Handbook of practical cookery

the juices may drain out and harden the cracker-dust encasing them. Heat meantime in a stew-pan one pound of clarified fat, and when the blue smoke arises therefrom, throwin a peeled potato to keep it from burning. Upon a plate beat now the two eggs, dip the oysters one by one into them, then roll them in the bread crumbs, which have been made ready upon the kitchen-paper, and with which has been put the nutmeg, and drop them lightly into the hot clarified fat, letting them remain therein for three minutes. Before serving, put them for a moment upon a clean sheet of kitchen-paper, that it may absorb the extraneous fat. NOTES. — It is important to avoid touching the oysters with the heated hands, as it makes them both tough and heavy. Clarified fat and lard boil at about 500 degrees, which is more than double the heat of boiling water. At 375 degrees the blue smoke arises from these heated substances, which is the cookingpoint, and boiling fat or lard will burn to a cinder instantly anything that is put into it. The peeled potato prevents burning, as it furnishes an object for the fat to act upon, and so keeps it from growing hotter : a piece of hard bread will answer the same purpose. A large quantity of fat is used in this recipe, but its extravagance is tempered by the fact that the same fat may be used over and over again until the heating property is exhausted. The reason for allowing the oysters to stand for thirty minutes, after being rolled in the cracker-dust, is, that unless so permitted to harden, the egg with which the oyster is subsequently treated would not adhere, but merely draw the cracker-dust off, making it thus necessary to pack these substances on with the hands, and a heavy, soggy dish would be the consequence. Fried oysters must be quickly cooked and as quickly served. Recipe for clarifying fat on page 247. Scalloped Oysters. — Provide for this one quart of oysters, six ounces of bread crumbs, three ounces of butter, one grain cayenne, one salt-spoonful grated nutmeg, one salt-spoonful inace, one wine-glassful sherry. Bring the oysters to boiling-point, and drain from them their liquor. Melt in a small pan one ounce of the butter. When melted, skim carefully, and draw the pan on one side. OYSTERS A-LA-CREME — BROILED OYSTERS. 27 Mix well with the bread crumbs the mace, nutmeg, and cayenne. Put in a deep dish alternate layers of the oysters and seasoned bread crumbs, and over each layer of oysters distribute small pieces of the unmelted butter. When the last layer of bread crumbs is sprinkled over the top, pour over the strained liquor, the sherry, and also the melted butter. Place the dish in a moderate oven, and bake for two hours. Oysters a-la-Creme. — Materials and quantities as follows : Twenty-five large oysters, one dessert -spoonful of chopped parsley, one heaped table-spoonful of bread crumbs, three and one half ounces of .butter, one and one half ounce of flour, a piece of onion half the size of a nutmeg, one gill of cream, one half salt-spoonful of grated nutmeg, one half salt-spoonful of pepper, a piece of salt the size of a pea.