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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.
[Illustration]
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:--