The Cookery Blue Book

dish. Strip the skin from the claws, cut off the nails and skin the head. Throw nothing away but the "gall-bag." Cut all into small pieces; stew slowly in sherry wine closely covered, with a goodly supply of butter and red pepper, for one hour and a half. Salt to taste. If they have no eggs in them, add 2 or 3 eggs, hard-boiled, for each terrapin and the juice of 1 lemon, skinning another to lay on top. When about to take from the fire, thicken with a little flour. Serve on hot toast, well-buttered, over which sprinkle a finely chopped egg. =Baked Oysters in the Shells.= Take 50 small Eastern oysters with their liquor and a piece of butter. Drain the oysters very carefully and strain the liquor. Thicken with an ounce of butter mixed with an ounce of flour. Stir, and boil five minutes. Finish with the yolks of 3 eggs. Add a little salt, some white and red pepper and grated nutmeg. Boil a few minutes longer, stirring constantly. Then remove from the fire. Add the oysters and juice of a lemon, and mix well with the sauce. Have ready some large, deep, well-shaped oyster-shells slightly buttered; fill these with the prepared oysters, sprinkle rolled cracker crumbs over; put a piece of butter on top of each; arrange in a pan; brown slightly in a pretty hot oven (about ten minutes), and serve. =Curried Oysters.= Strain juice of oysters and cook alone till edges curl. Cook 1 tablespoonful chopped onion and 1 tablespoonful butter five minutes. Mix 1 tablespoonful curry powder, 2 tablespoonsfuls flour and stir into butter. Add 1 pint sweet milk gradually, stirring constantly in saucepan. Mix oysters with the sauce. Pour over small slices of hot buttered toast and serve immediately. =Fancy Roast of Oysters.= Remove oysters from liquor and have them free from grit or shell. Scald 1 pint of oyster liquor, and when boiling hot put in the oysters and let them cook two or three minutes. Strain the liquor and put the oysters on pieces of toast. Arrange on a