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.