Oysters à la mode, or, The oyster and over 100 ways of cooking it

Scald the oysters in their own liquor. Take them out, drain, and chop them fine. Take crumb of bread soaked in cream, finely-chopped parsley, chives, anchovy, pepper, and a bit of fresh butter melted to oil. Mix these thoroughly with the chopped oysters, adding at the same time one egg beaten up. Butter the scallop shells and fill them with this mixture. Sprinkle bread-crumbs over the surface, and set them in the oven till delicately browned. Oyster Puffs k I'Inde. Talmouse d'Huitres a I'Inde. Take two dozen oysters, blanch and beard them, mince them small, and mix them in some clarified butter seasoned with a dessertspoonful of curry paste, a saltspoonful of salt, and the squeeze of a lemon. Have ready some thin paste, which should be rolled out very thinly and divided into pieces nearly three inches square. Put on each a little of the oyster mixture, and fold them over into three-cornered shapes, wetting the edges and pressing them to make them stick together. Fry these in D hot fat till of light brown colour. They should be dished up on a napkin, and sent very hot to table garnished with fried parsley. Oyster Quenelles. Quenelles d'Huitres. Grate four ounces of the crumb of a stale loaf very finely, add half a teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of white pepper, half a teaspoonful of pounded mace, a dust of cayenne, two ounces of fresh butter broken into small pieces, the grated rind of half a lemon, and a table-spoonful of chopped parsley. When these ingredients are all thoroughly mixed, stir in a dozen plump oysters which have been bearded and cut into small pieces ; bind it with the yolks of two eggs and the white of one, and a little of the oyster liquid. Pound all these materials until reduced to a smooth paste ; then take a spoon the size required to make the quenelles, and fill it with the forcemeat, and smooth the surface with a knife which has been dipped into hot water. Dip another spoon of the same size into hot water, and with it slip the forcemeat out of the first spoon ; put it into a buttered dish, and proceed with another quenelle. When as many are made as required, slip the quenelles from the dish into a saucepan of boiling water, and let them poach till firm. Dish them in a circle and mask them with white sauce in which the liquor and some chablis has been strained ; put some of the sauce round, and sprinkle lobster coral and truffle cuttings alternately. Garnish with lemon sippets. Oyster Ragout. Ragout d'Huitres. Take two dozen oysters ; open them, saving all the liquor. Make a thick batter with the yolks of two eggs, a grate of nutmeg, the minced peel of half a lemon, a spoonful of the juice, a little flour, and two spoonfuls of milk or cream. Dip the oysters one by one into this batter, roll them in bread-crumbs, fry them in butter to a bright brown, and set them before the fire to keep hot. Have ready two dozen chestnuts, shelled and skinned, and fr}^ them in butter. Pour the fat out of the pan, dredge some flour in, rub a piece of butter over it with a spoon, put in the oyster liquor, a quarter of a blade of mace, and half a pint of chablis or vin-degrave. Let them boil, thicken the liquor with the yolks of two eggs, beaten up with four spoonfuls of cream, and when it is thick pour it over the oysters and serve.