Louis' every woman's cook book

To one pint of freshly opened oysters, in their own liquid, add one quart of water, eight water crackers broken into pieces, an onion with two cloves, and a few sprigs of celery. Boil together for twenty minutes or more. Strain off the liquid, and remove the onion and celery. Pound the oysters and crackers to a pulp in a mortar, and put them back in the liquid. Let it boil again, and then strain through a wire sieve. Heat the bisque again, and season with salt and cayenne. Add one-half a pint of cream or good milk and a small piece of butter. Serve with bread croutons, or parboil two dozen small oysters in their own liquid, remove the hard parts of the oysters, and add the remainder to the soup. When Served. Guests. Remarks. CREAM OF OYSTER CRABS ^ With one-quarter of a pound of butter, three tablespoonfuls of flour, and three pints of chicken stock prepare a soup. Fry in butter one and one-half pints of oyster crabs, free from pieces of shell and liquid, until they become a nice red colour. Then add them to the soup, and let it boil for twenty minutes. Rub the soup through a fine sieve, and then heat it again. Add one cup of cream, and season to taste. Serve puffpaste croutons with it. To make puff-paste croutons roll out a small piece of puff-paste with sufficient flour, so that it will be the thickness of pasteboard. Cut it into half-inch squares, and fry them in deep fat to a golden colour. Put the croutons on a napkin to dry off the fat. Serve separately, or put them in the soup. When Served. Guests. Remarks. HOT SIDE - DISHES, OR HORS - D'CEUVRES CHAUDS These side-dishes may be served before or after the fish, or instead of the fish. Care should be taken that small and dainty side-dishes are prepared, so as to have just a " bouchee " (mouthful). CROUSTADE OF MUSHROOM ^ Butter six tin tartelette moulds, measuring about two and one-half inches in diameter. Line them with puffpaste, and fill with cracker crumbs. Bake until crisp. Remove the crumbs, and dry the tartelette shells in the oven for a few minutes. Prepare also six covers made of puff-paste, and bake separately. Boil one-quarter of a pound of mushrooms, cut in pieces, in two-thirds of a cup of cream, for fifteen minutes. Thicken the cream with flour and butter, and add salt, pepper, and Cayenne. Fill the shells, put the covers on, and serve on folded napkins. U CROUSTADE OF FROGS' LEGS ^ Line six tartelette moulds with the following paste: One-half a pound of flour, one-quarter of a pound of butter, and a pinch of sugar rubbed together between the hands, so that it will form into crumbs. To this add the yolks of three eggs, and one gill of water. Mix together, but knead only enough to mix thoroughly. Put in the ice-box to cool. Then line the tartelette moulds with this paste as in the previous recipe. Boil for ten minutes twelve frogs' legs in a little white wine, lemon juice, salt, and half a cup of chicken stock. Strain off the broth, and prepare a white sauce with it. Take the meat of the frogs' legs, and add it to the sauce, also two cooked fresh mushrooms, and one truffle cut in small strips. Mix the yolk of an egg with a little cream, and stir into the filling.