2 qts. of oysters.
1 qt. of milk.
2 tablespoonfuls butter.
1 teacupful water.
Strain the liquor from the oysters, add to it the water, and set it
over the fire to heat slowly in a covered vessel. When it is near
boiling, season with pepper and salt; add the oysters, and let them
stew until they “ruffle” on the edge. This will be in about five
minutes. Then put in the butter with the milk which has been heated in
a separate vessel, and stir well for two minutes.
Serve with sliced lemon and oyster or cream crackers. Some use mace
and nutmeg in seasoning. The crowning excellence in oyster soup is to
have it cooked just enough. Too much stewing ruins the bivalves, while
an underdone oyster is a flabby abomination. The plumpness of the main
body and ruffled edge are good indices of their right condition.
OYSTER SOUP (No. 2).
2 qts. of oysters.
2 eggs.
1 qt. of milk.
1 teacupful of water.
Strain the liquor from the oysters into a saucepan, pour in with it
the water. Season with cayenne pepper and a little salt, a teaspoonful
of mingled nutmeg, mace, and cloves. When the liquor is almost
boiling, add half the oysters chopped finely and boil five minutes
quite briskly. Strain the soup and return to saucepan. Have ready some
force-meat balls, not larger than marbles, made of the yolks of the
eggs boiled hard and rubbed to a smooth paste with a little butter,
then mix with six raw oysters chopped very finely, a little salt, and
a raw egg well beaten, to bind the ingredients together. Flour your
hands well and roll the force-meat into pellets, laying them upon a
cold plate, so as not to touch one another until needed. Then put the
reserved whole oysters into the hot soup, and when it begins to boil
again, drop in the force-meat marbles. Boil until the oysters “ruffle,”
by which time the balls will also be done. Add the hot milk.
Serve with sliced lemon and crackers. A liberal tablespoonful of butter
stirred in gently at the last is an improvement.