Miss Corson's practical American cookery and household management

Oysters prepared according to this recipe can be used hot or served cold, with celery and thin water-crackers, or waferlike slices of brown bread buttered. After carefully removing all bits of shell from large oysters, lay them on a sieve to drain, while preparations are made for frying them. Put over the fire a frying-kettle half full of fat to heat ; season yellow Indian meal with salt and pepper, and beat three eggs until they are quite liquid ; dip the oysters, first in the Indian meal, then in the beaten egg, and again in the meal, and then drop them into the fat after it begins to smoke, and fry them until they are golden brown ; use one hand to dip the oysters in the egg, and the other to roll them in the meal, and let the egg drain well from each oyster before returning it to the meal ; leave the oysters in a dish of meal until ready to put them into the frying-kettle ; after they are fried light brown, take them out of the fat with a skimmer, and lay them on a sieve so that they do not touch each other, until they are served. If they are to be served cold, let them become quite dry and cool ; after they are cool, they can be kept in a cool dry place, — not in the refrigerator, — until they are wanted: if they are put in a damp place, or where steam can reach them, they will become soft and unpalatable. To be acceptable cold, they must be slightly crisp, or certainly dry; a little salt may be sprinkled over them when they are dished for the table. Salt-pork drippings, or good olive-oil and lard in equal proportions, are the best fats for frying the oysters. When they are to be kept for several hours, care must be taken either to arrange them in single layers or large dishes, or to place waxed paper between them when severjj layers are put on one dish. Cracker-dust or bread-crumbs may be used instead of Indian meal ; or the oysters may simply be rolled in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, and then fried in much or little fat, only providing it is, smoking hot before they are put into it. ROAST OYSTERS. Oysters for roasting should be washed in plenty of cold water to free the shells from mud, and then placed upon a bed of hot coals, with the thick end, where the shells are united by a joint, down, so that the liquor may not all escape as the oysters open under the effect of the heat ; as fast as they open, they should be taken from the fire, and sent at once to the table. An easy way to prepare oysters is to arrange them in a dripping-pan, and place the pan over the coals, or in a very hot oven; the flavor of the oysters so cooked is good, and much of the difficulty of handling them is obviated. Still another method is to make the deep shells of oysters very hot in a pan in a hot oven, then put an oyster in each shell with a very little butter, and replace the pan in the oven for one minute ; this will curl the edges of the oysters, and they can then be transferred, in the shells, to a platter, and sent to the table. A pair of oyster-tongs is needed to handle the hot oyster-shells when the fish are roasted on the coals : in following the other methods, the hands should be protected from burning by a thick dry towel. STEWED OYSTERS.