Virginia Cookery-book

Boil your eggs perfectly hard, and cut them in two, in an oblong shape ; take out the yolks ; mash them up with powdered crackers and butter enough to make them hold together ; add celery - seed, mustard, salt, and pepper to taste ; fill the whites with the mixture ; bake them to a light brown. CHAPTER V. 0Y8TER8. Oysters Raw. — To Stew Oysters. — To Broil Oysters.— To Roaat Oysters. — Scolloped Oysters. — Baked Oysters. — Oyster Patty. — Oyster Fritters. — To Fry Oysters. — To Make Oyster Loaves. — Terrapin Stew. — To Pickle Oysters. — Oyster Soup. — Richmond Way of Pickling Oysters. — Cream Oysters. — Baltimore Oyster Pie. — A Rag6ut of Oysters. Oystkks Raw. No person is thought properly to appreciate oysters who does not relish them raw. When they are in season no dinner-party is thought complete where they are not served as an appetizer in advance of the first course. Several of them are laid in a tiny plate or imitation shell beside each cover, with a slice of lemon as a garnish. Pepper slightly, but add no salt. Raw oysters should be eaten as fresh from the shell as possible ; hence it is well to have them brought to the house, and there opened with oyster-tongs just before they are sent to table. In cases of nausea and dysentery they are highly medicinal. To Stew Oystkbs. Put the oysters on to cook in their own liquor for five minutes ; add one cup of milk to one quart of oysters, and a little pepper and mustard — ^just enough to flavor delicately ; keep the top of the stewpan down tightly ; just before they are done add a salt-spoonful of salt, as it hardens the oysters if put in at first. Fifteen minutes is abundance of time to cook them in. They are done when they appear ruffled around the edges. When sent to table let them be accompanied by a plate of oyster crackers, or nice fresh crackers of any kind you like. Plain soda crackers are very good, and if the least stale they may be freshened up by being toasted in a stove-pan for a few minutes. To Bboil Oysters. Take the finest and largest oysters and lay them upon a cloth to drain dry; sprinkle them with pepper; have ready a gridiron to put over a clear fire; place the oysters upon its bars, with a very little butter, and cook until they are done and dry, without being in the least burnt ; lay them in a small, flat dish upon slices of toast, cut thin and delicately buttered. Oysters cooked in this way are regarded by epicures as a great dainty. To Roast Oystebs. Many think that there is no way of cooking oysters comparable to roasting them in the shell. It is rather an inconvenient method, because, with one fire and one cook, it is difficult to supply enough for more than a very small company— say, four or five— without trying the patience unreasonably. The oysters, in their shells, must be cast into a bed of hot ashes on coals, and there stay for about ten minutes, when a servant trained to it can dexterously open the shells with a pair of tongs made for the purpose, sending them to the waiting guests with all possible speed. Each person has placed conveniently to him butter, pepper, salt, and bread, a hot half -shell serving as an oyster-plate, and by common consent the feast is pronounced to be one of the choicest. Scolloped Oysters. Genuine scolloped oysters must also be served on the shell, one to each individual. Have as many shells washed and wiped as you have persons at table; in the bottom of the shells place a layer of oysters, cover with bits of butter, bread-crumbs, and a sprinkling of pepper and celery salt ; add another layer of oysters, etc., finishing off with grated bread-crumbs ; then put the shells in a well-heated oven and bake till they are prettily browned. Baked Oystbes.