Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book Part 6

_Soft-crab Fritters._--Use only the bodies of the crabs, and proceed as above.

SCOLLOPED CLAMS.--Having boiled a quant.i.ty of small sand-clams till they open of themselves, remove them from the sh.e.l.ls. Drain away the liquor, and chop them small, omitting the hardest parts. Season them with black pepper and powdered mace, and mix them with grated bread-crumbs and fresh b.u.t.ter. Get some large clean clam-sh.e.l.ls, and fill them to the edge with the above mixture, moistened with _a very little_ of the liquor. Cover the surface with grated crumbs, and add to each one a small bit of b.u.t.ter. Set them in an oven, and bake them light brown.

Send them to table in the sh.e.l.ls they were baked in, arranged on large dishes. They are eaten at breakfast and supper. Clams must always have the sh.e.l.ls washed before they are boiled.

Oysters are frequently scolloped in this manner, minced, and served up in large _clam_ sh.e.l.ls.

Boiled crabs, also, are cooked, minced, and prepared in this way, and sent to table in the back-sh.e.l.l of the crab.

All these scollops are improved by mixing among them some hard-boiled eggs, minced or chopped; or some raw egg beaten.

ROASTED OYSTERS.--The old-fashioned way of roasting oysters is to lay them on a hot hearth, and cover them in hot cinders or ashes, (taking them out with tongs when done,) or to put them into a moderate fire.

When done, their sh.e.l.ls will begin to open. The usual way now is to broil them on large gridirons of strong wire. Serve them up in their sh.e.l.ls on large dishes, or on trays, at oyster suppers. At every plate lay an oyster knife and a clean coa.r.s.e towel, and between every two chairs set a bucket to receive the empty sh.e.l.ls. The gentlemen generally save the ladies the trouble of opening the oysters, by performing that office for them.

Have on the table, to eat with the oysters, bread-rolls, biscuits, b.u.t.ter, and gla.s.ses with sticks of celery sc.r.a.ped, and divested of the green leaves at the top. Have also ale or porter.

Or, you may take large oysters out of their sh.e.l.ls, dredge them lightly with flour, lay them separately on a wire gridiron, and broil them.

Serve them up on large dishes, with a morsel of fresh b.u.t.ter laid on each oyster.

SCOLLOPED OYSTERS.--Drain the liquor from a sufficient quant.i.ty of fine fresh oysters; and season them with blades of mace, grated nutmeg, and a little cayenne. Lay about a dozen of them in the bottom of a deep dish.

Cut some slices of wheat bread, and put them to soak in a pan of the oyster liquor (previously strained.)

Soak the bread till it is soft throughout, but not dissolved. Cover the oysters in the bottom of the dish, with some slices of the soaked bread, (drained from the liquor,) and lay upon the bread a few small bits of nice fresh b.u.t.ter. Then put in another layer of seasoned oysters; then another layer of soaked bread with bits of b.u.t.ter dispersed upon it.

Repeat this with more layers of oysters, soaked bread, and bits of b.u.t.ter, till the dish is full, finishing with a close layer of bread on the top. Set this into a hot oven, and bake it, a short time only, or till it is well browned on the surface. Oysters require but little cooking, and this bread has had one baking already. The liquid that is about the bread is sufficient. It requires no more.

Scolloped oysters may be cooked in large, clean, clam-sh.e.l.ls and served up on great dishes.

PICKLED OYSTERS.--Take a hundred fine large oysters--set them over the fire in their own liquor--add two ounces of nice fresh b.u.t.ter, and simmer them slowly for ten minutes; skimming them well. If they boil fast and long, they will become hard and shrivelled. Take them off the fire and strain from them their liquor; spread the oysters out on large dishes, and place them in the air to cool fast, or lay them in a broad pan of cold water. This renders them firm. Strain the liquor, and then mix with it an equal quant.i.ty of the best and purest clear cider-vinegar. Season (if the oysters are fresh,) with a small tea-spoonful of salt, two dozen whole pepper-corns, and a table-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg, mixed. Let the liquor boil till it is reduced to little more than enough to cover the oysters well.

Put the oysters into a tureen, or a broad stone jar. Pour the hot liquor over them, and let them grow quite cold before they are eaten. You may give them a fine tinge of pale pink color by adding to the liquor (while boiling,) a little prepared cochineal.

PICKLED OYSTERS.--_For keeping._--Have five or six hundred oysters of the finest sort and largest size. Proceed as in the foregoing receipt, but increase, proportionately, the quant.i.ty of spice and vinegar. Put them in stone-ware jars, securing the covers by pasting all round, bands or strips of thick white paper; and place on each jar, on the top of the liquor, a table-spoonful of salad oil.

Use no other than _genuine cider-vinegar_. Much that is sold for the best white-wine vinegar is in reality a deleterious compound of pernicious drugs, that will eat up or dissolve the oysters entirely, leaving nothing but a sickening whitish fluid. This vinegar is at first so overpoweringly sharp and pungent, as to destroy, entirely, the taste of the spices; and, while cooking, emits a disagreeable smell. The oysters immediately become ragged, and in less than an hour are entirely destroyed. This vinegar acts in the same manner on all other pickles, and the use of it should always be shunned.

_Drugs_ should not be employed in any sort of cookery, though their introduction is now most lamentably frequent. They ruin the flavor and are injurious to health.

OYSTER PATTIES.--Make sufficient puff-paste for at least a dozen small patties. Roll it out thick, and line with it twelve small tin patty-pans. Bake them brown in a brisk oven; and when done set them to cool. Have ready two or three dozen large, fine, fresh oysters. Wash and drain them, and put them into a stew-pan with no other liquid than just enough of their own liquor to keep them from burning. Season them with cayenne, nutmeg, and mace, and a few of the green tops or leaves of celery sprigs minced small. Add a quarter of a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter, divided into bits, and laid among the oysters. To enrich the gravy, stir in, at the last, the beaten yolks of three or four eggs, or some thick cream or b.u.t.ter. Let the oysters stew in this gravy about five minutes.

When the patties are beginning to cool, fill each with one or two large oysters. If you choose, you can bake for every patty a small round lid of pastry, to be laid lightly on the top, so as to cover the oysters when they go to table. For company, make a large quant.i.ty of oyster patties, as they are much liked.

OYSTER LOAVES.--Take some tall fresh rolls, or small loaves. Cut nicely a round or oval hole in the top of each, saving the pieces that come off. Then carefully scoop out most of the crumb from the inside, leaving the crust standing. Have ready a sufficient quant.i.ty of large fresh oysters. Put the oysters with one-fourth of their liquor into a stew-pan; adding the bread-crumbs, a large piece of fresh b.u.t.ter, some powdered nutmeg, and mace. Stew them about ten minutes. Then stir in two or three large table-spoonfuls of cream; take them off just as they are coming to a boil. If cooked too long the oysters will become tough and shriveled, and the cream will curdle. Fill the inside of your scooped loaves with the oysters, reserving as many large oysters as you have loaves. Place the bit of upper-crust carefully on the top of each, so as to cover the whole. Arrange them on a dish, and lay on each lid one of the large oysters kept out for the purpose. These ornamental oysters must be well drained from any liquid that is about them.

OYSTER OMELET.--Having strained the liquor from twenty-five oysters of the largest size, mince them small; omitting the hard part or gristle.

If you cannot get large oysters, you should have forty or fifty small ones. Break into a shallow pan six, seven, or eight eggs, according to the quant.i.ty of minced oysters. Omit half the whites, and, (having beaten the eggs till very light, thick, and smooth,) mix the oysters gradually into them, adding a little cayenne pepper, and some powdered nutmeg. Put three ounces or more of the best fresh b.u.t.ter into a small frying-pan, if you have no pan especially for omelets. Place it over a clear fire, and when the b.u.t.ter, (which should be previously cut up,) has come to a boil, put in the omelet-mixture; stir it till it begins to set; and fry it light brown, lifting the edge several times by slipping a knife under it, and taking care not to cook it too much or it will shrivel and become tough. When done, clap a large hot plate or dish on the top of the omelet, and turn it quickly and carefully out of the pan.

Serve it up immediately. It is a fine breakfast dish. This quant.i.ty will make one large or two small omelets.

Clam omelets may be made as above.

An omelet pan should be smaller than a common frying-pan, and lined with tin. In a large pan the omelet will spread too much, and become thin like a pancake.

Never turn an omelet while frying, as that will make it heavy and tough.

When done, brown it by holding a red-hot shovel or salamander close above the top.

Excellent omelets may be made of cold boiled ham, or smoked tongue; grated or minced small, mixed with a sufficiency of beaten eggs, and fried in b.u.t.ter.

BROILED OYSTERS.--Take the largest and finest oysters. See that your gridiron is very clean. Rub the bars with fresh b.u.t.ter, and set it over a clear steady fire, entirely free from smoke; or on a bed of bright hot wood coals. Place the oysters on the gridiron, and when done on one side, take a fork and turn them on the other; being careful not to let them burn. Put some fresh b.u.t.ter in the bottom of a dish. Lay the oysters on it, and season them with pepper and grated nutmeg. Send them to table hot.

OYSTER PIE.--Having b.u.t.tered the inside of a deep dish, line it with puff-paste rolled out rather thick; and prepare another sheet of paste for the lid. Pat a clean towel into the dish (folded so as to support the lid) and then put on the lid; set it into the oven, and bake the paste well. When done, remove the lid, and take out the folded towel.

While the paste is baking, prepare the oysters. Having picked off carefully any bits of sh.e.l.l that may be found about them, lay them in a sieve and drain off the liquor into a pan. Put the oysters into a skillet or stew-pan, with barely enough of the liquor to keep them from burning. Season them with whole pepper, blades of mace, some grated nutmeg, and some grated lemon-peel, (the yellow rind only,) and a little finely minced celery. Then add a large portion of fresh b.u.t.ter, divided into bits, and very slightly dredged with flour. Let the oysters simmer over the fire, but do not allow them to come to a boil, as that will shrivel them. Next beat the yolks only, of three, four, or five eggs, (in proportion to the size of the pie,) and stir the beaten egg into the stew a few minutes before you take it from the fire. Keep it warm till the paste is baked. Then carefully remove the lid of the pie; and replace it, after you have filled the dish with the oysters and gravy.

The lid of the pie may be ornamented with a wreath of leaves cut out of paste, and put on before baking. In the centre, place a paste-knot or flower.

Oyster pies are generally eaten warm; but they are very good cold.

CLAM PIE.--Take a sufficient number of clams to fill a large pie-dish when opened. Make a nice paste in the proportion of a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter to two quarts of flour. Paste for sh.e.l.l fish, or meat, or chicken pies, should be rolled out double the thickness of that intended for fruit pies. Line the sides and bottom of your pie-dish with paste. Then cover the bottom with a thin beef steak, divested of bone and fat. Put in the clams, and season them with mace, nutmeg, and a few whole pepper-corns. No salt. Add a spoonful of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, and some hard-boiled yolks of eggs crumbled fine. Then put in enough of the clam liquor to make sufficient gravy. Put on the lid of the pie, (which, like the bottom crust, should be rolled out thick,) notch it handsomely, and bake it well. It should be eaten warm.

SOFT CRABS.--These are crabs that, having cast their old sh.e.l.ls, have not yet a.s.sumed the new ones. In this, the transition state, they are considered delicacies. Put them into fast-boiling water, and boil them for ten minutes. Then take them out, drain them, wipe them very clean, and prepare them for frying by removing the spongy part inside and the sand-bag. Put plenty of fresh lard into a pan; and when it boils fast, lay in the crabs, and fry them well, seasoning them with cayenne. As soon as they are done of a nice golden color, take them out, drain off the lard back into the pan, and lay them on a large _hot_ dish. Cover them to keep warm while you fry, in the same lard, all the best part of a fresh lettuce, chopped small. Let it fry only long enough to become hot throughout. When you serve up the crabs cover them with the fried lettuce. Stir into the gravy some cream, or a piece of nice fresh b.u.t.ter rolled in flour; and send it to table in a sauce-boat, seasoned with a little cayenne.

Soft crabs require no other flavoring. They make a nice breakfast-dish for company. Only the large claws are eaten, therefore break off as useless the small ones.

Instead of lettuce, you may fry the crabs with parsley--removed from the pan before it becomes brown. Pepper-gra.s.s is still better.

TERRAPINS.--In buying terrapins select the largest and thickest. Like all other delicacies, the best are the cheapest in the end. Small poor terrapins are not worth the cost of the seasoning. A poor terrapin, poorly dressed, is indeed a poor thing, and is always recognized as such, by those who are expected to eat it. _Get fine terrapins only._ Put them into a pot of water that is boiling very hard at the time, and let them boil for about ten minutes. Immediately on taking them out, proceed to rub, with a coa.r.s.e clean cloth, all the skin from the head, neck, and claws--also, the thin sh.e.l.l, as it comes loose. Having washed them in warm water, put the terrapins into a clean pot with fresh water, and a table-spoonful of salt, and boil them again till they are thoroughly done, and the paws are perfectly soft. Remove the toe-nails.

Some terrapins require three hours. When they are quite soft, open them carefully, remove the spongy part, the sand-bag, the gall, and the entrails--it being now the custom to throw away the whole of the disgusting garbage, always tasteless, tough, and disagreeable to look at. Be careful not to break the gall, as it will give an unpleasant bitter taste to the whole. Cut into small pieces all the meat of the terrapins, put them into a stew-pan, (adding the juice they have yielded in cutting up, _but no water_,) and proceed to season them, beginning with cayenne and black pepper, to your taste; also, a handful of flour for the thickening. Stir all well together, and in a short time add four table-spoonfuls of cream, or fresh b.u.t.ter, and a half pint of Madeira or sherry to every four terrapins. If they have no eggs, make up some artificially; crumbling the yolks of hard-boiled common eggs, mashed to a paste with a little nice b.u.t.ter, and then made into b.a.l.l.s with beaten raw egg. Add plenty of these to the stew, and let the whole cook together for a quarter of an hour longer. Serve it up hot, in a well heated covered dish.

Four fine large terrapins generally make one dish; and the above is the usual quant.i.ty of seasoning for them.

NEW WAY OF DRESSING TERRAPINS.--In buying terrapins, select those only that are large, fat, and thick-bodied. Put them whole into water that is boiling hard at the time, and (adding a little salt) boil them till thoroughly done throughout. Then, taking off the sh.e.l.l, extract the meat, and remove carefully the sand-bag and gall; also, _all the entrails_,--they are disgusting, unfit to eat, and are no longer served up in cooking terrapin for the best tables. Cut the meat into pieces, and put it into a stew-pan with its eggs, and sufficient fresh b.u.t.ter to stew it well. Let it stew till quite hot throughout, keeping the pan carefully covered that none of the flavor may escape; but shake it over the fire while stewing. In another pan, make a sauce of beaten yolk of egg, highly flavored with Madeira or sherry, and powdered nutmeg and mace, and enriched with a large lump of fresh b.u.t.ter. Stir this sauce well over the fire, and when it has _almost_ come to a boil, take it off. Send the terrapin to table hot in a covered dish, and the sauce _separately_ in a sauce-tureen, to be used by those who like it, and omitted by those who prefer the genuine flavor of the terrapin when simply stewed with b.u.t.ter.

This is now the usual mode of dressing terrapins in Maryland and Virginia, and will be found superior to any other.

No dish of terrapins can be good unless the terrapins themselves are of the best quality. It is mistaken economy to buy poor ones. Besides being insipid and tasteless, it takes more in number to fill a dish. The females are the best.

A TERRAPIN POT-PIE.--Take several fine large terrapins, the fattest and thickest you can get. Put them into a large pot of water that is boiling hard; and boil them half an hour or more. Then take them out of the sh.e.l.l, pulling off the outer skin and the toe-nails. Remove the sand-bag and the gall, taking care not to break it, or it will render the whole too bitter to be eaten. Take out also the entrails, and throw them away; as the custom of cooking them is now, very properly, exploded. Then cut up all the meat of the terrapins, taking care to save all the liquid that exudes in cutting up, and also the eggs. Season the whole with pepper, mace, and nutmeg, adding a little salt; and lay among it pieces of fresh b.u.t.ter slightly rolled in flour.