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.