MODES
OF FRYING.
*
* *
THE
usual custom among
professional cooks is to entirely immerse the article to be cooked in
boiling fat, but from inconvenience most households use the half
-frying method of frying in a small amount of fat in a frying pan.
For the first method a shallow iron frying kettle, large at the top
and small at the bottom, is best to use. The fat should half fill the
kettle, or an amount sufficient to float whatever is to be fried; the
heat of the fat should get to such a degree that, when a piece of
bread or a teaspoonful of the batter is dropped in it, it will become
brown almost instantly, but should not De so hot as to burn the fat.
Some cooks say that the fat should be smoking, but my experience is,
that is a mistake, as that soon ruins the fat. As soon as it begins
to smoke it should be removed a little to one side, and still be kept
at the boiling point. If fritters, crullers, croquettes, etc., are
dropped into fat that is too hot, it crusts over the outside before
the inside has fully risen, making a heavy, hard article, and also
ruining the fat, giving it a burnt flavor.
Many
French cooks prefer beef
fat or suet to lard for frying purposes, considering it more
wholesome and digestible, does not impart as much flavor, or adhere
or soak into the article cooked as pork fat. In families of any size,
where there is much cooking required, there are enough drippings and
fat remnants from roasts of beef, skimmings from the soup kettle,
with the addition of occasionally a pound of suet from the market, to
amply supply the need. All such remnants and skimmings should be
clarified about twice a week, by boiling them all together in water.
When the fat is all melted, it should be strained with the water and
set aside to cool. After the fat on the top has hardened, lift the
cake from the water on which it lies, scrape off all the dark
particles from the bottom, then melt over again the fat; while hot
strain into a small clean stone jar or bright tin pail, and then it
is ready for use. Always after frying anything, the fat should stand
until it settles and has cooled somewhat; then turn off carefully so
as to leave it clear from the sediment that settles at the bottom.
Refined
cotton-seed oil is now
being adopted by most professional cooks in hotels, restaurants and
many private households for culinary purposes, and will doubtless in
future supersede animal fats, especially for frying, it being quite
as delicate a medium as frying with olive oil. It is now sold by
leading grocers, put up in packages of two and four quarts.
The
second mode of frying, using
a frying pan with a small quantity of fat or grease, to be done
properly, should, in the first place, have the frying pan hot over
the fire, and the fat in it actually
boiling before the
article to be cooked is placed in it, the intense heat quickly
searing up the pores of the article and forming a brown crust on the
lower side, then turning over and browning .the other the same way.
Still,
there is another mode of
frying; the process is somewhat similar to broiling, the hot frying
pan or spider replacing the hot fire. To do this correctly, a thick
bottomed frying pan should be used. Place it over the fire, and when
it is so hot that it will siss, oil over the bottom of the pan with a
piece of suet, that is if the meat is all lean; if not, it is not
necessary to grease the bottom of the pan. Lay in the meat quite
flat, and brown it quickly, first on one side, then on the other;
when sufficiently cooked, dish on a hot platter and season the same
as broiled meats.
FISH.
IN selecting fish, choose those
only in which the eye is full and prominent, the flesh thick and
firm, the scales bright and fins stiff. They should be thoroughly
cleaned before cooking.
The
usual modes of cooking fish
are boiled, baked, broiled, fried and occasionally stewed. Steaming
fish is much superior to boiling, but the ordinary conveniences in
private houses do not admit of the possibility of enjoying this
delicate way of cooking it. Large fish are generally boiled,
medium-sized ones baked or boiled, the smaller kinds fried or
broiled. Very large fish, such as cod, halibut, etc., are cut in
steaks or slices for frying or broiling. The heads of some fish, as
the cod, halibut, etc., are considered tidbits by many. Small fish,
or pan-fish, as they are usually called, are served without the
heads, with the exception of brook-trout and smelts; these are
usually cooked whole, with the heads on. Bake fish slowly, basting
often with butter and water. Salmon is considered the most nutritious
of all fish. When boiling fish, by adding a little vinegar and salt
to the water, it seasons and prevents the nutriment from being drawn
out; the vinegar acting on the water hardens the water.
Fill
the fish with a nicely
prepared stuffing of rolled cracker or stale bread crumbs, seasoned
with butter, pepper, salt, sage and any other aromatic herbs fancied;
sew up; wrap in a well-floured cloth, tied closely with twine, and
boil or steam. The garnishes for boiled fish are: for turbot, fried
smelts; for other boiled fish, parsley, sliced beets, lemon or sliced
boiled egg. Do not use the knives, spoons, etc., that are used in
cooking fish, for other food, as they will be apt to impart a fishy
flavor.
Fish
to be boiled should be put
into cold water and set on the fire to cook very gently, or the
outside will break before the inner part is done. Unless the fish are
small, they should never be put into warm water; nor should water,
either hot or cold, be poured on to the fish, as it is liable to
break the skin; if it should be necessary to add a little water while
the fish is cooking, it ought to be poured in gently at the side of
the vessel.
Fish
to be broiled should lie,
after they are dressed, for two or three hours, with their inside
well sprinkled with salt and pepper.
Salt
fish should be soaked in
water before boiling, according to the time it has been in salt. When
it is hard and dry, it will require thirty-six hours soaking before
it is dressed, and the water must be changed three or four times.
When fish is not very salt, twenty-four hours, or even one night,
will suffice.
When
frying fish the fire must
be hot enough to bring the fat to such a degree of heat as to sear
the surface and make it impervious to the fat, and at the same time
seal up the rich juices. As soon as the fish is browned by this
sudden application of heat, the pan may be moved to a cooler place on
the stove, that the process may be finished more slowly.
Fat
in which fish has been fried
is just as good to use again for the same purpose, but it should be
kept by itself and not put to any other use.
TO
FRY FISH.
MOST of the smaller fish
(generally termed pan-fish) are usually fried. Clean well, cut off
the head, and, if quite large, cut out the backbone, and slice the
body crosswise into five or six pieces; season with salt and pepper.
Dip in Indian meal or wheat flour, or in beaten egg, and roll in
bread or fine cracker crumbs trout and perch should not be dipped in
meal; put into a thick bottomed iron frying pan, the flesh side down,
with hot lard or drippings; fry slowly, turning when lightly browned.
The following method may be deemed preferable: Dredge the pieces with
flour; brush them, over with beaten egg; roll in bread crumbs, and
fry in hot lard or drippings sufficient to cover, the same as frying
crullers. If the fat is very hot, the fish will fry without absorbing
it, and it will be palatably cooked. When browned on one side, turn
it over in the fat and brown the other, draining when done. This is a
particularly good way to fry slices of large fish. Serve with tomato
sauce; garnish with slices of lemon.
PAN-FISH.
PLACE them in a thick bottomed
frying pan with heads all one way. Fill the spaces with smaller fish.
When they are fried quite brown and ready to turn, put a dinner plate
over them, drain off the fat; then invert the pan, and they will be
left unbroken on the plate. Put the lard back into the pan, and when
hot slip back the fish. When the other side is brown, drain, turn on
a plate as before, and slip them on a warm platter, to be sent to the
table. Leaving the heads on and the fish a crispy-brown, in perfect
shape, improves the appearance if not the flavor. Garnish with slices
of lemon.
Hotel
Lafayette, Philadelphia
BAKED
PICKEREL.
CAREFULLY clean and wipe the
fish, and lay in a dripping pan with enough hot water to prevent
scorching. A perforated sheet of tin, fitting loosely, or several
muffin rings may be used to keep it off: the bottom. Lay it in a
circle on its belly, head and tail touching, and tied, or as directed
in note on fish; bake slowly, basting often with butter and water.
When done, have ready a cup of sweet cream or rich milk to which a.
few spoons of hot water has been added; stir in two large spoons of
melted butter and a little chopped parsley; heat all by setting the
cup in boiling water; add the gravy from the dripping-pan, and let it
boil up once; place the fish in a hot dish and pour over it the
sauce. Or an egg sauce may be made with drawn butter; stir in the
yolk of an egg quickly, and then a teaspoon of chopped parsley. It
can be stuffed or not, just as you please.
BOILED
SALMON.
THE middle slice of salmon is
the best. Sew up neatly in a mosquito-net bag, and boil a quarter of
an hour to the pound in hot salted water. When done, unwrap with
care, and lay upon a hot dish, taking care not to break it. Have
ready a large cupful of drawn butter, very rich, in which has been
stirred a tablespoonful of minced parsley and the juice of a lemon.
Pour half upon the salmon and serve the rest in a boat. Garnish with
parsley and sliced eggs.
BROILED
SALMON.
CUT slices from an inch to an
inch and an half thick, dry them in a cloth, season with salt and
pepper, dredge them in sifted flour, and broil on a gridiron rubbed
with suet.
Another
Mode.
— Cut the slices one inch thick, and season them with pepper and
salt; butter a sheet of white paper, lay each slice on a separate
piece, envelop them in it with their ends twisted; broil gently over
a clear fire, and serve with anchovy or caper sauce. When higher
seasoning is required, add a few chopped herbs and a little spice.
FRESH
SALMON FRIED.
CUT the slices three-quarters of
an inch thick, dredge them with flour, or dip them in egg and crumbs;
fry a light brown. This mode answers for all fish cut into steaks.
Season well with salt and pepper.
SALMON
AND CAPER SAUCE.
Two slices of salmon,
one-quarter pound butter, one-half teaspoonful of chopped parsley,
one shallot; salt and pepper to taste.
Lay
the salmon in a baking dish,
place pieces of butter over it, and add the other ingredients,
rubbing a little of the seasoning into the fish; place it in the oven
and baste it frequently; when done, take it out and drain for a
minute or two; lay it in a dish, pour caper sauce over it and serve.
Salmon dressed in this way, with tomato sauce, is very delicious.
BROILED
SALT SALMON OR OTHER SALT FISH.
SOAK
salmon in tepid or cold
water twenty-four hours, changing water several times, or let stand
under faucet of running water. If in a hurry, or desiring a very salt
relish, it may do to soak a short time, having water warm, and
changing, parboiling slightly. At the hour wanted, broil sharply.
Season to suit taste, covering with butter. This recipe will answer
for all kinds of salt fish.
PICKLED
SALMON.
TAKE a fine, fresh salmon, and,
having cleaned it, cut it into large pieces, and boil it in salted
water as if for eating. Then drain it, wrap it in a dry cloth, and
set it in a cold place till next day. Then make the pickle, which
must be in proportion to the quantity of fish. To one quart of the
water in which the salmon was boiled, allow two quarts of the best
vinegar, one ounce of whole black pepper, one nutmeg grated and a
dozen blades of mace. Boil all these together in a kettle closely
covered to prevent the flavor from evaporating. When the vinegar thus
prepared is quite cold, pour it over the salmon, and put on the top a
tablespoonful of sweet oil, which will make it keep the longer.
Cover
it closely, put it in a
dry, cool place, and it will be good for many months. This is the
nicest way of preserving salmon, and is approved by all who have
tried it.
SMOKED
SALMON.
SMOKED salmon to be broiled
should be put upon the gridiron first, with the flesh side to the
fire.
Smoked
salmon is very nice when
shaved like smoked beef, and served with coffee or tea.
FRICASSEE
SALMON.
THIS way of cooking fresh salmon
is a pleasant change from the ordinary modes of cooking it. Cut one
and one-half pounds of salmon into pieces one inch square; put the
pieces in a stewpan with half a cupful of water, a little salt, a
little white pepper, one clove, one blade of mace, three pieces of
sugar, one shallot and a heaping teaspoonful of mustard mixed
smoothly with half a teacupful of vinegar. Let this boil up once and
add six tomatoes peeled and cut into tiny pieces, a few sprigs of
parsley finely minced, and one wineglassful of sherry. Let all simmer
gently for three-quarters of an hour. Serve very hot, and garnish
with dry toast cut in triangular pieces. This dish is good, very
cold, for luncheon or breakfast.
SALMON
PATTIES.
CUT cold, cooked salmon into
dice. Heat about a pint of the dice in half a pint of cream. Season
to taste with cayenne pepper and salt. Fill the shells and serve.
Cold, cooked fish of any kind may be made into patties in this way.
Use any fish sauce you choose — all are equally good.
FISH
AND OYSTER PIE.
ANY remains of cold fish, such
as cod or haddock, 2 dozen oysters, pepper and salt to taste, bread
crumbs, sufficient for the quantity of fish; 1/2 teaspoonful of
grated nutmeg, 1 teaspoonful of finely chopped parsley.
Clear
the fish from the bones,
and put a layer of it in a pie-dish, which sprinkle with pepper and
salt; then a layer of bread crumbs, oysters, nutmeg and chopped
parsley. Repeat this till the dish is quite full. You may form a
covering either of bread crumbs, which should be browned, or
puff-paste, which should be cut off into long strips, and laid in
cross-bars over the fish, with a line of the paste first laid round
the edge. Before putting on the top, pour in some made melted butter,
or a little thin white sauce, and the oyster-liquor, and bake.
Time.
If of cooked fish, 1/4 hour; if made of fresh fish and puff paste,
3/4 hour.
STEAMED
FISH.
SECURE the tail of the fish in
its mouth, the body in a circle; pour over it half a pint of vinegar,
seasoned with pepper and salt; let it stand an hour in a cool place;
pour off the vinegar, and put it in a steamer over boiling water, and
steam twenty minutes, or longer for large fish. When the meat easily
separates from the bone it is done.
Drain
well and serve on a very
clean white napkin, neatly folded and placed on the platter; decorate
the napkin around the fish with sprigs of curled parsley, or with
fanciful beet cuttings, or alternately with both.
TO
BROIL A SHAD.
SPLIT and wash the shad and
afterwards dry it in a cloth. Season it with salt and pepper. Have
ready a bed of clear, bright coals. Grease your gridiron well, and as
soon as it is hot, lay the shad upon it, the flesh side down; cover
with a dripping-pan and broil it for about a quarter of an hour, or
more, according to the thickness. Butter it well and send it to the
table. Covering it while broiling gives it a more delicious flavor.
BAKED
SHAD.
MANY people are of the opinion
that the very best method of cooking a shad is to bake it. Stuff it
with bread crumbs, salt, pepper, butter and parsley, and mix this up
with the beaten yolk of egg; fill the fish with it, and sew it up or
fasten a string around it. Pour over it a little water and some
butter, and bake as you would a fowl. A shad will require from an
hour to an hour and a quarter to bake. Garnish with slices of lemon,
water cress, etc.
Dressing
for Baked Shad.
— Boil up the gravy in which the shad was baked, put in a large
tablespoonful of catsup, a tablespoonful of brown flour which has
been wet with cold water, the juice of a lemon, and a glass of sherry
or Madeira wine. Serve in a sauce boat.
TO
COOK A SHAD ROE.
DROP into boiling water and cook
gently for twenty minutes; then take from the fire and drain. Butter
a tin plate and lay the drained roe upon it. Dredge well with salt
and pepper and spread soft butter over it; then dredge thickly with
flour. Cook in the oven for half an hour, basting frequently with
salt, pepper, flour, butter and water.
TO
COOK SHAD ROE. (Another Way.)
FIRST partly boil them in a
small covered pan, take out and season them with salt, a little
pepper, dredge with flour and fry as any fish.
BOILED
BASS.
AFTER thoroughly cleaning it
place in a saucepan with enough water to cover it; add two
tablespoonfuls of salt; set the saucepan over the fire, and when it
has boiled about five minutes try to pull out one of the fins; if it
loosens easily from the body carefully take the fish out of the
water, lay it on a platter, surround it with half a dozen hard-boiled
eggs, and serve it with a sauce.
BOILED
BLUEFISH.
BOILED the same as BASS.
BAKED
BLUEFISH.
BAKED the same as BAKED SHAD.
FRIED
EELS.
AFTER cleaning the eels well,
cut them in pieces two inches long; wash them and wipe them dry; roll
them in wheat flour or rolled cracker, and fry, as directed for other
fish, in hot lard or beef dripping, salted. They should be browned
all over and thoroughly done.
Eels
are sometimes dipped in
batter and then fried, or into egg and bread crumbs. Serve with
crisped parsley.
SHEEPSHEAD
WITH DRAWN BUTTER.
SELECT a medium-sized fish,
clean it thoroughly, and rub a little salt over it; wrap it in a
cloth and put it in a steamer; place this over a pot of fast-boiling
water and steam one hour; then lay it whole upon a hot side-dish,
garnish with tufts of parsley and slices of lemon, and serve with
drawn butter, prepared as follows: Take two ounces of butter and roll
it into small balls, dredge these with flour; put one-fourth of them
in a saucepan, and as they begin to melt, whisk them; add the
remainder, one at a time, until thoroughly smooth; while stirring,
add a tablespoonful of lemon juice, half a tablespoonful of chopped
parsley; pour into a hot sauce boat and serve.
BAKED
WHITE FISH.
THOROUGHLY clean the fish; cut
off the head or not, as preferred; cut out the backbone from the head
to within two inches of the tail, and stun with the following: Soak
stale bread in water, squeeze dry; cut in pieces a large onion, fry
in butter, chop fine; add the bread, two ounces of butter, salt,
pepper and a little parsley or sage; heat through, and when taken off
the fire, add the yolks of two well-beaten eggs; stuff the fish
rather full, sew up with fine twine, and wrap with several coils of
white tape. Rub the fish over slightly with butter; just cover the
bottom of a baking pan with hot water, and place the fish in it,
standing back upward, and bent in the form of an S. Serve with the
following dressing: Reduce the yolks of two hardboiled eggs to a
smooth paste with two tablespoonfuls good salad oil; stir in half a
teaspoon English mustard, and add pepper and vinegar to taste.
HALIBUT
BOILED.
THE cut next to the tail-piece
is the best to boil. Rub a little salt over it, soak it for fifteen
minutes in vinegar and cold water, then wash it s and scrape it until
quite clean; tie it in a cloth and boil slowly over a moderate fire,
allowing seven minutes' boiling to each pound of fish; when it is
half -cooked, turn it over in the pot; serve with drawn butter or egg
sauce.
Boiled
halibut minced with
boiled potatoes and a little butter and milk makes an excellent
breakfast dish.
STEAMED
HALIBUT.
SELECT a three-pound piece of
white halibut, cover it with a cloth and place it in a steamer; set
the steamer over a pot of fast-boiling water and steam two hours;
place it on a hot dish surrounded with a border of parsley and serve
with egg sauce.
FRIED
HALIBUT. No. 1.
SELECT choice, firm slices from
this large and delicate looking fish, and, after carefully washing
and drying with a soft towel, with a sharp knife take off the skin.
Beat up two eggs and roll out some brittle crackers upon the kneading
board until they are as fine as dust. Dip each slice into the beaten
egg, then into the cracker crumbs (after you have salted and peppered
the fish), and place them in a hot frying pan half full of boiling
lard, in which a little butter has been added to make the fish brown
nicely; turn and brown both sides, remove from frying pan and drain.
Serve hot.
FRIED
HALIBUT. No. 2.
FIRST fry a few thin slices of
salt pork until brown in an iron frying pan; then take it up on a hot
platter and keep it warm until the halibut is fried. After washing
and drying two pounds of sliced halibut, sprinkle it with salt and
pepper, dredge it well with flour, put it into the hot pork drippings
and fry brown on both sides; then serve the pork with the fish.
Halibut
broiled in slices is a
very good way of cooking it, broiled the same as Spanish mackerel.
BAKED
HALIBUT.
TAKE a nice piece of halibut
weighing five or six pounds and lay it in salt water for two hours.
Wipe it dry and score the outer skin. Set it in a dripping pan in a
moderately hot oven and bake an hour, basting often with butter and
water heated together in a sauce pan or tin cup. When a fork will
penetrate it easily, it is done. It should be a fine, brown color.
Take the gravy in the dripping pan, add a little boiling water,
should there not be enough, stir in a tablespoonful of walnut catsup,
a teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce, the juice of a lemon, and
thicken with brown flour, previously wet with cold water. Boil up
once and put in a sauce boat.
HALIBUT
BROILED.
BROIL the same as other fish,
upon a buttered gridiron, over a clear fire, first seasoning with
salt and pepper, placed on a hot dish when done, buttered well and
covered closely.
FRIED
BROOK TROUT.
THESE delicate fish are usually
fried, and form a delightful breakfast or supper dish. Clean, wash
and dry the fish, split them to the tail, salt and pepper them, and
flour them nicely. If you use lard instead of the fat of fried salt
pork, put in a piece of butter to prevent their sticking, and which
causes them to brown nicely. Let the fat be hot; fry quickly to a
delicate brown. They should be sufficiently browned on one side
before turning on the other. They are nice served with slices of
fried pork, fried crisp. Lay them side by side on a heated platter,
garnish and send hot to the table. They are often cooked and served
with their heads on.
FRIED
SMELTS.
FRIED with their heads on the
same as brook trout. Many think that they make a much better
appearance as a dish when cooked whole with the heads on, and nicely
garnished for the table.
BOILED
WHITE FISH.
Taken
from Mrs. A. W. Ferry's Cook Book, Mackinac, 1824.
THE
most delicate mode of
cooking white fish. Prepare the fish as for broiling, laying it open;
put it into a dripping pan with the back down; nearly cover with
water; to one fish two tablespoonfuls of salt; cover tightly and
simmer (not boil) one-half hour. Dress with gravy, a little butter
and pepper, and garnish with hard-boiled eggs.
BAKED
WHITE FISH.
(Bordeaux
Sauce.)
CLEAN and stuff the fish. Put it
in a baking pan and add a liberal quantity of butter, previously
rolled in flour, to the fish. Put in the pan half a pint of claret,
and bake for an hour and a quarter. Remove the fish and strain the
gravy; add to the latter a gill more of claret, a teaspoonful of
brown flour and a pinch of cayenne, and serve with the fish.
Plankington
House, Milwaukee.
BAKED
SALMON TROUT.
THIS deliciously flavored
game-fish is baked precisely as shad or white fish, but should be
accompanied with cream gravy to make it perfect. It should be baked
slowly, basting often with butter and water. When done have ready in
a saucepan a cup of cream, diluted with a few spoonfuls of hot water,
for fear it might clot in heating, in which have been stirred
cautiously two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, a scant tablespoonful
of flour, and a little chopped parsley. Heat this in a vessel set
within another of boiling water, add the gravy from the dripping-pan,
boil up once to thicken, and when the trout is laid on a suitable hot
dish, pour this sauce around it. Garnish with sprigs of parsley.
This
same fish boiled, served
with the same cream gravy (with the exception of the fish gravy) , is
the proper way to cook it.
TO
BAKE SMELTS.
WASH and dry them thoroughly in
a cloth, and arrange them nicely in a fiat baking-dish; the pan
should be buttered, also the fish; season with salt and pepper, and
cover with bread or cracker crumbs. Place a piece of butter over
each. Bake for fifteen or twenty minutes. Garnish with fried parsley
and cut lemon.
BROILED
SPANISH MACKEREL.
SPLIT the fish down the back,
take out the backbone, wash it in cold water, dry it with a clean,
dry cloth, sprinkle it lightly with salt and lay it on a buttered
gridiron, over a clear fire, with the flesh side downward, until it
begins to brown; then turn the other side. Have ready a mixture of
two tablespoonfuls of butter melted, a tablespoonful of lemon juice,
a teaspoonful of salt, some pepper. Dish up the fish hot from the
gridiron on a hot dish, turn over the mixture and serve it while hot.
Broiled
Spanish mackerel is
excellent with other fish sauces. Boiled Spanish mackerel is also
very fine with most of the fish sauces, more especially "Matre d
'Hotel Sauce."
BOILED
SALT MACKEREL.
WASH and clean off all the brine
and salt; put it to soak with the meat side down, in cold water over
night; in the morning rinse it in one or two waters. Wrap each up in
a cloth and put it into a kettle with considerable water, which
should be cold; cook about thirty minutes. Take it carefully from the
cloth, take out the backbones and pour over a little melted butter
and cream; add a light sprinkle of pepper. Or make a cream sauce like
the following:
Heat
a small cup of milk to
scalding. Stir into it a teaspoonful of cornstarch wet up with a
little water. When this thickens, add two tablespoonfuls of butter,
pepper, salt and chopped parsley, to taste. Beat an egg light, pour
the sauce gradually over it, put the mixture again over the fire, and
stir one minute, not more. Pour upon the fish, and serve it with some
slices of lemon, or a few sprigs of parsley or water-cress, on the
dish as a garnish.
BAKED
SALT MACKEREL.
WHEN the mackerel have soaked
over night, put them in a pan and pour on boiling water enough to
cover. Let them stand a couple of minutes, then drain them off, and
put them in the pan with a few lumps of butter; pour on a half
teacupful of sweet cream, or rich milk, and a little pepper; set in
the oven and let it bake a little until brown.
FRIED
SALT MACKEREL.
SELECT as many salt mackerel as
required; wash and cleanse them well, then put them to soak all day
in cold water, changing them every two hours; then put them into
fresh water just before retiring. In the morning drain off the water,
wipe them dry, roll them in flour, and fry in a little butter on a
hot, thick-bottomed frying pan. Serve with a little melted butter
poured over, and garnish with a little parsley.
BOILED
FRESH MACKEREL.
FRESH mackerel are cooked in
water salted, and a little vinegar added; with this exception they
can be served in the same way as the salt mackerel. Broiled ones are
very nice with the same cream sauce, or you can substitute egg sauce.
POTTED
FRESH FISH.
AFTER the fish has laid in salt
water six hours, take it out, and to every six pounds of fish take
one-quarter cupful each of salt, black pepper and cinnamon,
one-eighth cupful of allspice, and one teaspoonful of cloves.
Cut
the fish in pieces and put
into a half gallon stone baking-jar, first a layer of fish, then the
spices, flour, and then spread a thin layer of butter on, and
continue so until the dish is full. Fill the jar with equal parts of
vinegar and water, cover with tightly fitting lid, so that the steam
cannot escape; bake five hours, remove from the oven, and when it is
cold it is to be cut in slices and served. This is a tea or lunch
dish.
SCALLOPED
CRABS.
PUT the crabs into a kettle of
boiling water, and throw in a handful of salt. Boil from twenty
minutes to half an hour. Take them from the water when done and pick
out all the meat; be careful not to break the shell. To a pint of
meat put a little salt and pepper; taste, and if not enough add more,
a little at a time, till suited. Grate in a very little nutmeg and
add one spoonful of cracker or bread crumbs, two eggs well beaten,
and two tablespoonfuls of butter (even full); stir all well together;
wash the shells clean, and fill each shell full of the mixture;
sprinkle crumbs over the top and moisten with the liquor; set in the
oven till of a nice brown; a few minutes will do it. Send to the
table hot, arranged on large dishes. They are eaten at breakfast or
supper.
FISH
IN WHITE SAUCE.
FLAKE up cold boiled halibut and
set the plate into the steamer, that the fish may heat without
drying. Boil the bones and skin of the fish with a slice of onion and
a very small piece of red pepper; a bit of this the size of a kernel
of coffee will make the sauce quite as hot as most persons like it.
Boil this stock down to half a pint; thicken with one teaspoonful of
butter and one teaspoonful of flour, mixed together. Add one drop of
extract of almond. Pour this sauce over your halibut and stick bits
of parsley over it.
FRESH
STURGEON STEAK MARINADE.
TAKE one slice of sturgeon two
inches thick; let it stand in hot water five minutes; drain, put it
in a bowl and add a gill of vinegar, two tablespoonfuls of melted
butter, half a teaspoonful of salt, a salt-spoonful of black pepper
and the juice of half a lemon; let it stand six hours, turning it
occasionally; drain and dry on a napkin; dip it in egg; roll in bread
crumbs and fry, or rather boil, in very hot fat. Beat up the yolks of
two raw eggs, add a teaspoonful of French mustard, and by degrees,
half of the marinade, to make a smooth sauce, which serve with the
fish.
POTTED
FISH.
TAKE out the backbone of the
fish; for one weighing two pounds take a tablespoonful of allspice
and cloves mixed; these spices should be put into little bags of not
too thick muslin; put sufficient salt directly upon each fish; then
roll in cloth, over which sprinkle a little cayenne pepper; put
alternate layers of fish, spice and sage in an earthen jar; cover
with the best cider vinegar; cover the jar closely with a plate, and
over this put a covering of dough, rolled out to twice the thickness
of pie crust. Make the edges of paste, to adhere closely to the sides
of the jar, so as to make it air tight. Put the jar into a pot of
cold water and let it boil from three to five hours, according to
quantity. Ready when cold.
MAYONNAISE
FISH.
TAKE a pound or so of cold
boiled fish (halibut, rock or cod) y not chop, but cut, into pieces
an inch in length. Mix in a bowl a dressing as follows: The yolks of
four boiled eggs rubbed to a smooth paste with salad oil or butter;
add to these salt, pepper, mustard, two teaspoonfuls of white sugar,
and, lastly, six tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Beat the mixture until
light, and just before pouring it over the fish, stir in lightly the
frothed white of a raw egg. Serve the fish in a glass dish, with half
the dressing stirred in with it. Spread the remainder over the top,
and lay lettuce leaves (from the core of the head of lettuce) around
the edges, to be eaten with it.
FISH
CHOWDER. (Rhode Island.)
FRY five or six slices of fat
pork crisp in the bottom of the pot you are to make your chowder in;
take them out and chop them into small pieces, put them back into the
bottom of the pot with their own gravy. (This is much better than
having the slices whole.)
Cut
four pounds of fresh cod or
sea-bass into pieces two inches square, and lay enough of these on
the pork to cover it. Follow with a layer of chopped onions, a little
parsley, summer savory and pepper, either black or cayenne. Then a
layer of split Boston, or butter, or whole cream crackers, which have
been soaked in warm water until moistened through, but not ready to
break. Above this put a layer of pork and repeat the order given
above onions, seasoning (not too much), crackers and pork, until your
materials are exhausted. Let the topmost layer be buttered crackers
well soaked. Pour in enough cold water to barely cover all. Cover the
pot, stew gently for an hour, watching that the water does not sink
too low. Should it leave the upper layer exposed, replenish
cautiously from the boiling tea-kettle. When the chowder is
thoroughly done, take out with a perforated skimmer and put into a
tureen. Thicken the gravy with a tablespoonful of flour and about the
same quantity of butter; boil up and pour over the chowder. Serve
sliced lemon, pickles and stewed tomatoes with it, that the guests
may add if they like.
CODFISH
BALLS.
TAKE a pint bowl of codfish
picked very fine, two pint bowls of whole raw peeled potatoes, sliced
thickly; put them together in plenty of cold water and boil until the
potatoes are thoroughly cooked; remove from the fire and drain off
all the water. Mash them with the potato masher, add a piece of
butter the size of an egg, one well-beaten egg, and three spoonfuls
of cream or rich milk. Flour your hands and make into balls or cakes.
Put an ounce each of butter and lard into a frying pan; when hot, put
in the balls and fry a nice brown. Do not freshen the fish before
boiling with the potatoes. Many cooks fry them in a quantity of lard
similar to boiled doughnuts.
STEWED
CODFISH. (Salt.)
TAKE a thick, white piece of
salt codfish, lay it in cold water for a few minutes to soften it a
little, enough to render it more easily to be picked up. Shred it in
very small bits, put it over the fire in a stew pan with cold water;
let it come to a boil, turn off this water carefully, and add a pint
of milk to the fish, or more according to quantity. Set it over the
fire again and let it boil slowly about three minutes, now add a
good-sized piece of butter, a shake of pepper and a thickening of a
tablespoonful of flour in enough cold milk to make a cream. Stew five
minutes longer, and just before serving stir in two well-beaten eggs.
The eggs are an addition that could be dispensed with, however, as it
is very good without them. An excellent breakfast dish.
CODFISH
À LA MODE.
PICK up a teacupful of salt
codfish very fine and freshen — the desiccated is nice to use; two
cups mashed potatoes, one pint cream or milk, two well-beaten eggs,
half a cup butter, salt and pepper; mix; bake in an earthen baking
dish from twenty to twenty-five minutes; serve in the same dish,
placed on a small platter, covered with a fine napkin.
BOILED
FRESH COD.
SEW up the piece of fish in thin
cloth, fitted to shape; boil in salted water (boiling from the
first), allowing about fifteen minutes to the pound. Carefully unwrap
and pour over it warm oyster sauce. A whole one boiled the same.
Hotel
Brighton.
SCALLOPED
FISH.
PICK any cold fresh fish, or
salt codfish, left from the dinner, into fine bits, carefully
removing all the bones.
Take
a pint of milk in a
suitable dish and place it in a saucepan of boiling water; put into
it a few slices of onion cut very fine, a sprig of parsley minced
fine, add a piece of butter as large as an egg, a pinch of salt, a
sprinkle of white pepper, then stir in two tablespoonfuls of
cornstarch, or flour, rubbed in a little cold milk; let all boil up
and remove from the fire. Take a dish you wish to serve it in, butter
the sides and bottom. Put first a layer of the minced fish, then a
layer of the cream, then sprinkle over that some cracker or bread
crumbs, then a layer of fish again, and so on until the dish is full;
spread cracker or bread crumbs last on the top to prevent the milk
from scorching.
This
is a very good way to use
up cold fish, making a nice breakfast dish, or a side dish for
dinner.
FISH
FRITTERS.
TAKE a piece of salt codfish,
pick it up very fine, put it into a saucepan, with plenty of cold
water; bring it to a boil, turn off the water, and add another of
cold water; let this boil with the fish about fifteen minutes, very
slowly; strain off this water, making the fish quite dry, and set
aside to cool. In the meantime, stir up a batter of a pint of milk,
four eggs, a pinch of salt, one large teaspoonful of baking powder in
flour, enough to make thicker than batter cakes. Stir in the fish and
fry like any fritters. Very fine accompaniment to a good breakfast.
BOILED
SALT CODFISH. (New England Style.)
CUT the fish into square pieces,
cover with cold water, set on tie back part of the stove; when hot,
pour off water and cover again with cold water; let it stand about
four hours and simmer, not boil; put the fish on a platter, then
cover with a drawn-butter gravy and serve. Many cooks prefer soaking
the fish over night.
BOILED
CODFISH AND OYSTER SAUCE.
LAY the fish in cold, salted
water half an hour before it is time to cook it, then roll it in a
clean cloth dredged with flour; sew up the edges in such a manner as
to envelop the fish entirely, yet have but one thickness of cloth
over any part. Put the fish into boiling water slightly salted; add a
few whole cloves and peppers and a bit of lemon peel; pull gently on
the fins, and when they come out easily the fish is done. Arrange
neatly on a folded napkin, garnish and serve with oyster sauce. Take
six oysters to every pound of fish and scald (blanch) them in a half
-pint of hot oyster liquor; take out the oysters and add to the
liquor, salt, pepper, a bit of mace and an ounce of butter; whip into
it a gill of milk containing half of a teaspoonful of flour. Simmer a
moment; add the oysters, and send to table in a sauce boat. Egg sauce
is good with this fish.
BAKED
CODFISH.
IF SALT fish, soak, boil and
pick the fish, the same as for fish-balls. Add an equal quantity of
mashed potatoes, or cold, boiled, chopped potatoes, a large piece of
butter, and warm milk enough to make it quite soft. Put it into a
buttered dish, rub butter over the top, shake over a little sifted
flour, and bake about thirty minutes, and until a rich brown. Make a
sauce of drawn butter, with two hard-boiled eggs sliced, served in a
gravy boat.
CODFISH
STEAK. (New England Style.)
SELECT a medium-sized fresh
codfish, cut it in steaks cross-wise of the fish, about an inch and a
half thick; sprinkle a little salt over them, and let them stand two
hours. Cut into dice a pound of salt fat pork, fry out all the fat
from them and remove the crisp bits of pork; put the codfish steaks
in a pan of corn meal, dredge them with it, and when the pork fat is
smoking hot, fry the steaks in it to a dark brown color on both
sides. Squeeze over them a little lemon juice, add a dash of freshly
ground pepper, and serve with hot, old-fashioned, well-buttered
Johnny Cake.
SALMON
CROQUETTES.
ONE pound of cooked salmon
(about one and a half pints when chopped), one cup of cream, two
tablespoonfuls of butter, one tablespoonful of flour, three eggs, one
pint of crumbs, pepper and salt; chop the salmon fine, mix the flour
and butter together, let the cream come to a boil, and stir in the
flour and butter, salmon and seasoning; boil one minute; stir in one
well-beaten egg, and remove from the fire; when cold make into
croquettes; dip in beaten egg, roll in crumbs and fry. Canned salmon
can be used.
SHELL-FISH.
STEWED
WATER TURTLES, OR TERRAPINS.
SELECT the largest, thickest and
fattest, the females being the best; they should be alive when
brought from market. Wash and put them alive into boiling water, add
a little salt, and boil them until thoroughly done, or from ten to
fifteen minutes, after which take off the shell, extract the meat,
and remove carefully the sand-bag and gall; also all the entrails;
they are unfit to eat, and are no longer used in cooking terrapins
for the best tables. Cut the meat into pieces, and put it into a
stewpan with its eggs, and sufficient fresh butter 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, a gill of currant jelly, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and salt to
taste, enriched with a large lump of fresh butter. Stir this sauce
well over the fire, and when it has almost come to a boil take it
off. Send the terrapins to the 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 terrapins
when simply stewed with butter. This is now the usual mode of
dressing terrapins in Maryland, Virginia, and many other parts of the
South, and will be found superior to any other. If there are no eggs
in the terrapin, "egg balls" may be substituted. (See
recipe.)
STEWED
TERRAPIN, WITH CREAM.
PLACE in a saucepan, two heaping
tablespoonfuls of butter and one of dry flour; stir it over the fire
until it bubbles; then gradually stir in a pint of cream, a
teaspoonful of salt, a quarter of a teaspoonful of white pepper, the
same of grated nutmeg, and a very small pinch of cayenne. Next, put
in a pint of terrapin meat and stir all until it is scalding hot.
Move the saucepan to the back part of the stove or range, where the
contents will keep hot but not boil; then stir in four well-beaten
yolks of eggs; do not allow the terrapin to boil after adding the
eggs, but pour it immediately into a tureen containing a gill of good
Madeira and a tablespoonful of lemon juice. Serve hot.
STEWED
TERRAPIN.
PLUNGE the terrapins alive into
boiling water, and let them remain until the sides and lower shell
begin to crack this will take less than an hour; then remove them and
let them get cold; take off the shell and outer skin, being careful
to save all the blood possible in opening them. If there are eggs in
them put them aside in a dish; take all the inside out, and be very
careful not to break the gall, which must be immediately removed or
it will make the rest bitter. It lies within the liver. Then cut up
the liver and all the rest of the terrapin into small pieces, adding
the blood and juice that have flowed out in. cutting up; add half a
pint of water; sprinkle a little flour over them as you place them in
the stewpan; let them stew slowly ten minutes, adding salt, black and
cayenne pepper, and a very small blade of mace; then add a gill of
the best brandy and half a pint of the very best sherry wine; let it
simmer over a slow fire very gently. About ten minutes or so, before
you are ready to dish them, add half a pint of rich, cream, and half
a pound of sweet butter, with flour, to prevent boiling; two or three
minutes before taking them off the fire peel the eggs carefully and
throw them in whole. If there should be no eggs use the yolks of
hens' eggs, hard boiled. This recipe is for four terrapins.
Rennert's
Hotel, Baltimore.
OILED
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 twenty minutes to
half 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.
It is
scarcely necessary to
mention that the head of a lobster and what are called the lady
fingers are not to be eaten.
Very
large lobsters are not the
best, the meat being coarse and tough. The male is best for boiling;
the flesh is firmer and the shell a brighter red. It may readily be
distinguished from the female; the tail is narrower, and the two
uppermost fins within the tail are stiff and hard. Those of the hen
lobster are not so, and the tail is broader.
Hen
lobsters are preferred for
sauce or salad, on account of their coral. The head and small claws
are never used.
They
should be alive and freshly
caught when put into the boiling kettle. After being cooked and
cooled, split open the body and tail and crack the claws, to extract
the meat. The sand pouch found near the throat should be removed.
Care should be exercised that none of the feathery, tough, gill-like
particles found under the body shell get mixed with the meat, as they
are indigestible and have caused much trouble. They are supposed to
be the cause of so-called poisoning from eating lobster.
Serve
on a platter. Lettuce and
other concomitants of a salad should also be placed on the table or
platter.
SCALLOPED
LOBSTER.
BUTTER a deep dish and cover the
bottom with fine bread crumbs; put on this a layer of chopped
lobster, with pepper and salt; so on, alternately, until the dish is
filled, having crumbs on top. Put on bits of butter, moisten with
milk and bake about twenty minutes.
DEVILED
LOBSTER.
TAKE out all the meat from a
boiled lobster, reserving the coral; season highly with mustard,
cayenne, salt and some kind of table sauce; stew until well mixed and
put it in a covered saucepan, with just enough hot water to keep from
burning; rub the coral smooth, moistening with vinegar until it is
thin enough to pour easily, then stir it into the saucepan. The
dressing should be prepared before the meat is put on the fire, and
which ought to boil but once before the coral is put in; stir in a
heaping teaspoonful of butter, and when it boils again it is done and
should be taken up at once, as too much cooking toughens the meat.
LOBSTER
CROQUETTES.
TAKE any of the lobster
remaining from table and pound it until the dark, light meat and
coral are well mixed; put with it not quite as much fine bread
crumbs; season with pepper, salt and a very little cayenne pepper;
add a little melted butter, about two tablespoonfuls if the bread is
rather dry; form into egg-shaped or round balls; roll them in egg,
then in fine crumbs, and fry in boiling lard.
BASTING
THE TURKEY
LOBSTER
PATTIES.
CUT some boiled lobster in small
pieces; then take the small claws and the spawn, put them in a
suitable dish, and jam them to a paste with a potato masher. Now add
to them a ladleful of gravy or broth, with a few bread crumbs; set it
over the fire and boil; strain it through a strainer, or sieve, to
the thickness of a cream, and put half of it to your lobsters, and
save the other half to sauce them with after they are baked. Put to
the lobster the bigness of an egg of butter, a little pepper and
salt; squeeze in a lemon, and warm these over the fire enough to melt
the butter, set it to cool, and sheet your patty pan or a plate or
dish with good puff paste, then put in your lobster, and cover it
with a paste; bake it within three-quarters of an hour before you
want it; when it is baked, cut up your cover, and warm up the other
half of your sauce above mentioned, with a little butter, to the
thickness of cream, and pour it over your patty, with a little
squeezed lemon; cut your cover in two, and lay it on the top, two
inches distant, so that what is under may be seen. You may bake
crawfish, shrimps or prawns the same way; and they are all proper for
plates or little dishes for a second course.
LOBSTER
À LA NEWBURG.
TAKE one whole lobster, cut up
in pieces about as large as a hickory nut. Put in the same pan with a
piece of butter size of a walnut, season with salt and pepper to
taste, and thicken with heavy cream sauce; add the yolk of one egg
and two oz. of sherry wine.
Cream
sauce for above is made as
follows: 1 oz. butter, melted in saucepan; 2 oz. flour, mixed with
butter, thin down to proper consistency with boiling cream.
Rector's
Oyster House;
Chicago.
BAKED
CRABS.
Mix with the contents of a can
of crabs, bread crumbs or pounded crackers. Pepper and salt the whole
to taste; mince some cold ham; have the baking pan well buttered,
place therein first a layer of the crab meat, prepared as above, then
a layer of the minced ham, and so on, alternately until the pan is
filled. Cover the top with bread crumbs and bits of butter, and bake.
DEVILED
CRABS.
HALF a dozen fresh crabs, boiled
and minced, two ounces of butter, one small teaspoonful of mustard
powder; cayenne pepper and salt to taste. Put the meat into a bowl
and mix carefully with it an equal quantity of fine bread crumbs.
Work the butter to a light cream, mix the mustard well with it, then
stir in very carefully, a handful at a time, the mixed crabs, a
tablespoonful of cream and crumbs. Season to taste with cayenne
pepper and salt; fill the crab shells with the mixture, sprinkle
bread crumbs over the tops, put three small pieces of butter upon the
top of each, and brown them quickly in a hot oven. They will puff in
baking and will be found very nice. Half the quantity can be made. A
crab shell will hold the meat of two crabs.
CRAB
CROQUETTES.
PICK the meat of boiled crabs
and chop it fine. Season to taste with pepper, salt and melted
butter. Moisten it well with rich milk or cream, then stiffen it
slightly with bread or cracker crumbs. Add two or three well-beaten
eggs to bind the mixture. Form the croquettes, egg and bread, crumb
them and fry them delicately in boiling lard. It is better to use a
wire frying basket for croquettes of all kinds.
TO
MAKE A CRAB PIE.
PROCURE the crabs alive, and put
them in boiling water, along with some salt. Boil them for a quarter
of an hour or twenty minutes, according to the size. When cold pick
the meat from the claws and body. Chop all together, and mix it with
crumbs of bread, pepper and salt, and a little butter. Put all this
into the shell and brown in a hot oven. A crab shell will hold the
meat of two crabs.
CRABS.
(Soft Shell.)
CRABS may be boiled as lobsters.
They make a fine dish when stewed. Take out the meat from the shell,
put it into a saucepan with butter, pepper, salt, a pinch of mace and
a very little water; dredge with flour and let simmer five minutes
over a slow fire. Serve hot; garnish the dish, with the claws laid
around it.
The
usual way of cooking them is
frying them in plenty of butter and lard mixed; prepare them the same
as frying fish. The spongy substance from the sides should be taken
off, also the sand bag. Fry a nice brown and garnish with parsley.
OYSTERS.
OYSTERS must be fresh and fat to
be good. They are in season from September to May.
The
small ones, such as are sold
by the quart, are good for pies, fritters, or stews; the largest of
this sort are nice for frying or pickling for family use.
FRIED
OYSTERS.
TAKE large oysters from their
own liquor into a thickly folded napkin to dry them; then make hot an
ounce each of butter and lard in a thick-bottomed frying pan. Season
the oysters with pepper and salt, then dip each one into egg and
cracker crumbs rolled fine, until it will take up no more. Place them
in the hot grease and fry them a delicate brown, turning them on both
sides by sliding a broad-bladed knife under them. Serve them crisp
and hot.
Boston
Oyster House.
Some
prefer to roll oysters in
corn meal and others use flour, but they are much more crisp with egg
and cracker crumbs.
OYSTERS
FRIED IN BATTER.
Ingredients. One-half pint of
oysters, two eggs, one-half pint of milk, sufficient flour to make
the batter; pepper and salt to taste; when liked, a little nutmeg;
hot lard.
Scald
the oysters in their own
liquor, beard them, and lay them on a cloth to drain thoroughly.
Break the eggs into a basin, mix the flour with them, add the milk
gradually, with nutmeg and seasoning, and put the oysters in a
batter. Make some lard hot in a deep frying pan; put in the oysters
one at a time; when done, take them up with a sharp pointed skewer
and dish them on a napkin. Fried oysters are frequently used for
garnishing boiled fish, and then a few bread crumbs should be added
to the flour.
STEWED
OYSTERS. (In Milk or Cream.)
DRAIN the liquor from two quarts
of oysters; mix with it a small teacupful of hot water, add a little
salt and pepper and set it over the fire in a saucepan. Let it boil
up once, put in the oysters, let them come to a boil, and when they
"ruffle" add two tablespoonfuls of butter. The instant it
is melted and well stirred in, put in a pint of boiling milk and take
the saucepan from the fire. Serve with oyster or cream crackers.
Serve while hot.
If
thickening is preferred, stir
in a little flour or two tablespoonfuls of cracker crumbs.
PLAIN
OYSTER STEW.
SAME as milk or cream stew,
using only oyster liquor and water instead of milk or cream, adding
more butter after taking up.
OYSTER
SOUP.
FOR oyster soup, see SOUPS.
DRY
OYSTER STEW.
TAKE six to twelve large oysters
and cook them in half a pint of their own liquor; season with butter
and white pepper; cook for five minutes, stirring constantly. Serve
in hot soup plates or bowls.
Fulton
Market, New York.
BOSTON
FRY.
PREPARE the oysters in egg
batter and fine cracker meal; fry in butter over a slow fire for
about ten minutes; cover the hollow of a hot platter with tomato
sauce; place the oysters in it, but not covering; garnished with
chopped parsley sprinkled over the oysters.
Boston
Oyster House.
BROILED
OYSTERS.
DRY a quart of oysters in a
cloth, dip each in melted butter well peppered; then in beaten egg,
or not, then in bread or cracker crumbs also peppered. Broil on a
wire broiler over live coals three to five minutes. Dip over each a
little melted butter. Serve hot.
ROAST
OYSTERS IN THE SHELL. No. 1.
SELECT the large ones, those
usually termed " Saddle Rocks," formerly known as a
distinct variety, but which are now but the large oysters selected
from any beds; wash and wipe them, and place with the upper or deep
shell down, to catch the juice, over or on live coals. 'When they
open their shells, remove the shallow one, being careful to save all
the juice in the other; place them, shells and all, on a hot platter,
and send to table hot, to be seasoned by each person with butter and
pepper to taste. If the oysters are fine, and they are just cooked
enough and served all hot, this is, par excellence, the style.
OYSTER
ROAST. No. 2.
PUT one quart of oysters in a
basin with their own liquor and let them boil three or four minutes;
season with a little salt, pepper and a heaping spoonful of butter.
Serve on buttered toast.
STEAMED
OYSTERS.
WASH and drain a quart of counts
or select oysters; put them in a shallow pan and place in a steamer
over boiling water; cover and steam till they are plump, with the
edges ruffled, but no longer. Place in a heated dish, with butter,
pepper and salt, and serve.
Baltimore
Style.
STEAMED
OYSTERS IN THE SHELL.
WASH and place them in an
air-tight vessel, laying them the upper shell downward, so that the
liquor will not run out when they open. Place this dish or vessel
over a pot of boiling water where they will get the steam. Boil them
rapidly until the shells open, about fifteen to twenty minutes. Serve
at once while hot, seasoned with butter, salt and pepper.
PAN
OYSTERS. No. 1.
CUT some stale bread in thin
slices, taking off all the crust, round the slices to fit patty-pans;
toast, butter, place them in the pans and moisten with three or four
teaspoonfuls of oyster liquor; place on the toast a layer of oysters,
sprinkle with pepper, and put a small piece of butter on top of each
pan; place all the pans in a baking-pan, and place in the oven,
covering tightly. They will cook in seven or eight minutes if the
oven is hot; or, cook till the beards are ruffled; remove the cover,
sprinkle lightly with salt, replace, and cook one minute longer.
Serve in patty pans. They are delicious.
New
York Style.
PAN
OYSTERS. No. 2.
LAY in a thin pie tin or
dripping-pan half a pint of large oysters, or more if required; have
the pan large enough so that each oyster will lie flat on the bottom;
put in over them a little oyster liquor, but not enough to float;
place them carefully in a hot oven and just heat them through
thoroughly — do not bake them — which will be in three to five
minutes, according to fire; take them up and place on toast; first
moistened with the hot juice from the pan. Are a very good substitute
for oysters roasted in the shell, the slow cooking bringing out the
flavor.
French
Restaurant, New
Orleans, La.
OYSTER
FRITTERS.
SELECT plump, good-sized
oysters; drain off. the juice, and to a cup of this juice add a cup
of milk, a little salt, four well-beaten eggs, and flour enough to
make batter like griddle-cakes.
Envelope
an oyster in a spoonful
of this batter (some cut them in halves or chop them fine), then fry
in butter and lard, mixed in a frying pan the same as we fry eggs,
turning to fry brown on both sides. Send to the table very hot.
Delmonico.
Most
cooks fry oyster fritters
the same as crullers, in a quantity of hot lard, but this is not
always convenient; either way they are excellent.
OYSTER
PATTIES.
LINE patty-pans with thin
pastry, pressing it well to the tin. Put a piece of bread or a ball
of paper in each. Cover them with paste and brush them over with the
white of an egg. Cut an inch square of thin pastry, place on the
centre of each, glaze this also with egg, and bake in a quick oven
fifteen to twenty minutes. Remove the bread or paper when half cold.
Scald
as many oysters as you
require (allowing two for each patty, three if small) in their own
liquor. Cut each in four and strain the liquor. Put two
tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour into a thick saucepan; stir
them together over the fire till the flour smells cooked, and then
pour half a pint of oyster liquor and half a pint of milk into the
flour and butter. (If you have cream use it instead of milk.) Stir
till it is a thick, smooth sauce. Put -the oysters into it and let
them boil once. Beat the yolks of two eggs. Remove the oysters for
one minute from the fire, then stir the eggs into them till the sauce
looks like thick custard.
Fill
the patties with this
oyster fricassee, taking care to make it hot by standing in boiling
water before dinner on the day required, and So make the patty cases
hot before you fill them.
FULTON
MARKET ROAST.
IT is still known in New York
from the place at which it was and is still served. Take nine large
oysters in the shell; wash, dry and roast over a charcoal fire, on a
broiler. Two minutes after the shells open they will be done. Take
them up quickly, saving the juice in a small shallow, tin pan; keep
hot until all are done; butter them and sprinkle with pepper.
This
is served for one person
when calling for a roast of this kind. It is often poured over a
slice of toast.
SCALLOPED
OYSTERS.
HAVE ready about a pint bowl of
fine cracker crumbs. Butter a deep earthen dish; put a layer of the
cracker crumbs on the bottom; wet this with some of the oyster
liquor; next have a layer of oysters; sprinkle with salt and pepper,
and lay small bits of butter upon them; then another layer of cracker
crumbs and oyster juice; then oysters, pepper, salt and butter, and
so on, until the dish is full; the top layer to be cracker crumbs.
Beat up an egg in a cup of milk and turn over all. Cover the dish and
set m the oven for thirty or forty-five minutes. When baked through,
uncover the top, set on the upper grate and brown.
OYSTER
POT-PIE.
SCALD a quart can of oysters in
their own liquor; when it boils, skim out the oysters and set aside
in a warm place. To the liquor add a pint of hot water; season well
with salt and pepper, a generous piece of butter, thicken with flour
and cold milk. Have ready nice light biscuit dough, rolled twice as
thick as pie crust; cut out into inch squares, drop them into the
boiling stew, cover closely, and cook forty minutes. When taken up,
stir the oysters into the juice and serve nil together in one dish. A
nice side entrée.
Prince's
Bay, S. I.
BOSTON
OYSTER PIE.
HAVING buttered the inside of a
deep
pie plate, line it with puff paste, or common pie crust, and prepare
another sheet of paste for the lid; put a clean towel into the dish
(folded so as to support the lid), set it into the oven and bake the
paste well; when done, remove the lid and take out the towel. While
the paste is baking prepare the oysters. Having picked off carefully
every bit of shell that may be found about them, drain off the liquor
into a pan and put the oysters into a stewpan with barely enough of
the liquor to keep them from burning; season them with pepper, salt
and butter; add a little sweet cream or milk, and one or two crackers
rolled fine; let the oysters simmer, but not
boil, as that will
shrivel them. Remove the upper crust of pastry and fill the dish with
the oysters and gravy; replace the cover and serve hot.
Some
prefer baking the upper
crust on a pie plate, the same size as the pie, then slipping it off
on top of the pie after the same is filled with the oysters.
MOCK
OYSTERS.
GRATE the corn, while green and
tender, with a coarse grater, into a deep dish. To two ears of corn,
allow one egg; beat the whites and yolks separately, and add them to
the corn, with one tablespoonful of wheat flour and one of butter, a
teaspoonful of salt and pepper to taste. Drop spoonfuls of this
batter into a frying pan with hot butter and lard mixed, and fry a
light brown on both sides.
In
taste, they have a singular
resemblance to fried oysters. The corn must
be young.
FRICASSEED OYSTERS.
TAKE a slice of raw ham, which
has been pickled, but not smoked, and soak in boiling water for half
an hour; cut it in quite small pieces, and put in a saucepan with
two-thirds of a pint of veal or chicken broth, well strained; the
liquor from a quart of oysters, one small onion, minced fine, and a
little chopped parsley, sweet marjoram, and pepper; let them simmer
for twenty minutes, and then boil rapidly for two or three minutes;
skim well and add one scant tablespoonful of corn-starch, mixed
smoothly in one-third cup of milk; stir constantly, and when it boils
add the oysters and one ounce of butter; after which, just let it
come to a boil, and remove the oysters to a deep dish; beat one egg,
and add to it gradually some of the hot broth, and, when cooked, stir
it into the pan; season with salt, and pour the whole over the
oysters. When placed upon the table, squeeze the juice of a lemon
over it.
SMALL
OYSTER PIES.
FOR each pie take a tin plate
half the size of an ordinary dinner plate; butter it, and cover the
bottom with a puff paste, as for pies; lay on it five or six select
oysters, or enough to cover the bottom; butter them and season with a
little salt and plenty of pepper; spread over this an egg batter, and
cover with a crust of the paste, making small openings in it with a
fork. Bake in a hot oven fifteen to twenty minutes, or until the top
is nicely browned.
Boston
Oyster House
STEWED
CLAMS.
WASH clean as many round clams
as required; pile them in a large iron pot, with half a cupful of hot
water in the bottom, and put over the fire; as soon as the shells
open take out the clams, cut off the hard, uneatable "fringe"
from each with strong, clean scissors, put them into a stewpan with
the broth from the pot, and boil slowly till they are quite tender;
pepper well and thicken the gravy with flour stirred into melted
butter.
Or,
you may get two dozen
freshly opened very small clams. Boil a pint of milk, a dash of white
pepper and a small pat of butter. Now add the clams. Let them come to
a boil and serve. Longer boiling will make the clams almost
indigestible.
ROAST
CLAMS IN THE SHELL.
ROAST in a pan over a hot fire,
or in a hot oven, or, at a "Clam Bake," on hot stones; when
they open, empty the juice into a saucepan; add the clams, with
butter, pepper and a very little salt.
Rye
Beach.
CLAM
FRITTERS.
TAKE fifty small or twenty-five
large sand clams from their shells; if large, cut each in two, lay
them on a thickly-folded napkin; put a pint bowl of wheat flour into
a basin, add to it three well-beaten eggs, half a pint of sweet milk
and nearly as much of their own liquor; beat the batter until it is
smooth and perfectly free from lumps, then stir in the clams. Put
plenty of lard or beef fat into a thick-bottomed frying pan, let it
become boiling hot; put in the batter by the spoonful; let them fry
gently; when one side is a delicate brown turn the other.
CLAM
CHOWDER.
THE materials needed are fifty
round clams (quahogs), a large bowl of salt pork cut up fine, the
same of onions finely chopped, and the same (or more, if you desire)
of potatoes cut into eighths or sixteenths of original size; wash the
clams very thoroughly and put them in a pot with half a pint of
water; when the shells are open they are done; then take them from
the shells and chop fine, saving all the clam water for the chowder;
fry out the pork very gently, and when the scraps are a good brown
take them out and put in the chopped onions to fry; they should be
fried in a frying pan, and the chowder kettle be made very clean
before they are put in it, or the chowder will burn. (The chief
secret in chowder-making is to fry the onions so delicately that they
will be missing in the chowder.)
Add a
quart of hot water to the
onions; put in the clams, clam water and pork scraps. After it boils,
add the potatoes, and when they are cooked, the chowder is finished.
Just before it is taken up, thicken it with a cup of powdered
crackers, and add a quart of fresh milk. If too rich, add more water.
No seasoning is needed but good black pepper.
With
the addition of six sliced
tomatoes, or half a can of the canned ones, this is the best recipe
of this kind, and is served in many of our best restaurants.
New
Bedford Recipe.
SCALLOPED
CLAMS.
PURCHASE a dozen large soft
clams in the shell and three dozen opened clams. Ask the dealer to
open the first dozen, care being used not to injure the shells, which
are to be used in cooking the clams. Clean the shells well, and put
two soft clams on each half shell; add to each a dash of white
pepper, and half a teaspoonful of minced celery. Cut a slice of fat
bacon into the smallest dice, add four of these to each shell, strew
over the top a thin layer of cracker dust; place a piece of table
butter on top, and bake in the oven until brown. They are delightful
when properly prepared.
SCALLOPS.
IF BOUGHT in the shell boil them
and take out the hearts, which is the only part used. Dip them in
beaten egg and fry in the same manner as oysters.
Some
prefer them stewed the same
as oysters.
FROGS
FRIED.
FROGS are usually fried, and are
considered a great delicacy. Only the hind-legs and quarters are
used. Clean them well, season, and fry in egg batter, or dip in
beaten egg and fine cracker crumbs, the same as oysters.
FROGS
STEWED.
WASH and skin the quarters,
parboil them about three minutes, drain them. Now put into a stewpan
two ounces of butter. When it is melted, lay in the frogs, and fry
about two minutes, stirring them to prevent burning; shake over them
a tablespoonful of sifted flour and stir it into them; add a sprig of
parsley, a pinch of powdered summer savory, a bay leaf, three slices
of onion, salt and pepper, a cup of hot water and one of cream. Boil
gently until done; remove the legs, strain and mix into the gravy the
yolks of two eggs, well beaten to a cream; put the legs in a suitable
dish, pour over the gravy and serve.
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