Luncheons

Put two tablespoonfuls of butter into a saute-pan ; when it is hot add as many drained oysters as will make two cupfuls. Add a little salt and pepper and a tablespoonful of lemon juice. Shake them in the pan until the gills are curled, then add a tablespoonful of parsley chopped very fine. Turn them upon slices of toasted bread on a hot platter. FRIED OYSTERS WITH COLD SLAW Use box oysters. These are large in size and cost two cents each. Lay the oysters on a cloth to dry them. Roll them in cracker dust, then in egg diluted with a little milk and seasoned with pepper and salt, then again cover them with cracker dust. Lay them in a frying-basket and fry them in smoking-hot fat just long enough to give them a lightbrown color. Oysters toughen if cooked too long. Prepare only four at a time, as more lower the temperature of the fat too much, and if they are rolled before the moment of frying they moisten the cracker dust. Place them on a paper on the hot shelf until all are done. Fold a small napkin and place it in the center of a cold platter. Pile the oysters on the napkin and make a wreath around them of cold slaw. COLD SLAW Cut cabbage into fine shreds. Put in a saucepan a half cupful of weak vinegar, the yolks of three eggs, a half tea- spoonful of English mustard, a dash of pepper, a teaspoonful of salt and of sugar. Beat them together, then place them on the fire and stir until the mixture is thickened. Pour it, while hot, over the cabbage and set it away to cool. OYSTERS A LA NEWBURG Place twenty-five large oysters in a saucepan with one and one half tablespoonfuls of butter, half a cupful of white wine or a tablespoonful of lemon juice, and a little pepper and salt. Cook until the oysters are plump, then add half a cupful of mushrooms cut into quarters, and a chopped truffle, if convenient. Beat the yolks of four eggs into a cupful of cream, turn it into the oyster mixture, and let it get hot and a little thickened, without boiling. Turn it into a hot dish and garnish with croutons. Oysters toughen if cooked too long, and cream curdles easily when added to a mixture which has acid in it, so it is necessary to prepare this dish quickly and to serve it at once. SCALLOPS Scallops are the adductor muscle of a large pecten, a mollusk commonly known as scallop. TRIED SCALLOPS Marinate the scallops in a mixture of oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Roll them in cracker dust, then in egg, and again in cracker dust or white bread crumbs. Fry them in smoking-hot fat to a golden color. Prepare but a few at a time so the covering will not be dampened, serve on a napkin with quarters of lemon, and sprinkle over them parsley chopped very fine. [illustration: NO. 38. FRIED OYSTERS WITH COLD SLAW] [illustration: NO. 39. CREAMED LOBSTER] SHELL-FISH — LOBSTERS — FISH 63 SCALLOPS ON THE SHELL Discard the black ring. Cut the scallops into quarters. Place them in the scallop shells. Dredge them with salt, pepper, and chopped parsley, then cover them with a layer of chopped fresh, or canned, mushrooms, some bits of butter, a teaspoonful of white wine or of lemon juice, for each shell, and lastly with bread crumbs moistened with butter. Place them in a hot oven for ten or fifteen minutes. CREAMED LOBSTER Cut the meat of boiled lobster into inch dice. Put a tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan with a teaspoonful of grated onion, let them cook a minute, then add a tablespoonful of flour. Stir for a few minutes to cook the flour, and then add slowly a cupful of stock and a tablespoonful of lemon juice, or a quarter of a cupful of white wine. When all this thickens add the lobster meat, turning it carefully so as not to break it. When the meat is heated remove it from the fire and mix in a quarter of a cupful of cream which has the yolk of an egg beaten in it. Replace it on the fire for just a minute.