European and American cuisine

Mussels h la Normandie, — Prepare 18 mussels the same as Mussel Farci ; place a saucepan with 1 fine-cut onion over the fire, add 1 ounce butter, cook 5 minutes ; add 1 tablespoonful flour, stir 3 minutes ; then add 1/2 cupful mussel broth, 1/2 cupful mushroom liquor, 1 cupful boiling water with 1 teaspoonful beef extract, 1 even teaspoonful seasoning salt, and a small bouquet ; boil 5 minutes ; then strain the sauce into a clean saucepan ; mix the yolks of 2 eggs with the juice of 1/2 lemon, add it to the sauce, also the mussels ; return for a few minutes to the fire, heat without boiling, and pour over 6 slices of buttered toast. (If mushrooms are not at hand, take 1 cup of the mussel broth in place of a half cup.) Mussels Pickled. — Wash 100 mussels thoroughly clean, put ihem into a large kettle with 1 pint of water, ooTer tightly, and boil till the shells open ; take them with a knife from their shells and p^t into glass jars. Prepare a pickle of 1 pint vinegar, 1/2 pint water, 1 tablespoonful whole peppers, 6 whole cloyes, 2 blades of mace, 1/4 tablespoonful salt, and 2 or 8 small red peppers ; boil this a few minutes, and set aside to cool. Add to the mussels in jars some slices of lemon without pits, pour the cold pickle over ; cover tightly and set in a cool place* SHRIMPS. Boiled Shrimps.— Put the shrimps alive in the boiling salt water, allowing 74 pound salt to a gallon of water ; boil from 6 to 8 minutes. When they change color they are done. Serve them with vinegar and oil. Shrimps with Mayonnaise.— Extract the meat from the boiled shrimps, mix with lemon juice, and set aside. Shortly before serving, put on a salad dish and dress the shrimps with mayonnaise, hard-boiled eggs, and lettuce. For Shrimp Salad, see my book Desserts and Salads, recipe 905. LOBSTER. In Season the Year Round. Lobster — ^Where founds etc. — Lobster is a well-known marine crustacean of the order DecapodUy and genus Homarus. They come inshore from deep water during the months of March, April, and May, according to locality, and depart as irregularly in the autumn. There is only one species in our waters, found northward from the coast of New York, the best being on the rocky shores of New England north of Gape God. They are common in our markets, especially in spring and summer, and are considered a great delicacy, though the meat is rather indigestible. No part is poisonous, though the cartilaginous stomach, or the lady, is so tough that no one would think of eating it. Lobster — How to choose. — These are chosen more by weight than by size ; the heaviest are best A good small-sized one will not infrequently be found to weigh as heavily as one much larger. (If fresh, a lobster will be lively, and the claws have a strong motion when the eyes are pressed with the finger.) The male is best for boiling ; the flesh is firmer, and the shell a brighter red ; it may be readily distinguished from the female. The tail is narrower, and the two uppermost fins within the tail are stiff and hard. Those of the hen lobster are not so, and the tail is broader. Hen lobsters are preferred for sauce or salad on account of their coral. The head and small claws are never used.