Cookery and housekeeping

They require so little cooking that, if kept for four or five minutes nearly simmering, they will be ready for table, and they are quickly hardened by being allowed to boil, or by too much stewing. A little lemon-juice should be stirred quickly into the stew just as it is taken from the fire. Serve them with pale fried sippets. Oyster Toast. Beard and pound a few oysters in a mortar ; when they form a paste add a little cream, and season with pepper ; get ready some small pieces of toast ; spread the oyster paste on them, and place them for a few minutes in an oven to warm. A little finely chopped lemon-peel may be thrown upon the tops. K Oyster Vol-au-vent. Make a puff paste with three-quarters of a pound of dry sifted flour, three-quarters of a pound of fresh butter, the yolk of an ^gg, the strained juice of a lemon ; beat the Qgg first alone, then with a gill of cold water, add the lemon-juice ; put the flour into a bowl, stir in the liquid, and make it into a soft paste, touching it as little as possible ; squeeze the butter in a cloth, slightly sprinkle the paste with flour, lay on the paste, make a hole in the centre, put in the butter, turn over the edges, and roll out four times ; let the paste stand in a cold place for an hour ; roll out two or three times, then roll it the last time 1¼ inches thick ; press a vol-au-vent tin cutter quickly down, so as to take off the rough edges, and cut it in the size and shape required. Make a circular incision with a penknife, a quarter of an inch deep and hhalf an inch from the edge ; place it on a baking-tin, and bake in a hot oven for three-quarters of an hour; with a penknife take out the centre carefully, remove the soft paste, and fill the vacancy with oysters prepared as follows : — Beard three dozen oysters ; put the liquor into a saucepan with the beards, a grain of white pepper, a grain of cayenne, the thin rind of half a lemon, and the strained juice ; boil up ; knead 3 ozs. of butter with a dessert-spoonful of baked flour, and stir in ; boil till it is reduced to a quarter of a pint ; strain ; add the oysters ; simmer six minutes ; stir in a gill of very thick cream ; fill the vol-au-vent and serve on a neatly folded napkin. Oyster Sausages. Beard, rinse well in their strained liquor, and mince, but not finely, three dozen and a half of oysters, and mix them with 10 ozs. of fine breadcrumbs and 10 ozs. of beef suet, chopped extremely small ; add a salt-spoonful of salt, and one of pepper, or less than half the quantity of cayenne, twice as much pounded mace, and the third of a small nutmeg, grated ; moisten the whole with two unbeaten eggs, or with the yolks only of three, and a dessert-spoonful of the whites. When these ingredients have been well worked together and are perfectly blended, set the mixture in a cool place for two or three hours before it is used ; make it into the form of small sausages or sausage cakes ; flour and fry them in butter of a fine light brown, or throw them into boiling water for three minutes, drain, and let them become cold ; dip them into egg and breadcrumbs, and broil them gently until they are lightly coloured. A small bit should be cooked and tasted before the whole is put aside, that the seasoning may be heightened if required.