Cassell's dictionary of cookery

freshly-boiled hen lobster, remove the meat from the tail and claws, cut it into neat square pieces, and put these aside. Pick fifty prawns, put the head and bruised shells of the lobster and the shells of the prawns into a stewpan with a quart of stock, a sliced onion, and an ounce of butter. Let them simmer gently for an hour, then pour over them an additional two quarts of stock. Mix six ounces of flour with a little cold stock, add this to the soup, and stir until it begins to thicken. Draw it back, set it by the side of the fire, let it simmer gently for half an hour, then press the whole through a fine sieve. Return the soup to the stewpan and let it boil ; skim carefully, and add whatever seasoning is required. Put in the picked prawns and the lobster meat, let them get quite hot, add a breakfast-cupful of thick cream, and serve. Time, two hours or more. Sufficient for ten or twelve persons. Prawn Curry.— Chop half an onion very finely, put it into a stewpan with half an ounce of fresh butter, and let it steam over a gentle fire until it is tender without being browned. Rub it with a wooden spoon through a fine sieve, mix a dessert-spoonful of curry-paste with the pulp, and add gradually half a pint of good stock. Boil the sauce for a few minutes, put into it a pound of prawns which, have been weighed after being boiled and shelled, and let all stew gently together. Servo the curry on a hot dish with a border of boiled rice round it. Time to stew the prawns, a quarter of an hour. Probable cost, variable. Sufficient for five or six persons. Prawn Curry (another way). — Mince an onion finely, and steam it in a little butter until it is quite soft. Rub it through a fine sieve, and mix with the pulp a table-spoonful of the rasped meat of a cocoanut, and a tablespoonful of curry-paste or powder — paste is much the better of the two. Add gradually a pint of good broth and half a stick of cinnamon, and let the sauce simmer for a quarter of an hour. Put in a pound of prawns weighed after they have been shelled, and let them simmer for a few minutes. About ten minutes before the curry is taken from the fire, mix a tea-spoonful of flour smoothly with the cocoanut-milk, and add it to the sauce. Stir gently over the fire for five minutes, squeeze the juice of a lemon into the curry, and serve very hot. Send boiled rice to table on a separate dish. Time, one hour. Probable cost, prawns, variable. Sufiicient for five or six persons. Prawn Pie. — Have as many well-cleaned prawns as will nearly fill the pie-dish. Season with pounded mace, cloves, a little cayenne or ChiU vinegar. Put some butter in the dish, and cover with a light puff-paste. The pie will take less than three-quarters of an hour to bake.