Having grated a sufficiency of stale bread, butter a deep dish, and
line the sides and bottom thickly with bread crumbs. Then put in a
layer of seasoned oysters, with a few very small bits of butter on
them. Cover them thickly with crumbs, and put in another layer of
oysters and butter, till the dish is filled up, having a thick layer
of crumbs on the top. Put the dish into an oven, and bake them a very
short time, or they will shrivel. Serve them up hot.
You may bake them in large clam shells, or in the tin scollop shells
made for the purpose. Butter the bottom of each shell; sprinkle it with
bread crumbs; lay on the oysters seasoned with cayenne and nutmeg, and
put a morsel of butter on each. Fill up the shells with a little of the
oyster liquor thickened with bread crumbs, and set them on a gridiron
over coals, browning them afterwards with a red-hot shovel. Oysters are
very nice taken whole out of the shells, and broiled.