Put fifty clams into a large pot of boiling water, to make the shells open easily. Take a knuckle of veal, cut it into pieces (four calves' feet split in half will be still better) and put it into a soup-pot with the liquor of the clams, and a quart of rich milk, or cream, adding a large bunch of sweet majoram, and a few leaves of sage, cut into pieces, and a head of celery chopped small; also, a dozen whole pepper-corns, but no salt, as the saltness of the clam liquor will be sufficient. Boil it till all the meat of the veal drops from the bones, then strain off the soup and return it to the pot, which must first be washed out. Having in the mean time cut up the clams, and pounded them in a mortar, (which will cause them to flavour the soup much better,) season them with two dozen blades of mace, and two powdered nutmegs; mix with them a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and put them into the soup with all the liquor that remains about them. After the clams are in, let it boil another quarter of an hour. Have ready some thick slices of nicely-toasted bread, (with the crust removed,) cut them into small square mouthfuls; put them into a tureen; and pour the soup upon them. It will be found excellent. Oyster soup may be made in the same manner.
BAKED CLAMS.—
In taking out the clams, save several dozen of the largest and finest shells, which must afterwards be washed clean, and wiped dry. Chop the clams fine, and mix with them some powdered mace and nutmeg. Butter the sides and bottom of a large, deep dish, and cover the bottom with a layer of grated bread-crumbs. Over this scatter some very small bits of the best fresh butter. Then put in a thick layer of the chopped clams. Next, another layer of grated bread-crumbs, and little bits of butter. Then, a layer of chopped clams, and proceed in this manner till the dish is full, finishing at the top with a layer of crumbs. Set the dish in the oven, and bake it about a quarter of an hour. Have ready the clam-shells and fill them with the baked mixture, either leaving them open, or covering each with another clam-shell. Place them on large dishes, and send them to table hot.
Oysters may be cooked in a similar manner; sending them to table in the dish in which they were baked. The meat of boiled crabs may also be minced, seasoned, and dressed this way, and sent to table in the back shells of the crabs.
Clams intended for soup will communicate to it a much finer flavour, if they are previously chopped small, and pounded in a mortar.
FINE STEWED OYSTERS.—
Strain the liquor from two hundred large oysters, and putting the half of it into a saucepan, add a table-spoonful of whole mace, and let it come to a hard boil, skimming it carefully. Have ready six ounces of fresh butter divided into six balls or lumps, and roll each slightly in a little flour. Add them to the boiling oyster liquor, and when the butter is all melted, stir the whole very hard, and then put in the oysters. As soon as they have come to a boil, take them out carefully, and lay them immediately in a pan of very cold water, to plump them and make them firm. Then season the liquor with a grated nutmeg; and taking a pint and a half of very rich cream, add it gradually to the liquor, stirring it all the time. When it has boiled again, return the oysters to it, and simmer them in the creamed liquor about five minutes or just long enough to heat them thoroughly. Send them to the tea-table hot in a covered dish.
If you stew six or eight hundred oysters, in this manner, for a large company, see that the butter, spice, cream, &c., are all increased in the proper proportion.
Oysters cooked in this way make very fine patties. The shells for which must be made of puff-paste, and baked empty in very deep patty-pans, filling them, when done, with oysters.