Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Oysters, Curried. — Place in a saucepan one table-spoonful of butter, and when it is melted stir in one tablespoonful of flour and a teaspoonful of curry powder. Add one cupful of the oyster liquor, and when the sauce is cooked add one dozen oysters to this amount of sauce, and salt to suit the taste. The oysters should cook about three minutes ; then turn into the centre of a hot platter. Serve with celery and rashers of bacon. Oysters, Devilled. — Drain two dozen large, fresh oysters, and chop them. Put a teacupful of cream on to boil. Rub a table-spoonful each of butter and flour together, and stir into the boiling milk; take from the fire, and add the oysters, the beaten yolks of two eggs, a table-spoonful of chopped parsley, with salt and pepper to taste. Have the oyster shells washed clean, fill with the mixture, sprinkle with grated bread-crumbs, arrange in a baking-pan, and set in a very quick oven to brown. Serve in shells ; garnish with parsley. Oysters, Fricassee of. — Put three dozen oysters in a saucepan with their own liquor; set on the fire; as soon as they come to a boil, skim them out ; add 2 ozs. of butter to the liquor, with a table-spoonful of flour mixed smooth in a little milk ; let cook one minute. Take from the fire; mix in the beaten yolks of three eggs, the juice of half a lemon, a little grated nutmeg with salt, and a sprinkle of cayenne. Stir all together; return to the fire; let heat, without allowing it to boil. Put in the oysters, take up, and serve immediately. Oysters, Fried — Select the largest and plumpest, drain, and spread on a cloth to absorb all the liquor ; beat until light the yolks of two or three eggs ; dip in an oyster, then into rolled cracker, again into the egg, and then into cracker. Have the butter perfectly hot, and enough in the drippingpan to cover the oysters, just as in frying doughnuts or fritters. Lay them in one at a time; when brown, turn, and brown the other side. Cooked in this manner, they are less greasy than where there is only fat enough to fry them in the ordinary way. Fried oysters should be served immediately. Oysters Fried in Batter (the old Virginia recipe). — Select two dozen large, prime oysters, and dry them on a soft cloth. Mix four tablespoonfuls of sifted flour, one tablespoonful of olive oil, a little salt, and the beaten whites of two eggs, and add enough warm water to make a batter that will wash the bowl of a spoon. Dust each oyster very lightly with salt and white or red pepper ; dip into the batter, and fry to a golden brown in deep fat. Serve on a napkin laid on a hot dish, and pass sliced lemon with them. Oyster Fritters. — Drain the liquor from two dozen oysters, boil and skim Oysters au Gratin Oysters, Pickled it. Beat three eggs with a cupful of cream, add flour to make a stiff batter, with a teaspoonful of baking-powder and a little salt and pepper. Have ready a pan of boiling fat. Drop one oyster at a time in the batter, take out and fry. Take up carefully on a skimmer, and serve immediately.