Scallops are dried with a napkin, then rolled in cracker dust, then in egg and crumbs, and immersed in hot fat for a minute, or just long enough to take a light color. Mix salt and pepper with the crumbs.
LOBSTERS
Lobsters are in season from March to November. They are in the market all the year, but during the off months they are light and stringy. Their size increases with their age; therefore a small, heavy lobster is better than a large one.
They are unwholesome if boiled after they are dead. If bought already boiled, their freshness may be judged by the tail, which should be curled and springy. If it is not curled up, or will not spring back when straightened, the lobster was dead when boiled, and should be rejected.
Lobsters may be killed just before being boiled by running a pointed knife into the back through the joint between the body and tail shells.
TO BOIL A LOBSTER
Have in a kettle enough water to entirely cover the lobster. Before it becomes very hot take the lobster by the back and put it into the warm water head first. This smothers instead of scalding it to death, and seems the most merciful way of killing it. A lobster treated in this way does not change position, and seems to have been killed instantly. Cover the pot. When it boils, add one tablespoonful of salt, and boil for thirty minutes. It will be tough and stringy if cooked longer.
TO OPEN A LOBSTER
After the lobster is cold, break apart the tail and body; twist off the claws; remove the body from the shell; shake out the green, fatty substance and the coral, and save them to mix with the meat. Remove the stomach, which lies directly under the head, and is called the “lady”; remove also the woolly gills; break open the body, and take out the small pieces of meat which lie under the gills; break open the claws and remove the meat. With scissors or a knife cut the bony membrane on the inside of the tail; remove the meat in one piece, and open it to remove the intestine, which runs the entire length of the tail-piece. The intestine is sometimes without color.