Fried Scallops

Ingredients

• fine cracker crumbs
• beaten egg
• smoking hot fat

Method

1. 1

   Pick over and wash scallops quickly; drain between towels.

2. 2

   Season cracker crumbs with salt and pepper.

3. 3

   Dip scallops in crumbs, then in beaten egg, and again in crumbs.

4. 4

   Fry in smoking hot fat and serve at once.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Mrs. Lincoln's Boston cook book (1884) by Lincoln, Mary Johnson Bailey "Mrs. D. A. Lincoln,", page 109. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

fine cracker crumbs seasoned with salt and pepper. Butter a fine wire gridiron ; put the 03^sters in closely, and broil till the juice flows. Some prefer to broil them without the crumbs, but more juice is lost in this way. Pickled Oysters, — Cook one quart of oysters in their liquor, till plump. Remove the oysters, and add to the liquor half a cup of good cider vinegar. Skim as it boils, and add one teaspoonful of salt.^ two blades of mace^ ten cloves^ ten peppercorns^ ten allspice berries.^ and a few grains of cayenne pepper. Boil five minutes. Pour the liquor over the oysters, and when cold seal in glass jars, and put in a cool dark place. They will keep two weeks. Clams. Thin shell clams, and round shell clams, or quahaugs, furnish a delicious and wholesome form of food if eaten only when fresh. They are more easily opened and have a finer flavor when cooked in the shells. Steamed Clams. — Wash and scrub the shells. Put them in a kettle without water, cover closely, and cook till the shells open. Take them out with a skimmer, pour the clam water into a pitcher, and let it settle. Straining is not sufficient, as the fine sand will go through the finest strainer ; but the water will be clear if care be taken not to disturb the sediment. Remove the clams from the shells, peel off the thin skin around the edge, and cut off the whole of the black end. Scissors are better than a knife for this purpose. Rinse each clam in a little of the clam water, and if very large, cut the tough part into small pieces. When the water is clear, pour it into a saucepan, add the clams, and heat again till just hot, but i8o The Boston Cook Book. do not let them boil. Serve with hrown bread ^ or toasted crackers; and let each person season them to taste with melted butter^ pepper^ and vinegar. Scalloped Clams. — Prepare the clams as in steamed clams. Make a white sauce, as for fish (see page 189) ; put the clams in a shallow dish or in clean shells ; cover with the sauce and buttered crumbs, and bake till brown. • For Clam Soup, Clam Chowder, and Clam Fritters, see the Index. A Clam Bake. An impromptu clam bake may be had at any time at low tide along the coast where clams are found. If you wish to have genuine fun, and to know what an appetite one can have for the bivalves, make up a pleasant party and dig for the clams yourselves. A short thick dress, shade hat, rubber boots, — or, better still, no boots at all, if you can bring your mind to the comfort of bare feet, — a small garden trowel, a fork, and a basket, and 3^ou are ready. Let those who are not digging gather a large pile of driftwood and seaweed, always to be found along the shore. Select a dozen or more large stones, and of them make a level floor ; pile the driftwood upon them, and make a good brisk fire to heat the stones thoroughly. When hot enough to crackle as you sprinkle water upon them, brush off the embers, letting them fall between the stones. Put a thin layer of seaweed on the hot stones, to keep the lower clams from burning. Rinse the clams in salt water by plunging the basket which contains them in the briny pools near by. Pile them over the hot stones, heaping them high in the centre. Cover with a thick layer of sea- weed, and a piece of old canvas, blanket, carpet, or dry leaves, to keep in the steam. The time for baking will depend upon the size and quantity of the clams. Peep in occasionally at those around the edge. When the shells are open, the clams are done. They are delicious eaten from the shell, with no other sauce than their own brin^^ sweetness. Melted butter, pepper, and vinegar should be The Boston Cook Book. i8i ready for those who wish them ; then all maj' " fall to." Fingers must be used. A Hhode Islander would laugh at an}^ one trying to use a knife and fork. Pull off the thin skin, take them by the black end, dip them in the prepared butter, and bite off close to the end. If you swallow them whole, they will not hurt you. At a genuine Ehode Island clam bake, blue-fish, lobsters, crabs, sweet potatoes, and ears of sweet corn in their gauzy husks are baked with the clams. The clam steam gives them a delicious flavor. Brown bread is served with the clams, and watermelon for dessert completes the feast. Scallops. This shell fish has a round, deeply grooved shell. The muscle which unites the shell is the only part eaten. Scal- lops have a sweet flavor, and are in season during the fall and winter. The}^ may be stewed like oysters, but are better fried. Fried Scallops, — Pick over, and wash quickly ; drain between towels ; season Jine cracker crumbs with salt and pepper. Dip the scallops in the crumbs, then in beaten egg^ and again in crumbs. Fry in smoking hot fat

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