Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches by Eliza Leslie Published: 1840

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SHELL FISH

PICKLED OYSTERS.

Take a hundred and fifty fine large oysters, and pick off
carefully the bits of shell that may be sticking to them. Lay the
oysters in a deep dish, and then strain the liquor over them. Put
them into an iron skillet that is lined with porcelain, and add
salt to your taste. Without salt they will not be firm enough. Set
the skillet on hot coals, and allow the oysters to simmer till
they are heated all through, but not till they boil. Then take out
the oysters and put them into a stone jar, leaving the liquor in
the skillet. Add to it a pint of clear strong vinegar, a large
tea-spoonful of blades of mace, three dozen whole cloves, and
three dozen whole pepper corns. Let it come to a boil, and when
the oysters are quite cold in the jar, pour the liquor oh them.

They are fit for use immediately, but are better the next day. In
cold weather they will keep a week.

If you intend sending them a considerable distance you must allow
the oysters to boil, and double the proportions of the pickle and
spice.


FRIED OYSTERS.

Get the largest and finest oysters. After they are taken from the
shell wipe each of them quite dry with a cloth. Then beat up in a
pan yolk of egg and milk, (in the proportion of two yolks to half
a jill or a wine glass of milk,) and grate some stale broad grated
very fine in a large flat dish. Cut up at least half a pound of
fresh butter in the frying-pan, and hold it over the fire till it
is boiling hot. Dip the oysters all over lightly in the mixture of
egg and milk, and then roll them up and down in the grated bread,
making as many crumbs stick to them as you can.

Put them into the frying-pan of hot butter, and keep it over a hot
fire. Fry them brown, turning them that they may be equally
browned on both sides. If properly done they will be crisp, and
not greasy.

Serve them, dry in a hot dish, and do not pour over them the
butter that may be left in the pan when they are fried.

Oysters are very good taken out of the shells and broiled on a
gridiron.


SCOLLOPED OYSTERS.

Having grated a sufficiency of stale bread, butter a deep dish,
and line the sides and bottom thickly with bread crumbs. Then put
in a layer of seasoned oysters, with a few very small bits of
butter on them. Cover them thickly with crumbs, and put in another
layer of oysters and butter, till the dish is filled up, having a
thick layer of crumbs on the top. Put the dish into an oven, and
bake them a very short time, or they will shrivel. Serve them up
hot.

You may bake them in large clam shells, or in the tin scollop
shells made for the purpose. Butter the bottom of each shell;
sprinkle it with bread crumbs; lay on the oysters seasoned with
cayenne and nutmeg, and put a morsel of butter on each. Fill up
the shells with a little of the oyster liquor thickened with bread
crumbs, and set them on a gridiron over coals, browning them
afterwards with a red-hot shovel.


STEWED OYSTERS.

Put the oysters into a sieve, and set it on a pan to drain the
liquor from them. Then cut off the hard part, and put the oysters
into a stew-pan with some whole pepper, a few blades of mace, and
some grated nutmeg. Add a small piece of butter rolled in flour.
Then pour over them about half of the liquor, or a little more.
Set the pan on hot coals, and simmer them gently about five
minutes. Try one, and if it tastes raw cook them a little longer.
Make some thin slices of toast, having cut off all the crust.
Butter the toast and lay it in the bottom of a deep dish. Put the
oysters upon it with the liquor in which they were stewed.

The liquor of oysters should never be thickened by stirring in
flour. It spoils the taste, and gives them a sodden and
disagreeable appearance, and is no longer practised by good cooks.


OYSTER FRITTERS.

Have ready some of the finest and largest oysters; drain them from
the liquor and wipe them dry.

Beat six eggs very light, and stir into them gradually six table-spoonfuls
of line sifted flour. Add by degrees a pint and a half
of rich milk and some grated nutmeg, and beat it to a smooth
batter.

Make your frying-pan very hot, and put into it a piece of butter
or lard. When it has melted and begins to froth, put in a small
ladle-full of the batter, drop an oyster in the middle of it, and
fry it of a light brown. Send them to table hot.

If you find your batter too thin, so that it spreads too much in
the frying-pan, add a little more flour beaten well into it. If it
is too thick, thin it with some additional milk.


OYSTER PIE.

Make a puff-paste, in the proportion of a pound and a half of
fresh butter to two pounds of sifted flour. Roll it out rather
thick, into two sheets. Butter a deep dish, and line the bottom
and sides of it with paste. Fill it up with crusts of bread for
the purpose of supporting the lid while it is baking, as the
oysters will be too much done if they are cooked in the pie. Cover
it with the other sheet of paste, having first buttered the flat
rim of the dish. Notch the edges of the pie handsomely, or
ornament them with leaves of paste which you may form with tin
cutters made for the purpose. Make a little slit in the middle of
the lid, and stick firmly into it a paste tulip or other flower.
Put the dish into a moderate oven, and while the paste is baking
prepare the oysters, which should he large and fresh. Put them
into a stew-pan with half their liquor thickened with yolk of egg
boiled hard and grated, enriched with pieces of butter rolled in
bread crumbs, and seasoned with mace and nutmeg. Stew the oysters
five minutes. When the paste is baked, carefully take off the lid,
remove the pieces of bread, and put in the oysters and gravy.
Replace the lid, and send the pie to table warm.


TO BOIL A LOBSTER.

Put a handful of salt into a large kettle or pot of boiling water.
When the water boils very hard put in the lobster, having first
brushed it, and tied the claws together with a bit of twine. Keep
it boiling from half an hour to an hour in proportion to its size.
If boiled too long the meat will be hard and stringy. When it is
done, take it out, lay it on its claws to drain, and then wipe it
dry. Send it to table cold, with the body and tail split open, and
the claws taken off. Lay the large claws next to the body, and the
small ones outside. Garnish with double parsley.

It is scarcely necessary to mention that the head of a lobster,
and what are called the lady-fingers are not to be eaten.


TO DRESS LOBSTER COLD.

Put a table-spoonful of cold water on a clean plate and with the
back of a wooden spoon mash into it the coral or scarlet meat of
the lobster, adding a salt-spoonful of salt, and about the same
quantity of cayenne. On another part of the plate mix well
together with the back of the spoon two table-spoonfuls of sweet
oil, and a tea-spoonful of made mustard. Then mix the whole till
they are well incorporated and perfectly smooth, adding, at the
last, three table-spoonfuls of vinegar.

This quantity of seasoning is for a small lobster. For a large
one, more of course will be required. Many persons add a tea-spoonful
of powdered white sugar, thinking that it gives a
mellowness to the whole.

The meat of the body and claws of the lobster must be carefully
extracted from the shell and minced very small When the dressing
is smoothly and thoroughly amalgamated mix the meat with it, and
let it be handed round to the company.

The vinegar from a jar of Indian pickle is by some preferred for
lobster dressing.

You may dress the lobster immediately _before_ you send it to
table. When the dressing and meat are mixed together, pile it in a
deep dish, and smooth it with the back of a spoon. Stick a bunch
of the small claws in the top, and garnish with curled parsley.

Very large lobsters are not the best, the meat being coarse and
tough.


STEWED LOBSTER.

Having boiled the lobster, extract the meat from the shell, and
cut it into very small pieces. Season it with a powdered nutmeg, a
few blades of mace, and cayenne and salt to your taste. Mix with
it a quarter of a pound of fresh butter cut small, and two glasses
of white wine or of vinegar. Put it into a stew-pan, and set it on
hot coals. Stew it about twenty minutes, keeping the pan closely
covered lest the flavour should evaporate. Serve it up hot.

If you choose, you can send it to table in the shell, which must
first be nicely cleaned. Strew the meat over with sifted bread-crumbs,
and brown the top with a salamander, or a red hot shovel
held over it.


FRICASSEED LOBSTER.

Put the lobster into boiling salt and water, and let it boil
according to its size from a quarter of an hour to half an hour.
The intention is to have it parboiled only, as it is afterwards to
be fricasseed. Extract the meat from the shell, and cut it into
small pieces. Season it with white pepper, salt, and nutmeg; and
put it into a stew-pan with as much cream as will cover it. Keep
the lid close; set the pan on hot coals, and stew it slowly for
about as long a time as it was previously boiled. Just before you
take it from the fire, stir in the beaten yolk of an egg. Send it
to table in a small dish placed on a larger one, and arrange the
small claws nicely round it on the large dish.


POTTED LOBSTER.

Parboil the lobster in boiling water well salted. Then pick out
all the meat from the body and claws, and beat it in a mortar with
nutmeg, mace, cayenne, and salt, to your taste. Beat the coral
separately. Then put the pounded meat into a large potting can of
block tin with a cover. Press it down hard, having arranged it in
alternate layers of white meat and coral to give it a marbled or
variegated appearance. Cover it with fresh butter, and put it into
a slow oven for half an hour. When cold, take off the butter and
clarify it, by putting it into a jar, which, must be set in a pan
of boiling water. Watch it well, and when it melts, carefully skim
off the buttermilk which will rise to the top. When no more scum
rises, take it off and let it stand for a few minutes to settle,
and then strain it through a sieve.

Put the lobster into small potting-cans, pressing it down very
hard. Pour the clarified butter over it, and secure the covers
tightly.

Potted lobster is used to lay between thin slices of bread as
sandwiches. The clarified butter that accompanies it is excellent
for fish sauce.

Prawns and crabs may be potted in a similar manner.


LOBSTER PIE.

Put two middle-sized lobsters into boiling salt and water. When
they are half boiled, take the meat from the shell, cut it into
very small pieces, and put it into a pie dish. Break up the
shells, and stew them in a very little water with half a dozen
blades of mace and a wine-glass of vinegar. Then strain off the
liquid. Beat the coral in a mortar, and thicken the liquid with
it. Pour this into the dish of lobster to make the gravy. Season
it with cayenne, salt, and mushroom catchup, and add bits of
butter. Cover it with a lid of paste, made in the proportion of
half a pound of butter to a pound of flour, notched handsomely,
and ornamented with paste leaves. Do not send it to table till it
has cooled.


TO BOIL PRAWNS.

Throw a handful of salt into a pot of boiling water. When it boils
very hard, put in the prawns. Let them boil a quarter of an hour,
and when you take them out lay them on a sieve to drain, and then
wipe them on a dry cloth, and put them aside till quite cold.

Lay a handful of curled parsley in the middle of a dish. Put one
prawn on the top of it, and lay the others, all round, as close as
you can, with the tails outside. Garnish with parsley.

Eat them with salt, cayenne, sweet oil, mustard and vinegar, mixed
together as for lobsters.


CRABS.

Crabs are boiled in the same manner, and in serving up may be
arranged like prawns.


HOT CRABS.

Having boiled the crabs, extract all the meat from the shell, cut
it fine, and season it to your taste with nutmeg, salt, and
cayenne pepper. Add a bit of butter, some grated bread crumbs, and
sufficient vinegar to moisten it. Fill the back-shells of the crab
with the mixture; set it before the fire, and brown it by holding
a red-hot shovel or a salamander a little above it.

Cover a large dish, with small slices of dry toast with the crust
cut off. Lay on each slice a shell filled with the crab. The shell
of one crab will contain the meat of two.


COLD CRABS.

Having taken all the meat out of the shells, make a dressing with
sweet oil, salt, cayenne pepper, mustard and vinegar, as for
lobster. You may add to it some hard-boiled yolk of egg, mashed in
the oil. Put the mixture into the back shells of the crabs, and
serve it up. Garnish with the small claws laid nicely round.


SOFT CRABS.

These crabs must be cooked directly, as they will not keep till
next day.

Remove the spongy substance from each side of the crab, and also
the little sand-bag. Put some lard into a pan, and when it is
boiling hot, fry the crabs in it. After you take them out, throw
in a handful of parsley, and let it crisp; but withdraw it before
it loses its colour. Strew it over the crabs when you dish them.

Make the gravy by adding cream or rich milk to the lard, with some
chopped parsley, pepper and salt. Let them all boil together for a
few minutes, and then serve it up in a sauce-boat.


TERRAPINS.

Have ready a pot of boiling water. When it is boiling very hard
put in the terrapins, and let them remain in it till quite dead.
Then take them out, pull off the outer skin and the toe-nails,
wash the terrapins in warm water and boil them again, allowing a
tea-spoonful of salt to each terrapin. When the flesh becomes
quite tender so that you can pinch it off, take them out of the
shell, remove the sand-bag, and the gall, which you must be
careful not to break, as it will make the terrapin so bitter as to
be uneatable. Cut up all the other parts of the inside with the
meat, and season it to your taste with black and cayenne pepper,
and salt. Put all into a stew-pan with the juice or liquor that it
has given out in cutting up, but not any water. To every two
terrapins allow a quarter of a pound of butter divided into pieces
and rolled in flour, two glasses of Madeira, and the yolks of two
eggs. The eggs must be beaten, and not stirred in till a moment
before it goes to table. Keep it closely covered. Stew it gently
till every thing is tender, and serve it up hot in a deep dish.

Terrapins, after being boiled by the cook, may be brought to table
plain, with all the condiments separate, that the company may
dress them according to taste.

For this purpose heaters or chafing-dishes must be provided for
each plate.


PICKLED LOBSTER.

Take half a dozen fine lobsters. Put them into boiling salt and
water, and when they are all done, take them out and extract all
the meat from the shells, leaving that of the claws as whole as
possible, and cutting the flesh of the body into large pieces
nearly of the same size. Season a sufficient quantity of vinegar
very highly with whole pepper-corns, whole cloves, and whole
blades of mace. Put the pieces of lobster into a stew-pan, and
pour on just sufficient vinegar to keep them well covered. Set it
over a moderate fire; and when it has boiled hard about five
minutes, take out the lobster, and let the pickle boil by itself
for a quarter of an hour. When the pickle and lobster are both
cold, put them together into a broad flat stone jar. Cover it
closely, and set it away in a cool place.

Eat the pickled lobster with oil, mustard, and vinegar, and have
bread and butter with it.


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