Place twenty-five large oysters in a saucepan with one and one half tablespoonfuls of butter, half a cupful of white wine or a tablespoonful of lemon juice, and a little pepper and salt. Cook until the oysters are plump, then add half a cupful of mushrooms cut into quarters, and a chopped truffle, if convenient. Beat the yolks of four eggs into a cupful of cream, turn it into the oyster mixture, and let it get hot and a little thickened, without boiling. Turn it into a hot dish and garnish with croutons.
Oysters toughen if cooked too long, and cream curdles easily when added to a mixture which has acid in it, so it is necessary to prepare this dish quickly and to serve it at once.
SCALLOPS
Scallops are the adductor muscle of a large pecten, a mollusk commonly known as scallop.
FRIED SCALLOPS
Marinate the scallops in a mixture of oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Roll them in cracker dust, then in egg, and again in cracker dust or white bread crumbs. Fry them in smoking-hot fat to a golden color.
Prepare but a few at a time so the covering will not be dampened, serve on a napkin with quarters of lemon, and sprinkle over them parsley chopped very fine.
SCALLOPS ON THE SHELL
Discard the black ring. Cut the scallops into quarters. Place them in the scallop shells. Dredge them with salt, pepper, and chopped parsley, then cover them with a layer of chopped fresh, or canned, mushrooms, some bits of butter, a teaspoonful of white wine or of lemon juice, for each shell, and lastly with bread crumbs moistened with butter. Place them in a hot oven for ten or fifteen minutes.
