Harper's cook book encyclopædia

following way of preparing them is delicious : Have ready your bakingdish, a large plate of grated or finely crumbled stale bread, a generous provision of butter, pepper, and salt. Proceed then as follows : Cover the bottom of the dish with a layer of fresh oysters, drained from their liquor, dot thickly all over with small bits of butter, then cover with bread-crumbs, and sprinkle with pepper and salt. Continue to add the component parts in this order until the dish is full, taking care that the bread and butter form a top layer, which, when nicely browned in a properly heated oven, gives a most inviting appearance to the whole. This dish is frequently spoiled by too large a proportion of bread. Oyster Soup. — To make a plain oyster soup, pour one quart of cold water over one quart of oysters, rinse out the oysters, strain the water into a kettle, and set it over the fire. When it boils, stir in half a teaspoonful of salt, l/\ lb. of butter, and one teaspoonful of flour mixed smoothly into two table-spoonfuls of milk ; as soon as it boils add the oysters, and as soon as it boils again pour off into a tureen. When more milk is liked, follow the directions as given above, using one pint instead of one quart of water; when the soup is ready to remove from the fire, have one pint of boiling milk in the tureen, and pour the soup to it. Oysters should never be boiled in milk. When milk is used in any quantity it must be added after the soup is made. Oysters, Spindled. — Use large oysters. Cut thin slices of bacon into three equal pieces. String the oysters and bacon on skewers, alternating them and taking care to run the skewers through the hard part of the oyster. Take a narrow pan and rest the ends of the skewers on the sides, letting the oysters hang down but not touching the bottom of the pan. Have a little space between skewers so that the oysters will cook evenly. Place the pan in a hot oven and bake from six to eight min- Oysters, Stewed Oysters au Supreme utes. Toast slices of bread, and cut them into long strips and butter them. Arrange on a hot platter. When the oysters are done, place a skewer with its contents on each strip of toast. Pour over the whole the juices which have run into the pan. Serve immediately. Oysters, Stewed. — Carefully drain the juice from one quart of oysters, removing them from the liquor with a spoon, not piercing with a fork, measure the juice, and if not half a pint in quantity add water enough to fill the measure. Place the liquor over the fire in a porcelain stewpan, add a piece of butter the size of a walnut. When it comes to a boil, carefully remove all scum that may arise. Put in the oysters, and let them heat through, not cooking enough to shrivel them ; add a little more than half a pint of cream, let it all scald through again, remove from the stove, and season to suit the taste. New milk will do instead of cream, and the stove should be very hot, so as to cook them quickly.