Fried Oysters

Ingredients

• Twenty-five large oysters
• two table-spoonfuls of flour
• four table-spoonfuls of milk
• four table-spoonfuls of cracker-dust
• two eggs
• four heaped table-spoonfuls of bread crumbs
• one salt-spoonful of salt
• one salt-spoonful of pepper
• one salt-spoonful of grated nutmeg

Method

1. 1

   Drain oysters thoroughly.

2. 2

   Mix flour, milk, pepper, and salt on a plate, dip oysters one by one, then roll in cracker-dust.

3. 3

   Let stand for half an hour.

4. 4

   Heat clarified fat in a stew-pan, beat eggs, dip oysters in eggs, roll in bread crumbs mixed with nutmeg, and drop into hot fat for three minutes.

5. 5

   Drain on kitchen paper before serving.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Handbook of practical cookery (1886) by Matilda Lees Dods, page 23. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

FRIED OYSTERS. 25 OYSTERS AND OTHER SHELLFISH. SECOND DIVISION. Fricassee of Oyster. — Procure for this : Twenty-five oysters, two ounces of butter, one ounce of flour, yolks of two eggs, one tea-spoonful of lemon juice, one grain of cayenne, one grain of grated nutmeg, a piece of salt the size of a pea, one half a salt-spoonful of pepper. Bring first the oysters in their own liquor to the boiling- point, and when this is reached strain them, and put the oysters, for the time, aside. Melt now, in a separate sauce- pan, the butter, and add thereto the flour, together with one tea-cupful of the strained liquor. Cook this for about two minutes, to give the mixture consistency, and then taking the sauce-pan from the fire, drop in the yolks of the eggs, one by one, stirring quickly until all is well mixed together. Add then the lemon-juice, pepper, salt, nutmeg, and cayenne, when the whole should be placed again over the fire, stirred briskly to prevent boiling, and allowed to become very hot. Just before serving drop in the oysters, and serve on buttered toast. Fried Oysters.— Provide for this : Twenty -five large oysters, two table-spoonfuls of flour, four table-spoonfuls of milk, four table-spoonfuls of cracker-dust, two eggs, four heaped table-spoonfuls of bread crumbs, one salt-spoonful of salt, one salt-spoonful of pepper, one salt- spoonful of grated nutmeg. Put the oysters into a strainer and drain them thoroughly of their liquor. Then upon a plate mix together the flour, milk, pepper, and salt; into which preparation dip the oysters one by one, using a fork, and taking care not to mutilate the oyster. Place now upon a sheet of kitchen- paper the cracker-dust, and putting the oysters therein, lift the sheet of paper by its opposite sides, and roll them in the dust from side to side. The oysters should now be removed to a plate and left standing for half-an-hour, in order that 26 OYSTERS AND OTHER SHELLFISH. the juices may drain out and harden the cracker-dust encas- ing them. Heat meantime in a stew-pan one pound of clari- fied fat, and when the blue smoke arises therefrom, throw- in a peeled potato to keep it from burning. Upon a plate beat now the two eggs, dip the oysters one by one into them, then roll them in the bread crumbs, which have been made ready upon the kitchen-paper, and with which has been put the nutmeg, and drop them lightly into the hot clarified fat, letting them remain therein for three minutes. Before serving, put them for a moment upon a clean sheet of kitchen-paper, that it may absorb the extraneous fat. NOTES. — It is important to avoid touching the oysters with the heated hands, as it makes them both tough and heavy. Clarified fat and lard boil at about 500 degrees, which is more than double the heat of boiling water. At 375 degrees the blue smoke arises from these heated substances, which is the cooking- point, and boiling fat or lard will burn to a cinder instantly any- thing that is put into it. The peeled potato prevents burning, as it furnishes an object for the fat to act upon, and so keeps it from growing hotter : a piece of hard bread will answer the same purpose. A large quantity of fat is used in this recipe, but its extravagance is tempered by the fact that the same fat may be used over and over again until the heating property is exhausted. The reason for allowing the oysters to stand for thirty minutes, after being rolled in the cracker-dust, is, that unless so permitted to harden, the egg with which the oyster is subsequently treated would not adhere, but merely draw the cracker-dust off, making it thus necessary to pack these substances on with the hands, and a heavy, soggy dish would be the consequence. Fried oysters must be quickly cooked and as quickly served. Recipe for clarifying fat on page 247. Scalloped Oysters. — Provide for this one quart of oysters, six ounces of bread crumbs, three ounces of butter, one grain cayenne, one salt-spoonful grated nutmeg, one salt-spoonful inace, one wine-glassful sherry. Bring the oysters to boiling-point, and drain from them their liquor. Melt in a small pan one ounce of the butter. When melted, skim carefully, and draw the pan on one side. OYSTERS A-LA-CREME — BROILED OYSTERS. 27 Mix well with the bread crumbs the mace, nutmeg, and cayenne. Put in a deep dish alternate layers of the oysters and seasoned bread crumbs, and over each layer of oysters dis- tribute small pieces of the unmelted butter. When the last layer of bread crumbs is sprinkled over the top, pour over the strained liquor, the sherry, and also the melted butter. Place the dish in a moderate oven, and bake for two hours. Oysters a-la-Creme. — Materials and quantities as fol- lows : Twenty-five large oysters

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.