Lowney's Cook Book / Illustrated in Colors

by Maria Willett Howard

SHELLFISH

Scalloped Oysters

• 1 quart oysters
  1 cup fine bread crumbs
  1 teaspoon salt
  ¼ cup butter
  2 tablespoons parsley
  2 tablespoons celery
  ½ teaspoon paprika
  1 cup cream
  ¼ cup wine

Clean oysters. Butter a baking dish; arrange a layer of oysters in the bottom of the dish. Mix butter and bread crumbs; sprinkle oysters with crumbs, parsley, celery, paprika, salt and two tablespoons of cream. Continue arranging in layers until dish is filled, having crumbs for the last layer. Just before baking, add wine and bake twenty minutes. Oysters are best baked in a shallow dish so as to have two layers of oysters only.

Scalloped Fish and Oysters

• 2 cups cold cooked fish
  2 cups oysters
  2 cups [White Sauce]
  1 cup buttered crumbs

Arrange fish, oysters and [White Sauce] in alternate layers. Cover with buttered crumbs and bake until crumbs are brown.

Oyster Stew

• 1 quart oysters
  1 quart milk
  4 tablespoons butter
  salt and pepper
  4 tablespoons cracker crumbs

Drain oysters from liquor; heat liquor to boiling point. Skim. Scald milk in double boiler; add liquor and oysters; cook until edges of the oysters shrivel; add butter, salt and pepper. Serve at once.

If cracker crumbs are used, combine butter and cracker crumbs and add to oyster mixture.

Oysters and oyster liquor must not be added to milk until just before serving, as the mixture is apt to curdle if the oysters are allowed to stand in the milk.

Spindled Oysters

• 1 quart oysters
  12 slices bacon
  salt, pepper
  6 squares buttered toast

Drain oysters from their liquor and dry between towels. Cut the bacon in pieces half the size of the oysters. Arrange the oysters and bacon in alternate layers on wooden skewers, being careful to pierce the hard muscle. Place in a hot pan and bake in a hot oven until bacon is done. Ten minutes should suffice.

Serve one skewerful on each slice of buttered toast. Many persons like the liquor of the oysters heated, strained, and poured over the toast just before serving.

Broiled Oysters

Look over oysters, reject shells, and dry oysters between towels. Dip in melted butter or olive oil seasoned with salt and pepper. Heat broiler; grease; arrange oysters on broiler; broil over a clear fire four to six minutes, turning often. Serve on squares or rounds of toasted bread spread with butter and slightly moistened with oyster liquor. Garnish with a sprig of parsley and one quarter slice of lemon.

Panned Oysters

Melt two tablespoons of butter in hot frying pan, add one pint of cleaned and drained oysters, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook in hot oven until edges shrivel. Serve on hot buttered squares of toast with strained liquor from oysters. Garnish with finely chopped parsley.