Peel chestnuts by cutting a gash in each shell, then throw the nuts into boiling water. Let boil a few minutes, take out, and when cool enough to handle, both the shell and peel can easily be removed with the help of a knife. Cook the peeled nuts in water with celery sprig and seasonings until they are tender enough to press with their cooking water through a coarse sieve. Return to saucepan, heat and stir, thinning with a little boiling milk. Fry the bread squares crisp and light brown in butter, lay in bottom of a hot soup tureen and pour soup over. Dried chestnuts, already hulled and peeled, may often be bought in Italian groceries at a lower price than fresh ones. They must be put into lukewarm water to soak overnight, and then require longer cooking time. 0 II Shellfish^ Stews and Chowders MUSSELS Oysters and scallops, so plentiful not long ago that they were ladled out by the quart and the gallon, are now nearly prohibitive by the piece and the pound. The lobsters, with which our wickedly exploited sea bottoms once swarmed, are charged for by the price makers, who prefer the present shortage, as if those ugly horny crustaceans were angels from heaven. And they are rapidly growing scarcer, for unscrupulous bootleggers catch and market under- ground the undersized ones, disregarding laws which aim at con- servation. It has not been so easy to restrict prices and keep down the supply of clams, however, since anyone living along certain sections of our coast can dig in unguarded mud flats for them, or let down a hand dredge from a row boat and bring up a rich haul. Although in city markets the price of Little Necks and Cherry Stones, delivered in the half shell on cracked ice, rivals that of expensive oysters, other varieties just as delicious to cook remain within reach. Pushcarts can still handle them. Steamers and some of the hard shells are of- fered for bait and chumming to amateur fishermen at two dollars or less a bushel, and are even included in the trip price on the pop- 27 28 MOST-FOR-YOUR-MONEY COOK BOOK ular deep sea fishing boats which furnish a day's sport to a fisher- man for two bucks, giving him the chance to reimburse himself with at least two dollars worth of the fish he has hooked. For some reason great beds of sea mussels lie untouched and un- marketed all along the shores of both our oceans. They are the cheapest of seafood and as delicious as any, in their way as distinc- tive for cooking as oysters, and much more digestible than clams. Billions of them, hundreds of millions of pounds, are consumed on the other side, where they appear on menus, especially in France, done in dozens of delightful ways. Yet in America they are for sale only in Paddy's and Tony's markets where Latins and Holland Dutchmen eagerly hunt them down. Their freshness is judged like that of other shellfish, that is, the shells must be tightly closed by the living membranes of the creature within. They must look clean and wholesome and smell of the sea. If you are gathering them yourself, make sure the water they live in is unpolluted with city sewage, and do not take them from copper bound wrecks or off the piling of wharfs. In other words, be as careful about the place they are taken from as you would be if digging clams.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Peel chestnuts by cutting a gash in each shell, then throw the nuts into boiling water. Let boil a few minutes, take out, and when cool enough to handle, both the shell and peel can easily be removed with the help of a knife. Cook the peeled nuts in water with celery sprig and seasonings until they are tender enough to press with their cooking water through a coarse sieve. Return to saucepan, heat and stir, thinning with a little boiling milk. Fry the bread squares crisp and light brown in butter, lay in bottom of a hot soup tureen and pour soup over. Dried chestnuts, already hulled and peeled, may often be bought in Italian groceries at a lower price than fresh ones. They must be put into lukewarm water to soak overnight, and then require longer cooking time. 0 II Shellfish^ Stews and Chowders MUSSELS Oysters and scallops, so plentiful not long ago that they were ladled out by the quart and the gallon, are now nearly prohibitive by the piece and the pound. The lobsters, with which our wickedly exploited sea bottoms once swarmed, are charged for by the price makers, who prefer the present shortage, as if those ugly horny crustaceans were angels from heaven. And they are rapidly growing scarcer, for unscrupulous bootleggers catch and market underground the undersized ones, disregarding laws which aim at conservation. It has not been so easy to restrict prices and keep down the supply of clams, however, since anyone living along certain sections of our coast can dig in unguarded mud flats for them, or let down a hand dredge from a row boat and bring up a rich haul. Although in city markets the price of Little Necks and Cherry Stones, delivered in the half shell on cracked ice, rivals that of expensive oysters, other varieties just as delicious to cook remain within reach. Pushcarts can still handle them. Steamers and some of the hard shells are offered for bait and chumming to amateur fishermen at two dollars or less a bushel, and are even included in the trip price on the pop- ular deep sea fishing boats which furnish a day's sport to a fisherman for two bucks, giving him the chance to reimburse himself with at least two dollars worth of the fish he has hooked. For some reason great beds of sea mussels lie untouched and unmarketed all along the shores of both our oceans. They are the cheapest of seafood and as delicious as any, in their way as distinctive for cooking as oysters, and much more digestible than clams. Billions of them, hundreds of millions of pounds, are consumed on the other side, where they appear on menus, especially in France, done in dozens of delightful ways. Yet in America they are for sale only in Paddy's and Tony's markets where Latins and Holland Dutchmen eagerly hunt them down. Their freshness is judged like that of other shellfish, that is, the shells must be tightly closed by the living membranes of the creature within. They must look clean and wholesome and smell of the sea. If you are gathering them yourself, make sure the water they live in is unpolluted with city sewage, and do not take them from copper bound wrecks or off the piling of wharfs. In other words, be as careful about the place they are taken from as you would be if digging clams.

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