Oysters and Fish

by Thomas J. Murrey

Cut up half a pound of well-washed tripe; simmer for three-quarters of an hour in water slightly salted; take out the tripe; add to the broth a little butter rolled in flour, salt and pepper; add a little more flour if not thick enough. Return the tripe and a dozen oysters; simmer for a few minutes longer, and serve.

Oysters en Brochette.—Select one dozen choice oysters; plunge them into hot water a second to make them firm (this process is called blanching), then drain, and dip them into melted butter; arrange them on skewers with alternate layers of neatly sliced bacon; broil over a moderate fire. When done, add maitre-d’hôtel butter to them, and serve on the skewers.

Fried Oysters.—Beat up the yolks of four eggs with three tablespoonfuls of sweet oil, and season them with a teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of cayenne pepper; beat up thoroughly. Dry twelve fat oysters on a napkin; dip them in the egg batter, then in cracker-dust; shake off the loose cracker-dust, dip them again in the egg batter, and lastly roll them in fine bread-crumbs. Fry in very hot fat, using fat enough to cover them. The oil gives them a nice flavor.

Oyster and Canned Salmon Pie.—One pound of best canned salmon, one pint of solid oysters, half a pint of oyster liquid; cover the bottom of the dish with neat pieces of the salmon, season with salt and pepper and an ounce of butter rolled in flour, add a few oysters, and so on until the ingredients are used. Pour in the liquid of both, and cover the top with paste. Bake in a moderate oven. There should be liquid enough to have the ingredients moist when served.

Oyster Patties.—Roll out a pound of light puff-paste, half an inch in thickness; cut it into rounds with a cake-cutter two inches in diameter; press a small cutter one inch in diameter, on each round, one-fourth of an inch deep. Place them on a buttered tin, brush a little beaten egg over them, and bake in a quick oven. When done, remove the centre and a little of the inside. Scald (or, as it is called, blanch) three dozen oysters; drain. Put into a saucepan two ounces of butter, whisk it to a cream; add a teaspoonful of flour, stir free from lumps; add a heaping saltspoonful of salt, and a pepperspoonful of white pepper; whisk into it half a pint each of hot cream and the oyster liquor; allow it to simmer a few minutes and to thicken; then add the oysters and a “squeeze” of lemon-juice; when hot fill the shells, and serve. If nutmeg is not objected to, a little may be used.

Oysters à la Poulette.—Blanch (scald) a dozen oysters in their own liquor; drain them, and add to the liquor, salt, half an ounce of butter, the juice of half a lemon, a gill of cream, and a teaspoonful of dissolved flour. Beat the yolk of one egg, and add to the sauce. Stir until the sauce thickens; place the oysters on a hot dish, pour the sauce over them, add a very little chopped parsley, and serve.

Pie of Oysters and Scallops.—Take one pint of fresh scallops, and wash them in cold water; drain, and dry them in a napkin. Cut a few slices of fat bacon in strips small enough to insert the ends in a larding-needle; lard the scallops with them, and dredge them slightly with flour. Select one quart of fat oysters; line a baking-dish with puff-paste; add the scallops and oysters in layers; season with salt, pepper, and a dash of mace. Divide an ounce of butter into little balls, roll them in flour, and put them between the layers; add the oyster liquor. Cover with a top crust; bake forty minutes in a moderate oven.

Steamed Oysters.—Wash and scrub the shells thoroughly, and rinse them off in cold water. Put them in a steamer, large or deep shell down. Put the steamer on top of a pot of boiling water; steam about six minutes, or until the shells separate. Have ready a hot dish containing melted butter seasoned with a dash of Worcestershire, lemon-juice, salt and cayenne. Remove them from the steamer with gloved hands, and pick out the oysters with a flat knife, saving all the juice possible. Dip the oysters in the butter as you open them, and the number one can eat is surprising.

To serve Steamed Oysters.—Steam them as in the foregoing recipe. At each guest’s place at table have ready little saucers containing a quantity of the hot melted butter. Remove the flat shell, and serve the oyster in the lower shell; send about six oysters to each guest at a time.

Roast Oysters.—Clean the shells thoroughly, and place them on the coals in an open fire-place, or remove the top of range, and put them on the live coals, until they snap open, which they will soon do. Care must be exercised not to burn fingers.