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

Take two dozen small oysters, mince them, and rub them through a wire sieve. Blanch and beard a dozen large oysters, and cut each one into four pieces. Put two ounces of flour and one ounce of butter into a stewpan, and mix them well together over the fire ; then a quarter of a pint of oyster liquor, and stir all together till it thickens and the flour is well cooked. Put this sauce and the pounded oysters into a mortar and pound them well together, adding the yolks of eggs one at a time, a little salt, cayenne pepper, and a gill of cream ; when these are thoroughly mixed, beat three whites of egg to a stiff froth and stir them into the mixture very lightly ; then put in the oysters. Butter the mould, pour in the mixture, cover it with buttered paper and steam it gently for half an hour ; strew lobster coral over all. Oyster Soup. Allow three dozen oysters to a quart of soup. Open them carefully, keep and strain the liquor from them, beard the oysters and put the strained liquor over them. Take a quart of the palest veal stock, and simmer the beards in it for twenty minutes, strain, adding a little more stock if required Put the oysters over the fire in their own Hquor to plump them, but do not let them boil. Put the soup over the fire, add cayenne, and pour the liquor from the oysters to it, and a pint of cream quite hot ; put the oysters into the tureen, and pour the soup over them and serve. Thicken with a dessertspoonful of corn flour, mixed quite smooth with a little milk, and then added by degrees to the soup (letting all simmer together a little). This should be added before the cream. It is better to boil all cream alone before adding it to soups. Stewed Oysters of the Last Century. Take two dozen oysters, put them in a stewpan with three ounces of bread-crumbs, add the strained liquor from the oysters, a little mace, also pepper to taste, two ounces of butter, and one tablespoonful of vinegar. Boil all together for a short time, but mind the oysters do not harden. Garnish the dish with fried sippets, and serve very hot. Oysters Stewed in Wine a la Ronde. Rub over the bottom and sides of one of the fireproof china dishes with a little butter, lay some oysters in it, strew over them a little pepper and minced parsley, then put to them a small glassful of chablis, cover them with slices of butter cut very thin, strew grated bread over, put a cover on the dish, and set them in the oven with a few hot coals on the cover, and let them cook till they are brown ; then take off the fat and serve hot. Half a glass of champagne is preferred by some, but they are more delicate with chablis. Sweetbreads and Oysters. Take a calf's sweetbread, soak it in cold water for an hour, and then cut it into pieces about the size of an oyster, and with it two ounces of bacon. Beard a dozen large oysters and mix them with the meat. Sprinkle over all a little pepper and salt, two tablespoonfuls of chopped parsley, a finelyminced shalot, half a teaspoonful of powdered thyme, and four ounces of finely-grated breadcrumbs. Place the sweetbread, oysters and bacon alternately upon small skewers, and serve the oysters &c. on a hot dish. Squeeze the juice of a lemon over them, and pour half a pint of good brown gravy over them. Oysters en Surprise.