Chop raw oysters very fine, season with pepper, salt and a little nut-
meg and four crackers pounded and sifted ; the white of an egg beaten ;
cream and butter✪ Oyster Sandwiches. When all is mixed, heat them over the fire until a
smooth paste. Spread between buttered slices of bread. Or a quart of
solid meats, a half-teacup of melted butter, the same of rich cream,
whites of three eggs and eight crackers.
TONGUE SANDWICHES.
Boil a good sized tongue four or five hours, not letting the water boil
hard, but keep it on a simmer, leave it in the pot until the water is
cold, then skin it, and when ready to make the sandwiches cut it as
thin as wafers, using a sharp, thin-bladed knife ; rub a small quantity
of mustard into a large slice of sweet butter and cut slices of bread as
thin as they can be shaved✪ Tongue Sandwiches ; spread them with the prepared butter and
lay the slices of tongue between two slices of bread ; then cut the slices
in halves.
SHELL FISH,
AND THE MANY WAYS OF COOKING THEM.
Under the head of shell-fish are classed clams, crabs, lobsters, turtles
and oysters. In choosing the latter, select those with firmly closed
shells, else the oysters are not fresh. If fresh, the shell is firmly closed ;
when the shells of oysters are opened, they are dead and unfit for food.
The small-shelled oysters, the Pyfleet, Colchester and Milford, are the
finest in flavor. Larger kinds, called rock oysters, are generally con-
sidered only fit for stewing and sauces, though some persons prefer
them to any other.
Always select the best of oysters, for it is impossible for even the best
of cooks to make a first-rate dish out of even second-rate materials. It
is just as impossible to make a first-class stew out of inferior oysters as
it is to make a first-class fry. Stewing will, of course, reduce the size
of all oysters more than frying ; but those which are used in stews
should be as large originally as those which are fried. Equally for
stews as for fries, select only those real prime oysters which are large,
SHELL FISH. 611
fresh and firm-fleshed, and which, though they will be made smaller by
stewing, still remain plump and solid. More gratification and more
nourishment will be obtained from three or four of the very best quality
large oysters than from thirty or forty of the smaller and inferior quality
which is generally served.
To pan oysters in their own juice, select a dozen of the freshest,
largest and most highly flavored oysters, such as you would for a fry ;
have a small pan about one inch deep with a handle to it ; open into
this pan your dozen oysters, also the juice of the same and the juice of
a dozen others ; in this dish you are to put no water and no milk, only
oyster juice, pure and simple ; add one ounce best butter, a little of the
best (for there are grades and adulteration even here) of black pepper
and a pinch of salt ; sprinkle on the top a small quantity of cracker
dust✪ Oysters with Butter and Cracker Dust ; place on a quick fire ; when the oysters begin to swell they are
done ; to cook to this stage will require about five minutes ; do not turn
out these oysters into another dish, but dish directly from the pan and
while they are steaming hot.
Page 504 · 3 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Chop raw oysters very fine, season with pepper, salt and a little nutmeg and four crackers pounded and sifted ; the white of an egg beaten ; cream and butter. When all is mixed, heat them over the fire until a smooth paste. Spread between buttered slices of bread. Or a quart of solid meats, a half-teacup of melted butter, the same of rich cream, whites of three eggs and eight crackers.
TONGUE SANDWICHES.
Boil a good sized tongue four or five hours, not letting the water boil hard, but keep it on a simmer, leave it in the pot until the water is cold, then skin it, and when ready to make the sandwiches cut it as thin as wafers, using a sharp, thin-bladed knife ; rub a small quantity of mustard into a large slice of sweet butter and cut slices of bread as thin as they can be shaved ; spread them with the prepared butter and lay the slices of tongue between two slices of bread ; then cut the slices in halves.
[illustration: AND THE MANY WAYS OF COOKING THEM.]
Under the head of shell-fish are classed clams, crabs, lobsters, turtles and oysters. In choosing the latter, select those with firmly closed shells, else the oysters are not fresh. If fresh, the shell is firmly closed ; when the shells of oysters are opened, they are dead and unfit for food. The small-shelled oysters, the Pyfleet, Colchester and Milford, are the finest in flavor. Larger kinds, called rock oysters, are generally considered only fit for stewing and sauces, though some persons prefer them to any other.
Always select the best of oysters, for it is impossible for even the best of cooks to make a first-rate dish out of even second-rate materials. It is just as impossible to make a first-class stew out of inferior oysters as it is to make a first-class fry. Stewing will, of course, reduce the size of all oysters more than frying ; but those which are used in stews should be as large originally as those which are fried. Equally for stews as for fries, select only those real prime oysters which are large,
fresh and firm-fleshed, and which, though they will be made smaller by stewing, still remain plump and solid. More gratification and more nourishment will be obtained from three or four of the very best quality large oysters than from thirty or forty of the smaller and inferior quality which is generally served.
To pan oysters in their own juice, select a dozen of the freshest, largest and most highly flavored oysters, such as you would for a fry ; have a small pan about one inch deep with a handle to it ; open into this pan your dozen oysters, also the juice of the same and the juice of a dozen others ; in this dish you are to put no water and no milk, only oyster juice, pure and simple ; add one ounce best butter, a little of the best (for there are grades and adulteration even here) of black pepper and a pinch of salt ; sprinkle on the top a small quantity of cracker dust ; place on a quick fire ; when the oysters begin to swell they are done ; to cook to this stage will require about five minutes ; do not turn out these oysters into another dish, but dish directly from the pan and while they are steaming hot.
Records on this page
Oyster SandwichesTongue SandwichesOysters with Butter and Cracker Dust