The art of cooking

OYSTERS AND OTHER SHELLFISH. Oyster Soup ft-la-Reine. — One quart of oysters, one pint of white stock, one-half pint of cream, one and one-half ounces of butter, one ounce of flour, one blade of CLAM CHOWDER. 17 mace, one grain of cayenne, one teaspoonful of salt, and half as much pepper. Drain first the liquor from the oysters, and putting the liquor over the fire, bring it to the boiling point. In a separate saucepan melt the butter, stir into it the flour and pour in the stock. Add also the mace, pepper, cayenne and salt, and let all boil for ten minutes, when the oysters should be added. watch the oysters closely, and when the leaves begin to shrivel, pour the soup into the tureen and add thereto the cream, which must have been made boiling hot. Note.— The great difficulty to be sarmounted in making this soup, is bringing the cream and liquor together without curdling, which is obviated by boiling each separately. Olam Chowder. — For this is required; fifty hard clams, twenty-five soft clams, three Bermuda onions, one fourth pound of pork, six potatoes, four pilot biscuits, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, one dessert spoonful of chopped thyme, one fourth of a quart can of tomatoes, one dessert spoonful of salt, one dessert spoonful of pepper, one-half wineglassful of Worcestershire sauce, two ounces of butter. Begin by melting the butter in a frying pan, and put into the same when hot, the pork and the onion cut into very small pieces, and fry to a light brown. Put this preparation into a saucepan with the potatoes boiled and mashed, and add the pilot biscuits which must have been previously soaked in cold water. The chopped parsley, thyme and tomatoes should then be put in, also the clams, Worcestershire sauce, pepper and salt, and the whole now cooked for thirty minutes slowly. i8 SOUPS. Note.— When soft clams are not available the number may be made up with the ordinary hard clam, and if these should be large, it might be better to chop them, not too fine. When pilot biscuit are not to be obtained, hard crackers may be substituted. Clam Soup.— Procure:: one quart of clams, one pint of milk, three ounces of butter, one grain of cayenne, onehalf teaspoonful of salt, one-half teaspoonful of pepper, one ounce of flour. The clams must first be strained and the liquor reduced by taking one third or its quantity, and adding to it two thirds of water and the liquid so produced brought to the boiling point. Melt then the butter in a separate saucepan, add to it the flour, then the milk, and stir the mixture until it boils. Add now the pepper, salt, cayenne and clams, which should be cut into pieces, and pour over this the boiling liquor, allowing all to cool, until the pieces of clam are tender, probably ten minutes, and serve hot. Stewed Terrapin.— For this there will be required: one terrapin, seven ounces of butter, one and one half ounces of flour, one gill of cream, one-half pint of madeira wine, one grain of cayenne, one-half saltspoonful of salt, and an equal quantity of pepper. Begin by throwing the terrapin into boiling water, and boiling it until the claws will draw out. This will take from thirty to forty-five minutes. The shell should now be drawn asunder, which may be readily accomplished by inserting the fingers at the aperture of the neck. Pick out then the meat, exercising caution not to break the bladder, the galJ, or the sand bags, which are of course, to be considered as refuse. FmCASSEE OF OYSTER. Melt the butter now in a saucepan, add the flour and cream, which must be very sweet, as it is so apt to curdle, stir carefully until it boils, when the pepper, salt and cayenne should be thrown in together with the meat from the terrapin. Cook this now for ten minutes, then draw it from the fire, and add the madeira and eggs, if the terrapin have furnished any. Serve immediately.