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

Dissolve a good slice of butter in a saucepan, shake it over a brisk fire till it begins to colour, then put in some picked shrimps and heat them through. Shake the pan well and turn the shrimps frequently. When done lift them out, and put into the saucepan three large onions finely minced, and a bit of butter, and fry till they begin to soften. Add a gill of stock, a large sour apple, and juice of half a lemon, a few pickled gherkins, and two tomatoes (freed from seeds) ; stew all this till it becomes thick, put in the shrimps with a dessertspoonful of flour, a teaspoonful of salt and a tablespoonful of curry powder. Simmer softly till the whole is done, which will be in about three-quarters of an hour. Serve with rice. Shrimp Pies. Pick a quart of shrimps, season with a clove pounded, two anchovies chopped very fine. Put a paste round the edge of mince-pie pans, and a few pieces of butter at the bottom ; then put in the shrimps and more butter, then pour in a glass of white wine, cover them with puff paste, glaze and bake. Shrimp Timbale a la Irving. Timbale de Crevettes a la Irving. Line a mould very thinly with aspic jelly, cut up in strips of about two inches long pieces of lobster flesh, some boned fillets of sardines, anchovies, and beetroot, and arrange these alternately round the mould, and fill up the centre with shrimps. Set the ingredients with more aspic jelly put on ice, and when ready turn out. Dish with whipped aspic round the mould, and very small tomatoes, Russian Tartlets. Tartelettes a la Russe. Make very light pastry tartlets ; then take some oysters scalded in their own liquor (cut off their beards), one grated tablespoonful of horse-radish, one gill of stock, some lemon-juice, one tablespoonful of vinegar, one gill of white sauce, one teaspoonful of capers, half a gill of the oyster liquor, and a very little salt ; let all these boil a few minutes. Then add, off the fire, the yolk of an egg whisked up ; now add the oysters. Then put pieces of lobster, sardines, and anchovies at the bottom of F the tartlet-cascs, and fill up with oysters and sauce. Sprinkle over each lobster coral and parsley rubbed through a sieve, also a few capers. Make hot in the oven for ten minutes, and serve. Savoury Brioches. Take three tablespoonfuls of Mayonnaise sauce, some celery very finely chopped, a small shalot well pounded, pieces of lobster, anchovies, and sardines, also prawns, oysters, and .shrimps, a little tarragon and chervil finely minced. Mix the ingredients with the Mayonnaise sauce, and fill the briochecases (which are best bought) ; run butter through the forcer round the edges of the brioche-cases. Stand them on Montpelier butter {see under ' Montpelier Butter ' in ' Savouries a la Mode '), strew lobster coral and boiled yolks of eggs passed through a sieve on the top of each. Serve with chopped aspic round. INDEX. Angels on horseback, i Ci.AM soup, 51 Clams, stewed, 51 Cockle sauce, 51 Cockles, to cook, 52 Collops, scalloped, 52 Crabs, buttered, 54 — hot, 54 — to dress, 53 Crayfish k la Bordelaise, 54 — ■ for a ball supper, 55 Imperial mayonnaise, 53 Lobster au gratin, 57 — baskets, 55 — boudinettes, 56 — creams, 56 — eggs, 56 — - en beignets, 56 — quenelles, 57 — rolls, 58 — souffle a la Kate Terry, 58 Mussels a la mariniere, 59