The Cook Book, by "Oscar" of the Waldorf

Blanch two or three dozen oysters in their own liquor, beard them, and cut them into small pieces. Put two ounces of butter in a saucepan with a tablespoonful of flour and mix well over the fire, then stir in as much fish stock as will make the required quantity of soup. Continue stirring until it boils, then put in the oysters and their liquor, previously strained, add a moderate quantity of minced parsley, salt and pepper to taste and a little grated nutmeg. Beat the yolks of two eggs in with the juice of half a lemon and strain them ; move the soup off the fire and stir in the beaten eggs. Pour it in a soup tureen, and serve with a plate of sippets of toast or croutons of fried bread. lo SOUPS. Fish Soup. Melt in a stewpan on the fire two ounces of butter, put in a couple of sliced carrots and a sliced onion, and fry them brown, then add one quart of water, a sprig of thyme, two or three laurel leaves, three or four cloves, a dessertspoonful of sugar and half a pint of shrimps: boil until the carrots are quite soft, then add any cold fish, with the bones, and boil for twenty minutes. Toast some small pieces of bread and put them in the tureen; add half a glass of white wine to the soup, strain it over them and serve. Bisque of Clams. Place a good knuckle of veal, weighing about a pound and a half, into a soup kettle, with a quart of water, one small onion, a sprig of parsley, a bay leaf, and the liquor drained from the clams, and simmer gradually for an hour and a half, skimming from time to time. Then strain the soup and again place it in the kettle; rub a couple of tablespoonfuls of butter with an equal amount of flour together and add it to the soup when it is boiling, stirring the while until again boiling. Chop up twenty-five clams very fine and place them in the soup, season, and boil for about five minutes, then add a pint of milk or cream, and remove from the fire immediately, and serve. Bisque of Crabs. Place a dozen live crabs in some cold water with a little salt, and let them soak there for one hour, then hash up a couple of ounces of carrot with an equal quantity of onion, and fry them together with a little butter in a saucepan large enough to hold the crabs, add a little parsley in sprigs, thyme and bay leaf, seasoning with salt, a quarter of a bottle of white wine and a little white stock, then cover with the lid and cook for fifteen minutes, after which remove the crabs, strain the broth, and place it one side for twenty minutes, when the top should be poured off. Next, remove the shells from the crabs, taking out the lungs from both sides, and wash each one at a time in some slightly warmed water, removing the small legs, then drain them and pound to a paste, with about half their quantity of cooked rice, add a little of the juice in which they have been cooked, drain first through a sieve and then through a tammy-cloth, and mix in half a pint of bechamel sauce. Add a little salt and red pepper, and place over the fire just previous to serving, but do not allow it to come to a boil, adding an eighth of a pound of fine butter, and mix with a spoon until entirely melted, and serve with bread crusts fried in butter. Bisque of Crayfish. Procure five or six dozen fresh water crayfish, and boil them without any vinegar in the water. Select two dozen and a half of the finest tails that remain whole, and pound the rest with all the fleshy parts and meat in a mortar, with the flesh from the breasts of two roasted chickens or fowls. Boil the crumb of a couple of French rolls SOUPS. II