Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers Part 5

To Boil Fresh Fish.

After being well cleaned, rub the fish with salt, and pin it in a towel; put it in a pot of boiling water, and keep it boiling fast;--a large fish will take from half to three-quarters of an hour--a small one, from fifteen to twenty minutes. A fat shad is very nice boiled, although rock and ba.s.s are preferred generally; when done, take it up on a fish dish, and cover it with egg sauce or drawn b.u.t.ter and parsley. Pickled mushrooms and walnuts, and mushroom catsup, are good with boiled fish.

To Stew Terrapins.

Wash four terrapins in warm water; then throw them in a pot of boiling water, which will kill them instantly; let them boil till the sh.e.l.ls crack; then take them out, and take off the bottom sh.e.l.l; cut each quarter separate; take the gall from the liver; take out the eggs; put the pieces in a stew-pan, pour in all the liquor, and cover them with water; put in salt, cayenne, and black pepper, and a little mace; put in a lump of b.u.t.ter the size of an egg, and let them stew for half an hour; make a thickening of flour and water, which stir in a few minutes before you take it up, with two gla.s.ses of wine; serve it in a deep covered dish; put in the eggs just as you dish it.

Oyster Soup.

Strain the liquor from the oysters, and put it on to boil, with an equal quant.i.ty of water; take off the sc.u.m as it rises; put in pepper, salt, parsley, thyme and b.u.t.ter; stir in a thickening of flour and water; throw in the oysters, and let them scald. If you have cream, put in half a pint just before you take them up.

Another Way.

Strain the liquor from a gallon of oysters, and add to it an equal quant.i.ty of water; put it on the fire, and boil and skim it before you add the seasoning; then put in six large blades of mace, a little cayenne, and black or white pepper; (the latter, on account of the color, is preferable, as it is desirable to have the soup as white as possible;) afterwards, permit all to boil together about five minutes; then pour in the oysters and a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter, into which a dessert-spoonful of wheat flour has been rubbed fine; keep this at boiling heat until the oysters begin to look plump--when it is ready for the table, and must be served up very hot. If you can procure a pint of good cream, half the amount of b.u.t.ter will answer,--if you believe the cream to be rather old, even if it seems to be sweet, add before it goes into the soup, half a small tea-spoonful of soda, well mixed with it; after you put in the cream, permit it to remain on the fire long enough to arrive at boiling heat again, when it must be taken up, or it may curdle; throw into the tureen a little finely cut parsley.

Scolloped Oysters.

Toast several slices of bread quite brown, and b.u.t.ter them on both sides; take a baking dish, and put the toast around the sides, instead of a crust.

Pour your oysters into the dish, and season, to your taste, with b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt, adding mace or cloves.

Crumb bread on the top of the oysters, and bake it with a quick heat about fifteen minutes.

To Fry Oysters.

Pick out the largest oysters and drain them; sprinkle them with pepper and salt; beat up an egg, and dip them first in it, and then in pounded crackers, and fry them in b.u.t.ter. It is a plainer way to dip them in corn meal.

Oyster Fritters.

Make a thick batter with two eggs, some crumbs of bread and flour, and a little milk; season this well with pepper and salt; have in a frying-pan equal parts of lard and b.u.t.ter; drop in a spoonful of the batter and put into it one large oyster, or two small ones, let them brown slowly, so as not to burn; turn them carefully. This is a good way to have oysters at breakfast.

To Stew Oysters.

Open them and throw them in a stew-pan, with a lump of b.u.t.ter; make a thickening of flour and water, salt and pepper, and stir it in just as the oysters boil; when they are done, take them up in a deep covered dish, with b.u.t.tered toast in the bottom.

A Rich Oyster Pie.

Strain off the liquor from the oysters, and put it on to boil, with some b.u.t.ter, mace, nutmeg, pepper and salt; just as it boils, stir in a thickening of milk and flour; put in the oysters, and stir them till they are sufficiently stewed; then take them off, and put in the yelks of two eggs, well beaten; do not put this in while it is boiling, or it will curdle. Line a dish, not very deep, with puff paste; fill it with white paper, or a clean napkin, to keep the top paste from falling in; put on a lid of paste, and bake it. When done, take off the lid carefully; take out the paper or napkin, and pour in the oysters. Send it hot to table.

A Baltimore Oyster Pie.

Make a crust after the directions given for puff paste; grease the bottom of a deep dish, cover it with paste; then season two quarts of raw oysters, (without the liquor,) with spices to your taste, (some preferring nutmeg, mace, cayenne pepper,--others, black pepper alone,) add b.u.t.ter and a heaped tea-cup of grated bread; put all together in the dish; then cover it with your paste, cut in strips, and crossed, or ornamented as your fancy dictates; a pound of b.u.t.ter to two quarts of oysters makes a rich pie; if the oysters are fine, less b.u.t.ter will answer.

A pie of this size will bake in three-quarters of an hour, if the oven is in good order; if the heat is not quick allow it an hour.

If in baking, the crust is likely to become too brown, put a piece of paper doubled over it, and the light color will be retained; when taken from the oven, if it should look dry, pour some of the liquor that was drained from the oysters in the dish, having previously strained and boiled it.

As paste always looks more beautiful when just from the oven, arrange your dinner so that the pie may be placed on the table immediately it is done.

Plain Oyster Pie.

Take from the sh.e.l.l as many oysters as you want to put in the pie; strain the liquor, put it with them over the fire and give them one boil; take off the sc.u.m, put in, if you wish to make a small pie, a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter, as much flour mixed in water as will thicken it when boiled, and mace, pepper, and salt to your taste; lay a paste in a deep dish, put in the oysters and cover them with paste; cut a hole in the middle, ornament it any way you please, and bake it. A shallow pie will bake in three-quarters of an hour.

Oyster Sauce.

Plump the oysters for a few minutes over the fire; take them out and stir into the liquor some flour and b.u.t.ter mixed together, with a little mace and whole pepper, and salt to your taste; when it has boiled long enough, throw in the oysters, and add a gla.s.s of white wine, just as you take it up. This is a suitable sauce for boiled fowls.

To Pickle 100 Oysters.

Drain off the liquor from the oysters, wash them and put to them a table-spoonful of salt, and a tea-cup of vinegar; let them simmer over the fire about ten minutes, taking off the sc.u.m as it rises; then take out the oysters, and put to their own liquor a table-spoonful of whole black pepper, and a tea-spoonful of mace and cloves; let it boil five minutes, skim, and pour it over the oysters in a jar.

Oysters Pickled another way.

Wash and drain the oysters, and put them in salt and water, that will bear an egg; let them scald till plump, and put them in a gla.s.s jar, with some cloves and whole peppers, and when cold cover them with vinegar.

To Brown Oysters in their own Juice.

Take a quart of large oysters, wash them in their own juice, drain and dip them in the yelk of eggs; heat b.u.t.ter in a frying-pan, and after seasoning them with pepper and salt, put them in separately; when they are brown on both sides, draw them to one side of the pan; strain the liquor, and put it in with a piece of b.u.t.ter and flour enough to thicken it.

A Dish of Poached Eggs.

Have ready a kettle of boiling water, pour it in a pan or speeder, which is set on coals; have the eggs at hand; put a little salt in the water, and break them in, one at a time, till you get all in; let them remain till the white is set, and take them out with an egg-spoon, and put on a dish that has b.u.t.tered toast on it.

Fried Eggs.

Slice and fry any kind of bacon, dish it; have the eggs ready in a dish, and pour them into the gravy; when done, take them up and lay them on the meat.

Fried Eggs another way.

Have your lard or b.u.t.ter boiling hot; break in one egg at a time; throw the hot fat over them with an egg slice, until white on the top; slip the slice under and take them out whole, and lay them on the dish or meat without breaking; season with salt.