Recipes for the million

LOBSTER (CURRIED). — Take the meat of a fine lobster and lay it in a stew-pan with three tablespoonfuls of fish stock or veal gravy, the same quantity of cream, two teaspoonfuls of curry-powder, an ounce of butter, a teaspoonful of flour, and a small piece of mace ; simmer gently for one hour, squeeze in half a lemon, and season with salt. LOBSTER (POTTED). — Take out the meat, cut it into small pieces, and season with mace, nutmeg, white pepper, and salt. Press closely in a pot with a bay leaf on top, cover with butter, and bake gently half an hour. When done, pour the whole on the bottom of a sieve, then put it into potting-pots with the seasoning about it. When cold, pour clarified butter over, but not hot. It will be good next day, or it may be preserved for some time, if highly seasoned and covered thickly with butter. LOBSTER (ROAST). — Take a live lobster, half boil it, remove it from the water, dry it with a cloth, and while hot rub it with butter ; set it before a good fire, and baste with butter till it has a fine froth, when it will be done. Serve with melted butter. LOBSTER SALAD. — Pile up the flesh of the fish in the centre of a dish, in the form of a pyramid, arrange some green salad tastefully round, and garnish with beetroot, nasturtium, small white onions stewed, chervil, pickled cucumbers, red turnip radishes, and the small claws of the lobster. Serve with lobster sauce or salad dressing. LOBSTER SALAD (INDIAN STYLE).— String the lobster very fine and mix it with lettuce and dandelion, sprinkled with vinegar, oil, and fine herbs. LOBSTER (SCALLOPS OF). — Cut the lobster in two without breaking the shell. Clean the inside of the shell, cut the meat of the lobster into small dice, preserving the softer portion. Then take one or two spoonfuls of bechamel (see under Sauce), a small piece of butter, a little salt and cayenne pepper, put them into a saucepan, and keep stirring over the fire. When quite hot, throw the dice and the soft part of the lobster into the sauce, and lay the whole in the shells. Make the surface level with a knife, strew over thickly with bread crumbs, put it into the oven, and keep basting with a little melted butter. Give it a colour with the salamander, and keep the scallops very hot. Never let it colour in the oven, as it would taste strong. LOBSTER (STEWED). — Take the meat out of two lobsters, and boil the shells with mace, whole pepper, and salt, for an hour in a pint and a half of water, then strain. Add the meat to some thin melted butter ; squeeze in a little lemon juice ; add a tablespoonful of Madeira, and pour it upon the strained liquor. When the flesh is warmed through, it is ready for table. LOBSTERS, To Choose. — The freshness of a lobster before it is boiled may be tested by pressing the eye with the finger, which excites a slight muscular action of the claws. Hen lobsters may be known either by their spawn, or by the breadth of the flap. When boiled the tail should be very elastic ; when this elasticity disappears, the fish should be rejected as stale. LOGWOOD, Decoction of.— Bruise an ounce and a half of logwood, put it into a quart of water, and simmer down to half the quantity then add one dram of bruised cassia, and strain. Dose: From one to two ounces, three or four times a day. Used as an astringent.