(b). The American Soup.—Take half a pint of good fresh milk, or cream if possible; three ounces of good butter; boil this together, beat it up with the yolks of three eggs, and put into it six or twelve oysters with their beards and liquor; boil this up again, and in serving it up put into it a little cayenne pepper and a few drops of lemon juice. This soup is delicate; but no prejudice! Everybody must try it first. For invalids, butter, eggs, and pepper are omitted.
(c). The Holstein Soup.—Take good beef-stock, one-eighth of a pound of Sherry or Madeira, burnt flour, and proceed as with (a); and then beat it up with the yolks of two or three eggs. (The beard and the liquor must always be made use of, as they impart the strongest flavour of the oyster.)
6. Oyster Sauce.—I cannot do better than copy Dr. Kitchener's valuable recipe for making oyster sauce, which was one of the great luxuries at the table of that celebrated gastronome:—"Choose plump and juicy natives for this purpose; do not take them out of their shells till you put them into the stew-pan. To make good oyster sauce for half a dozen hearty fish-eaters, you cannot have less than three or four dozen oysters; save their liquor, strain it, and put it and them into a stew-pan; as soon as they boil, and the fish plump, take them off the fire, and pour the contents of the stew-pan into a sieve over a clean basin; wash the stew-pan out with hot water, and put into it the strained liquor, with about an equal quantity of milk, and about two and a half ounces of butter, with which you have well rubbed a large table-spoonful of flour; give it a boil up, and pour it through a sieve into a basin, that the sauce may be quite smooth, and then back again into the saucepan; now shave the oysters, and (if you have the honour of making sauce for "a Committee of Taste," take away the gristly part also) put in only the soft part of the oysters; if they are very large, cut them in half, and set them by the fire to keep hot; 'if they boil after, they will become hard.' If you have not liquor enough, add a little melted butter, or cream, or milk beat up with the yolk of an egg (this must not be put in till the sauce is done). Some barbarous cooks add pepper, or mace, the juice or peel of a lemon, horse-radish essence of anchovy, cayenne, etc.; plain sauces are only to taste of the ingredients from which they derive their name. It will very much heighten the flavour of this sauce to pound the soft part of half a dozen unboiled oysters; rub it through a hair sieve, and then stir it into the sauce. This essence of oyster, and for some palates a few grains of cayenne, is the only addition we recommend."
Notwithstanding Dr. Kitchener's objection to the introduction of extraneous substances by "barbarous cooks," because de Gustibus, as the adage of "the apple and the onion" has already reminded me, is always a matter not to be disputed, I shall add Alexis Soyer's "barbarous" method of preparing oyster sauce, which was introduced by him at the Reform Club in 1852:—
"Mix three ounces of butter in a stewpan with two ounces of flour, then blanch and beard three dozen oysters, put the oysters into another stewpan, add beards and liquor to the flour and butter, with a pint and a half of milk, a teaspoonful of salt, half a salt-spoonful of cayenne, two cloves, half a blade of mace, and six peppercorns; place it over the fire, keep stirring, and boil it ten minutes, then add a tablespoonful of essence of anchovies, and one of Harvey sauce; pass it through a hair-sieve over the oysters; make the whole very hot without boiling, and serve. A less quantity may be made, using less proportions."
He also gives the following:—
"Put a pint of white sauce into a stew-pan, with the liquor and beards of three dozen oysters (as above), six peppercorns, two cloves, and half a blade of mace; boil it ten minutes, then add a spoonful of essence of anchovies, a little cayenne and salt if required; pass it through a tammy, or hair-sieve, over the oysters, as in the last."
This is somewhat similar to that given in that most useful pennyworth "The Family Herald Economical Cookery," which is also preferred by many, and is as follows:—
"Simmer the oysters in their own liquor till they are plump: strain off the liquor through a sieve, wash the oysters clean, and beard them; put them into a saucepan, and pour the liquor over them, taking care you do not pour in any of the sediment; add a blade of mace, a quarter of a lemon, a spoonful of anchovy liquor, and a bit of horseradish; boil it up gently, then take out the horseradish, the mace, and the lemon, the juice of which must be squeezed into the sauce. Now add some thick melted butter, toss it together, and boil it up."
I am bound to admit that my own opinion coincides with that of Dr. Kitchener, and would only add that no trouble is too great to render the sauce perfectly smooth, and that no niggard hand should have the supplying it for the table.