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

Take off the large claws, and take out all the flesh of the crab, keeping separate the brownish cream. This brown cream must be mixed with about two good tablespoonfuls of bread-crumbs to a paste ; cut the white meat very small, clear away the fungus part called the ' dead man,' and fill each shell with the white meat, leaving the centre to be filled up with the brown paste. Take the meat out of the claws and shred it finely, and place it on the top of the other white part, and ornament with lobster spawn and sprigs of parsley ; take the feelers off and cut them at both joints, stick the top joint into the joint left on the crab ; chopped aspic jelly and parsley should garnish it. Sometimes the centre of the crab is filled with red imperial Mayonnaise. Imperial Mayonnaise. Put into a bowl half a pint of aspic, add to it two spoonfuls of best olive-oil, one of sharp vinegar, and a little salt and cayenne. Break up the jelly quite small with a whisk, stir the ingredients well together, and whisk them till they are converted into a smooth white sauce. It is best mixed over ice. A tablespoonful of cream may be thought an improvement by some, as well as a little flavouring of tarragon and chili vinegar. A little lobster coral rubbed through a sieve and mixed with it makes it look very pretty. Buttered Crab. Pick the meat from the shell of a large crab, mix it with a little salt, pepper, a grate of nutmeg, a spoonful or two of salad-oil, or good cream and vinegar. Be careful to leave out the part near the head, which is not fit to be eaten. Fill the shell with the mixture, strew finelygrated bread-crumbs over it, and heat it in the oven. Garnish the dish with parsley, and send toasted bread to table with it. Hot Crab. Pick the meat out of a crab, clear the shell from the head, then put the meat, with a tiny pinch of nutmeg, a good pinch of pepper, salt, three spoonfuls of vinegar, some bread-crumbs, and a good bit of butter, into the shell again. Set it before the fire and brown with a salamander. Crayfish a la Bordelaise. Pick and wash the crayfish, put them into a stewpan with some French white wine, sliced onions, parsley, salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg ; toss the fish over the fire till they are done, then drain and keep them warm. Cut some carrots and onions in very small dice, fry them in butter till they are coloured, moisten them with chablis, and glaze them ; pour in some Espagnole sauce, and strain in through a tammy the liquor in which the crayfish have been cooked. Reduce the whole, and add some chopped parsley and cayenne pepper. Pile the crayfish high, and pour the sauce over them. Crayfish (for a Ball Supper Dish). Take twenty-five crayfish, wash them well, and put them into a three-quart stewpan, with one sliced onion, a handful of parsley, two pinches of salt, and four of pepper, with one gill of chablis or sauterne. -- Cover the stewpan, put it on a very brisk fire, boil for ten minutes, tossing the crayfish three times ; when done they should be of a bright red colour. Take out the onion and parsley, drain the crayfish, and dish them on a napkin in the shape of a pyramid ; garnish with fresh parsley. Lobster Baskets. Corbeilles au Homard.