My mother's cook book

Care should be taken to stir from time to time, to prevent burning, while thus boiling, and at the expiration of this time, add the cream, letting it all boil for fifteen minutes longer, when it should be drawn from the fire, the sherry added. Serve at once. OYSTERS AND OTHER SHELLFISH.— SECOND DIVISION. Fricassee of Oyster. — Procure for this : 20 SHELLFISH. Twenty-five oysters, two ounces of butter, one ounce of flour, yolks of two eggs, one teaspoonful of lemon juice, one grain of cayenne, one grain of grated nutmeg, a lump of salt the size of a pea, one-half a saltspoonful of pepper. Bring first the oysters in their own liquor to the boiling point, and when this is reached strain them and put the oysters, for the time, aside. Melt now in a separate saucepan, the, butter, and add thereto the flour together with one teacupful, of the strained liquor. Cook this for about two minutes, to give the mixture consistency, and then taking the saucepan from the fire, drop in the yolks of the eggs, one by one, stirring quickly until all is well mixed together. Add then the lemon juice, pepper, salt, nutmeg and cayenne, when the whole should be placed again over the fire, stirred briskly to prevent boiling, and allowed to become very hot. Just before serving drop in the oysters and serve on buttered toast. Fried Oysters.— Provide for this : Twenty-five large oysters, two tablespoonfuls of flour, four tablespoonfuls of milk, four tablespoonfuls of crackerdust, two eggs, four heaped tablespoonfuls of bread crumbs, one saltspoonful of salt, one saltspoonful of pepper, one saltspoonful of grated nutmeg. Put the oysters into a strainer and drain them thoroughly of their liquor. Then upon a plate, mix together the flour, milk, pepper and salt, into which preparation dip the oysters one by one, using a fork and taking care not to mutilate the oyster. Place now upon a sheet of kitchen paper the cracker-dust, and putting the oysters therein, lift the sheet of paper by its opposite sides and roll them in the dust from side to side. The oysters should now be removed to a plate and left standing for PRIED OYSTERS, 21 half an hour in order that the juices may drain out and harden tlie cracker dust encasing them. Heat meantime in a stew-pan one pound of clarified fat, and when the blue smoke arises therefrom, throw in a peeled potato to keep it from burning. Upon a plate beat now the two eggs, dip the oysters one by one into them, then roll them in the bread crumbs, which has been made ready upon the kitchen paper, and with which has been put the nutmeg, and drop them lightly into the hot clarified fat, letting them remain therein for three minutes. Before serving put them for a moment upon a clean sheet of kitchen paper that it may absorb the extraneous fat. Notes — It is important to avoid touching the oysters with the heated hands as it makes them both tough and heavy. Clarified fat and lard boils at about five hundred degrees, which is more than double the heat of boiling water. At three hundred and seventy-five degrees the blue smoke arises from these heated substances which is the cooking point, and boiling fat or lard will bum to a cinder instantly anything that is put into it. The peeled potato prevents burning as it furnishes an object for the fat to act upon and so keeps it from growing hotter ; a piece of hard bread will answer the same purpose. A large quantity of fat is used in this recipe, but its extravagance is tempered by the fact that the same fat may be used over and over again until the heating property is exhausted,