew is served. The result of such treatment of the oyster causes it to shrivel so that it is hardly recognizable, and a good-sized oyster becomes a mere sprat. From this process of cooking originated the ancient moth-eaten jokes about church-fair stews.

Cooked as in the foregoing recipe, the oyster retains its plump characteristics.

=Philadelphia Fried Oysters.=--The author originally published this recipe in the New York “Evening Sun” by request.

The average New Yorker may call the City of Brotherly Love a sleepy sort of a place, but it is wide enough awake gastronomically. It has within its city limits cooks who prepare fried oysters that fairly melt in one’s mouth. They are so delicate that there is not a pang of dyspepsia in a whole winter’s supply of the toothsome dainties. The reputation of Finneli’s Philadelphia fried oysters extends from Maine to California; and immense sums have been offered for the recipe, but its owner would not sell his secret at any price.

Beat up three eggs thoroughly; add half a pint of oyster-juice, a pepper-spoonful of cayenne, a saltspoonful of black pepper, a tablespoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of English mustard. Work the mixture to a batter, and gradually add a gill of oil. Now comes the more particular part of the formula. Cover a board or part of a table with a layer of cracker-crumbs half an inch deep. Drain fifty oysters free from liquid, place them on the cracker-crumbs, and dredge over them more cracker-crumbs. See to it that one oyster is not on top of another. Pick up each oyster by its beard, and dip it in the batter. Have ready a quantity of bread-crumbs grated from the white part of stale bread; spread this out on the table, and after the oysters have been dipped in the batter lay them carefully on the bread-crumbs two inches apart. After they are all spread out, turn them over neatly, which will bread-crumb the other side. Dip them in the batter again by taking hold of the beard, and again spread them out on the bread-crumbs. Under no circumstances place one oyster on top of another, or in any way press them together; this would make them heavy. When the fat is so hot that the smoke from it would light a match, then fry them by again taking hold of the beard, one at a time, and dropping them into the fat. When they are dark brown, take them up, and strew over them a quantity of salt.

The secret is in carefully handling the oyster after it has been breaded. How differently New York restaurants serve fried oysters! In almost every eating place in the city, one sees piles of oysters covered with a batter that plainly shows the cook purposely pressed them between his hands. When served they look more like liver-pads than human food. Nothing short of a human ostrich could possibly digest them. The Philadelphia oyster, however, is a culinary poem.

=Curry of Oysters.=--Put an ounce of butter in a pan; add to it a teaspoon of curry-powder, and water enough to prevent burning. Put fifteen oysters in just water enough to cover them, simmer three minutes, and drain; thicken the broth with a teaspoonful of flour, salt to taste, stir this into the curry; add the oysters, simmer a moment, and serve with boiled rice.

=Pickled-Oyster Omelet.=--Rinse six spiced or pickled oysters in cold water. Divide an ounce of butter into little balls, and roll them in flour; put them in a saucepan, heat gradually, and whisk to a cream; add a gill of hot water, salt and pepper. Cut the oysters in two, and add to the butter. Prepare an omelet in the usual manner; before folding, add the oysters; turn out on a hot dish, and serve.

=Deviled Oysters on Toast.=--Mix together a heaping saltspoonful of mustard flour, half a saltspoonful each of white pepper and salt, and the yolk of one egg. Dip six oysters in the paste, then in fine crumbs, and broil over a moderate fire. When done, arrange on toast, and squeeze over them the juice of half a lemon.

=Pickled Oysters.=--A few pickled oysters may be served instead of clams during warm weather. Scald a quart of oysters a moment, drain, and put them in jars. To a pint of oyster liquor, add half a pint of hot water and half a pint of hot vinegar; pour over the oysters; add three cloves, four whole peppers, a small bit of mace, and a slice of lemon, to each jar. This will be sufficient for two ordinary fruit-jars.

=Scalloped Oysters.=--Put in the bottom of a yellow dish two ounces of sweet butter, divided into little pieces. Add a layer of raw oysters, and cover them with cracker-dust or bread-crumbs, and add salt and pepper to taste; another layer of oysters, and so on until the dish is full, the last or top layer to be crumbs, and between each layer there should be a small amount of butter. Moisten the ingredients with a liberal quantity of oyster liquid, put small butter balls on top of the dish, and bake a delicate brown color. Oysters were formerly baked in a scalloped or shell-shaped dish, hence the name.

=Oyster Salad.=--Boil two dozen small oysters for five minutes in water enough to cover them; add a little salt and a tablespoonful of vinegar; drain and cool. Put into a salad-bowl the centre leaves of two heads of cabbage lettuce, add the oysters whole, pour over them a mayonnaise; garnish with oyster-crabs, hard-boiled eggs, and, if liked, a few anchovies cut into fillets.

=Plain Fried Oysters.=--As a rule, fried oysters are not served as a breakfast dish, owing to the coating with which they are usually surrounded. Served plain, however, they are quite acceptable. Dry them well in a napkin, and roll them in a little flour to insure that they are quite dry, then cook them in a very little hot dripping.

Miss Parloa’s “New Cook-Book” says, “a quart of oysters is enough for a party of ten” (p. 118). There are from twenty to twenty-five oysters in a quart, rarely more than this.

=Oyster Toast.=--Select fifteen plump oysters; chop them fine, and add salt, pepper, and a suspicion of nutmeg. Beat up the yolks of two eggs with a gill of cream; whisk this into the simmering oysters. When set, pour the whole over slices of buttered toast.

=Oyster Omelet.=--Stew six oysters in their own liquor for five minutes; remove the oysters, and thicken the liquid with a walnut of butter rolled in flour; season with salt and cayenne; whisk this to a cream. Chop the oysters, and add them to the sauce; simmer until the sauce thickens. Beat up four eggs lightly, and add a tablespoonful of cream; turn out into a hot pan, and fry a light gold-color. Before folding the omelet entirely, place the oysters with part of the sauce within, and turn it over on a hot dish. The remainder of the sauce should be poured round it.

=Oysters Broiled.=--Rub the bars of a wire broiler with a little sweet butter; dry twelve large, plump oysters in a napkin, and place them on the broiler; brush a little butter over them, and broil over a fire free from flame and smoke. When done on both sides, arrange them neatly on toast; pour a little well-seasoned melted butter over them, and serve.

Do not bread-crumb oysters intend for broiling.

=Tripe with Oysters.=--Tripe, when properly prepared by a simple process, is very nutritious and easily digested.

Cut up half a pound of well-washed tripe; simmer for three-quarters of an hour in water slightly salted; take out the tripe; add to the broth a little butter rolled in flour, salt and pepper; add a little more flour if not thick enough. Return the tripe and a dozen oysters; simmer for a few minutes longer, and serve.

=Oysters en Brochette.=--Select one dozen choice oysters; plunge them into hot water a second to make them firm (this process is called blanching), then drain, and dip them into melted butter; arrange them on skewers with alternate layers of neatly sliced bacon; broil over a moderate fire. When done, add maitre-d’hôtel butter to them, and serve on the skewers.

=Fried Oysters.=--Beat up the yolks of four eggs with three tablespoonfuls of sweet oil, and season them with a teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of cayenne pepper; beat up thoroughly. Dry twelve fat oysters on a napkin; dip them in the egg batter, then in cracker-dust; shake off the loose cracker-dust, dip them again in the egg batter, and lastly roll them in fine _bread-crumbs_. Fry in very hot fat, using fat enough to cover them. The oil gives them a nice flavor.

=Oyster and Canned Salmon Pie.=--One pound of best canned salmon, one pint of solid oysters, half a pint of oyster liquid; cover the bottom of the dish with neat pieces of the salmon, season with salt and pepper and an ounce of butter rolled in flour, add a few oysters, and so on until the ingredients are used. Pour in the liquid of both, and cover the top with paste. Bake in a moderate oven. There should be liquid enough to have the ingredients moist when served.

=Oyster Patties.=--Roll out a pound of light puff-paste, half an inch in thickness; cut it into rounds with a cake-cutter two inches in diameter; press a small cutter one inch in diameter, on each round, one-fourth of an inch deep. Place them on a buttered tin, brush a little beaten egg over them, and bake in a quick oven. When done, remove the centre and a little of the inside. Scald (or, as it is called, blanch) three dozen oysters; drain. Put into a saucepan two ounces of butter, whisk it to a cream; add a teaspoonful of flour, stir free from lumps; add a heaping saltspoonful of salt, and a pepperspoonful of white pepper; whisk into it half a pint each of hot cream and the oyster liquor; allow it to simmer a few minutes and to thicken; then add the oysters and a “squeeze” of lemon-juice; when hot fill the shells, and serve. If nutmeg is not objected to, a little may be used.

=Oysters à la Poulette.=--Blanch (scald) a dozen oysters in their own liquor; drain them, and add to the liquor, salt, half an ounce of butter, the juice of half a lemon, a gill of cream, and a teaspoonful of dissolved flour. Beat the yolk of one egg, and add to the sauce. Stir until the sauce thickens; place the oysters on a hot dish, pour the sauce over them, add a very little chopped parsley, and serve.

=Pie of Oysters and Scallops.=--Take one pint of fresh scallops, and wash them in cold water; drain, and dry them in a napkin. Cut a few slices of fat bacon in strips small enough to insert the ends in a larding-needle; lard the scallops with them, and dredge them slightly with flour. Select one quart of fat oysters; line a baking-dish with puff-paste; add the scallops and oysters in layers; season with salt, pepper, and a dash of mace. Divide an ounce of butter into little balls, roll them in flour, and put them between the layers; add the oyster liquor. Cover with a top crust; bake forty minutes in a moderate oven.

=Steamed Oysters.=--Wash and scrub the shells thoroughly, and rinse them off in cold water. Put them in a steamer, large or deep shell _down_. Put the steamer on top of a pot of boiling water; steam about six minutes, or until the shells separate. Have ready a hot dish containing melted butter seasoned with a dash of Worcestershire, lemon-juice, salt and cayenne. Remove them from the steamer with gloved hands, and pick out the oysters with a flat knife, saving all the juice possible. Dip the oysters in the butter as you open them, and the number one can eat is surprising.

=To serve Steamed Oysters.=--Steam them as in the foregoing recipe. At each guest’s place at table have ready little saucers containing a quantity of the hot melted butter. Remove the flat shell, and serve the oyster in the lower shell; send about six oysters to each guest at a time.

=Roast Oysters.=--Clean the shells thoroughly, and place them on the coals in an open fire-place, or remove the top of range, and put them on the live coals, until they snap open, which they will soon do. Care must be exercised not to burn fingers.

At evening, young folks like the fun of roasting oysters in the furnace below stairs, and eating them from the shell as fast as the host can open them.

=Baked Oysters.=--Clean the shells thoroughly, and fill a dripping-pan with them, deep shell down. Look at them after ten minutes. If the shells are all opened, they are cooked enough. Melted butter, nicely seasoned, is the only sauce to serve with them.

CLAMS.

=Little-Neck Clams.=--From the first of September until the first of May in the following year, the clam--which is richer in nutrition than the oyster--is as meek and as gentle as a clam can be. Yet it submits to all sorts of indignities from the oyster, and has never been known to talk back during the period mentioned. After the first of May, however, its manner changes, and it assumes metropolitan airs. It lords it over the oyster as a bantam struts around a helpless foe; and it plainly intimates to the oyster that moving-day was invented to celebrate its departure.

After May 1, the clam must be recognized as the _avant-coureur_ of all dainty feasts. No summer dinner or supper of any pretensions is considered complete without the small clam. All the small clams in market are supposed to come from Little Neck, Long Island. Not one-quarter of the supply comes from this locality.

=Soft Clams in Chafing-Dish.=--Select a dozen large Guilford clams, wash them thoroughly, and plunge them into boiling water for a moment. Drain and open them, and use the round plump part only. Put in a chafing-dish a pat of butter, and when quite hot add a dash of flour, and cayenne to suit the taste; add the clams, and when they are slightly cooked add a gill of light sherry. Cover the dish, and allow it to simmer five minutes. Have ready three slices of toast, put four clams upon each slice, add a little of the hot sherry, and serve.

=Stewed Little-Neck Clams.=--Get two dozen freshly opened, _very_ small clams. Boil a pint of milk, a dash of white pepper, and a small pat of butter. Now add the clams. Let them come to a boil, and serve. Longer boiling will make the clams almost indigestible.

=Soft Clams.=--Select a dozen soft-shell clams; wash them well; remove the shells; trim off the tough neck; place each clam on a half-shell, and add to each half a teaspoonful of finely-chopped bacon, a little cayenne, a very small bit of onion, and a pat of butter rolled in flour; strew over the top a little grated Parmesan cheese, and bake to a delicate brown. Cracker-crumbs may be used instead of the cheese if preferred.

=Soft-Shell Clams, Scalloped.=--Purchase a dozen large soft clams in the shell, and three dozen opened clams. Ask the dealer to open the first dozen, care being used not to injure the shells, which are to be used in cooking the clams. Clean the shells well, and put two soft clams on each half-shell; add to each a dash of white pepper and half a teaspoonful of minced celery. Cut a slice of fat bacon into the smallest dice, add four of these to each shell, strew over the top a thin layer of cracker-dust, place a pat of table butter on top, and bake in the oven until brown. They are delightful when properly prepared.

=Clam Toast.=--Chop up two dozen small clams into fine pieces; simmer for thirty minutes in hot water enough to cover them. Beat up the yolks of two eggs; add a little cayenne and a gill of warmed milk; dissolve half a teaspoonful of flour in a little cold milk; simmer all together; pour over buttered toast, and serve.

=Clam Broth.=--Procure three dozen Little-Neck clams in the shell; wash them well in cold water; put them in a saucepan, cover with a quart of hot water; boil fifteen minutes; drain; remove the shells; chop up the clams, and add them to the hot broth with a pat of butter; salt if necessary, and add a little cayenne; boil ten minutes, pour into a soup-tureen, add a slice of toast, and send to table. This is the mode adopted when we do not have a clam-opener in the house.

Raw, freshly opened clams should be chopped fine and prepared in the manner above described. The large clams are better for chowders than for stews and broth.

=Clam Fritters.=--Chop medium fine twenty-five large quahaugs, or seventy-five Little Necks. To a pint of flour add the beaten yolks of three eggs, half a teaspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of lemon-juice, a dash of cayenne, and an ounce of melted butter. Mix well, and make a batter by adding about a gill of milk. Add the clams, and if the batter is too thick add a little of the clam broth. To make them light, beat the mixture well; drop spoonfuls in hot fat, and fry brown, as you would doughnuts.

=Fried Soft Clams.--=Select half a dozen of large Guilford clams. Remove the shells, and trim off the dark tough parts. Cut into dice a quarter of a pound of salt pork, and fry it. In the pork-fat fry the clams, but first dredge them with flour. Serve with a slice of broiled or fried fat pork.

CRABS.

=Hard-shell Crabs.=--The common blue crab is the species of the crab family which we are most familiar with. We remember how rapidly they darted away from us when we pointed the net towards them, when on our summer vacation. We also have vivid recollections of their anxiety to shake hands with us when in captivity.

Hard crabs are to be had during almost the entire season, and the average price asked for them is $3.00 per hundred. Those found in market in winter were raked out of the mud, where they had buried themselves until the advent of warm weather.

Select a dozen hard crabs, and rinse them well in fresh water. Have ready a kettle two-thirds full of boiling water, slightly salted; plunge them into it, and boil them for about twelve minutes; drain, and when cool put them in the ice-box to become cold.

After the theatre, return home for supper, instead of patronizing the restaurant, and serve the crabs with sandwiches of buttered bread. A light sauterne may be served with them, if not objected to.

=Crab Patties, Cream Sauce.=--Roll out a pound of light puff-paste, half an inch in thickness. Cut it into rounds with a cake-cutter two inches in diameter. Press a small cutter one inch in diameter, on each round, one-fourth of an inch deep. Place them on a buttered tin, brush a little beaten egg over them, and bake in a quick oven. When done, remove the centre, and a little of the inside.

Put into a saucepan half an ounce of butter, half an onion minced, half a pound of minced raw veal, and a small carrot shredded. Toss about for two or three minutes to fry, but not to color; then add two tablespoonfuls of flour. Mix it well with the other ingredients, and add three pints of hot water, a pint of boiling cream, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a saltspoonful of white pepper. Simmer one hour, and strain into a saucepan. Add to each pint of it half a gill of warm cream. Place back on range again, and simmer until reduced enough to coat the spoon, then strain into a crock, and whisk until it is cold. This is done to prevent the formation of a thick top. At this season of the year this is an excellent sauce to have on hand for patties, white fish sauces, and also for meat sauces. When wanted for patties, melt an ounce of butter. While whisking it, gradually add a pint of the sauce. Mix it with a quart of prepared crab-meat, obtainable at the grocer’s. When hot, fill the shells with it.

=Soft-shell Crabs.=--When the blue crab is desirous of increasing his growth, he sheds his shell, and for a short period is perfectly helpless. The male usually retires to a secluded spot out of the reach of eels and other enemies, but the female soft shell is protected by a male companion whose shell is hard. At Sheepshead Bay these are called elopers or double crabs. As the tide changes, the soft shell begins to harden, when it is called “paper-shell,” shedder, or feeler. Before reaching its normal condition, the crab is called a buckler, and is only used as bait.

=The Care of Soft Crabs.=--Soft crabs require delicate handling and much care. They deteriorate rapidly after leaving the water, and are often killed in transit by the sudden jarring of the train. If a little care is exercised, they may be kept alive from six to ten days. First select vigorous crabs, remove them from the crate, and give them a bath in water slightly salted. Clean the crate thoroughly, renew or wash the seaweed which accompanies them. Strew over the bottom of the crate a layer of the seaweed, and place the crabs in the crate in layers, faces upward with side spines touching each other, and alternated with layers of seaweed. When the crate is full, cover it with more seaweed, sprinkle salt water over all, and set the crate in a dark, cool place. Sprinkle salt water over them from day to day, and renew the bath and fresh sea-tangle about every other day. Treated this way, they will keep in the hottest weather. One of the principal objects in covering them with seaweed is to keep the light from them. Sudden flashes of lightning, if seen by them, would frighten them to death. Their sensitive organization cannot even stand the rumbling of thunder, and they should be stored away where they cannot hear it distinctly. The only care required in cleaning them for the table is to remove the feathery gill-like formations under the side spines, and the sand-pouch. Soft crabs are too delicate morsels to cover with batter.

=Crabs, Soft-shell.=--These should be cooked as soon as possible after being caught, as their flavor rapidly deteriorates after being exposed to the air. Select crabs as lively as possible; remove the feathery substance under the pointed sides of the shells; rinse them in cold water; drain; season with salt and pepper; dredge them in flour, and fry in hot fat.

Many serve them rolled in eggs and cracker-dust; but thus they are not as good.

=Crab Croquettes.=--Take one pound of crab-meat; gently press out the juice, and put it in a bowl with a tablespoonful of fine crumbs, half a teaspoonful of salt, half a saltspoonful of pepper, a dash of anchovy essence, the yolks of two eggs, and a very little cold water. If the eggs are not enough to make it the proper consistency, bind the ingredients together, and place on ice until wanted; then work into corks or cone-shaped forms, dip them in beaten egg, then in crumbs, and fry in hot fat.

=Crab Patties, à la Bechamel.=--Prepare the shells the same as for oyster patties (which see). Put into a saucepan half an ounce of butter, half a medium-sized onion minced, half a pound of minced raw veal, one small carrot shredded; toss about for two minutes to fry, but not to color; add two tablespoonfuls of flour, stir it about with the vegetables; then add three pints of hot water, or if convenient use hot soup-stock instead; add a pint of boiling cream. Season with half a teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of white pepper. Simmer one hour, and strain into a saucepan. Add to each pint of sauce half a wineglassful of cream. Simmer until reduced enough to coat a spoon; strain it again into a crock, and whisk it until cold, to prevent a thick top from forming. When wanted for patties, or any thing else, boil one pint of it with an ounce of butter, whisking it thoroughly. Prepare a quart of solid crab-meat, either picked from the shells or purchased already prepared; add it to a pint of the sauce; strew in a few shredded mushrooms: fill the crab-shells with this, and serve. On fast-days, omit veal and stock from meats, and use milk instead.

[This very excellent sauce was named after the Marquis de Bechamel, a worthless court-lounger and steward under Louis XIV. Why his unsavory memory has been perpetuated by a gastronomic monument of worth, is one of those inexplicable historical facts that students of the art of cookery are continually stumbling upon. The close observer will not fail, however, to discover that nearly all dishes named after old French celebrities were stolen bodily from old Venetian and Provençal books of cookery, and were re-baptized after some of the most notorious profligates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Many of these old cook-books, like “Opusculum de Obsoniis de Honesta Voluptate,” a volume printed at Venice, 1475 (the first cookery-book published), and others, contain recipes almost identical with French cookery of the past few centuries.]

=Crabs, à l’Américaine.=--Pick out the meat from the shells of four dozen boiled hard-shell crabs; squeeze out the water gently; put the meat in a bowl, and add the yolks of two raw eggs, salt, cayenne, and a very little chopped parsley, and two tablespoonfuls of bread-crumbs; roll the mixture into small balls or cakes; dip in egg batter, roll in cracker-crumbs, and fry to a delicate brown. They may be served plain or with tomato sauce.

=Crabs, Deviled.=--Pick out the meat of four dozen boiled hard-shell crabs, put it into a bowl, and add a half-pint of mayonnaise. Mix carefully with your hand; wash a dozen of the shells, put a little of the mixture into each; grate a loaf of dry bread, season a pint of it with salt and pepper, sprinkle it over the crabs evenly; make twelve little balls of butter about the size of hickory-nuts; put one on top of each crab, and bake in a quick oven.

SCALLOPS.

The scallop-shell is familiar to even the children who have visited the seashore, and the novice wonders why so small a tidbit should require so large a shell. The edible part of the scallop is only the powerful central muscle by which the mollusk opens and closes its shell. The medium-sized scallops are the best. The very large and very white variety are more than likely to have been inflated and bleached by the aid of saleratus.

Scallop-shells were extensively used in ancient cookery, and gave to various dishes the prefix “scalloped.”

=Scallop Broth.=--The peculiar flavor of scallops is quite attractive to the convalescent, and a broth made from them is nourishing; but care should be exercised in selecting the shell-fish. To improve their appearance, shippers add quantities of saleratus to the scallops, which has the effect of bleaching them, and increasing their size: this custom may please the dealers, but not consumers. Select medium-sized scallops of a natural creamy color, wash them, and cut them into small pieces. To half a pint of these, add half a pint of warm water and half a pint of milk, a “pea” of butter, and a pinch of salt; simmer for twenty minutes; strain and serve.

A pint of milk and no water may be used if the patient desires it.

=Small Patties of Scallops.=--Wash a pint of scallops, drain, cut them up, and scald them; then put them in just milk enough to prevent burning. Add salt and white pepper, simmer until quite tender, and thicken with half a teaspoonful of flour dissolved in cold water. Pour this mixture in small patty-shells (see recipe for oyster patties), and serve after the soup and before the fish, or as an entrée.

=Fried Scallops.=--Rinse a pint of scallops in cold water slightly salted, then dry them in a napkin, and dredge them slightly with flour. Fry them in pork-fat. Egg batter and crumbs are not recommended.

=Scallops en Brochette.=--Drain twenty-four medium-sized scallops in a napkin. Parboil them a moment. When cool arrange them on four skewers, six on each, alternated with thin slices of bacon the size of the scallops in width. Brush over the scallops a little melted butter, and broil. When done, serve with tufts of watercresses and lemon.

=Stewed Scallops.=--Scald fifteen scallops, and put them into a stewpan with half a pint of boiling milk, a dash of cayenne, and a saltspoonful of salt. Just before serving, add very little table butter.

MUSSELS.

=The Mussel= is called the poor man’s oyster; but why the poor should have a monopoly of this very useful shellfish, the writer is at a loss to comprehend. During warm weather the spiced mussel is a treat: it may have the honor of ushering in a family dinner instead of the clam, and at collations and suppers it should be welcome. As they may be purchased at from eighteen to twenty-five cents per quart, it is a waste of time to pickle them at home, unless living at the seashore.

THE LOBSTER.

=Remarks on the Lobster.=--It takes a lobster about five years to arrive at maturity, or over ten inches in length. The spawning season depends upon the temperature of the water. Along the Sound, the season begins in June, and ends in September.

=The Season for Lobster.=--Lobsters are at their best before the spawning season. They are then filled with roe, or coral as the red spawn is called by some. This is a great delicacy, and is highly esteemed by epicures. After the spawning season, which is late in the summer, they are in very poor condition, and should not be offered for sale until cool weather.

The green part in the body of the lobster is called the tom-alley by New-England folks. It is excellent eating.

The external spawn adhering to the tail of the female lobster, when not highly developed, is edible, and is used in garnishing and making lobster butter, paste, and cardinal-fish sauces.

It is a curious fact, that the lobster changes or re-makes a shell from eight to ten times the first year, five to seven the second, three to four the third, and from two to three the fourth year. So says Professor G. O. Sars of Norway, about the European lobster, whose habits agree more or less closely with those of the American lobster.

=Soft-shell Lobster not edible.=--After the fifth year the change of shell is only annual. A soft-shell or shedder lobster, unlike the soft-shell crab, is not edible, and if eaten is likely to produce ill effects. In a soft condition the lobster itself is sick, and is therefore unfit for food.

=Selecting Lobsters.=--Always select a firm shell, of a deep dark-green color. Light-colored, thin-shelled lobsters are likely to be lean and poor. When plunged into the boiling water, the joints contract, and the tail draws under, provided the lobster was alive at the time of immersion. If dead when boiled, the tendons are relaxed, the claws hang loosely, the tail will not possess a spring-like tenacity when straightened out. Select the former, and reject the latter.

=Value of the Lobster as Food.=--According to Professor Atwater of Middletown, Conn., the nutritive value of the flesh of the lobster, compared with beef as a standard and reckoned at 100, is 61 to 97. Forty per cent of the lobster is edible, the remainder is shell and waste.

Buckland says, “That phosphorus exists in large quantities, may be easily proved. A lobster in hot weather, when it ceases to be fresh, assumes a highly phosphorescent appearance when seen in the dark, equal if not superior to that of a glow-worm or luminous centipede. This light increases by friction.... The presence of phosphorus in the lobster is of great importance to the consumers of these sea luxuries. There is no substance which conveys phosphorus so readily into the human system in an agreeable form, and which the system so readily and quickly assimilates, as the flesh of crabs and lobsters.”

=Broiled Lobster.=--Select alive and active lobster not less than ten and a half inches long. (If below this measurement, the dealer should be arrested for breaking the law which protects the lobster.) Split it in two lengthwise, which instantly kills it. Remove the entrail through the fleshy part of the tail, and the crop or stomach near the head. This done, there are two ways of preparing it for table. One is as follows:--

Remove the flesh from the tail, and brush over it a little melted butter or olive-oil; broil it gently, but not too well done. Heat the shell, put the meat back in the shell again, add more butter, salt, pepper, and serve on hot plates. The body parts may be boiled, and furnish dainty pickings for a late meal.

The other way is that which is generally adopted by restaurants. Brush a little butter over the entire half of the green lobster; broil the shell side thoroughly first, then turn, and broil the other. Serve with maitre-d’hôtel sauce.

A lobster that has once been boiled and then broiled is so thoroughly over-cooked as to be very indigestible.

=Lobster Croquettes, with Pease.=--Boil one-half pint of milk, thicken it with a tablespoonful of flour, and let it become cold. Mince the meat of a one-pound can of lobster, or one pound of fresh lobster; when very fine, add a saltspoonful of salt and half a saltspoonful of white pepper. Moisten the lobster mince with the thickened milk, and work the whole to a paste; add very little bread-crumb if too thin; let it become amalgamated over the range, and place in the ice-box until wanted; then shape it into neat rolls or cones; dip them in egg and crumbs, and fry in plenty of hot fat. Arrange the forms neatly on a dish, put round them a border of pease, and serve.

=Lobsters en Brochette.=--Instead of boiling the lobster-tails, cut them in pieces, and arrange these on small skewers, alternated with small pieces of bacon; brush melted butter over them, and either broil or bake them; serve with sauce tartare (which see on p. 84).

=Deviled Lobster.=--Take two live lobsters, remove the tails, split them in two, and make several incisions in them crosswise. Mix together half a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful each of dry mustard and curry, and half a saltspoonful of white pepper, add a tablespoonful of oil; mix, spread it over the lobsters, and broil them. When done, return to the shells, which should have been kept hot for the purpose; pour a little melted butter over them, and serve.