Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches

cayenne. On another part of the plate mix well together with the back of the spoon two table-spoonfuls of sweet oil, and a tea-spoonful of made mustard. Then mix the whole till they are well incorporated and perfectly smooth, adding, at the last, three table-spoonfuls of vinegar. This quantity of seasoning is for a small lobster. For a large one, more of course will be required. Many persons add a tea-spoonful of powdered white sugar, thinking that it gives a mellowness to the whole. The meat of the body and claws of the lobster must be carefully extracted from the shell and minced very small When the dressing is smoothly and thoroughly amalgamated mix the meat with it, and let it be handed round to the company. The vinegar from a jar of Indian pickle is by some preferred for lobster dressing. You may dress the lobster immediately _before_ you send it to table. When the dressing and meat are mixed together, pile it in a deep dish, and smooth it with the back of a spoon. Stick a bunch of the small claws in the top, and garnish with curled parsley. Very large lobsters are not the best, the meat being coarse and tough. STEWED LOBSTER. Having boiled the lobster, extract the meat from the shell, and cut it into very small pieces. Season it with a powdered nutmeg, a few blades of mace, and cayenne and salt to your taste. Mix with it a quarter of a pound of fresh butter cut small, and two glasses of white wine or of vinegar. Put it into a stew-pan, and set it on hot coals. Stew it about twenty minutes, keeping the pan closely covered lest the flavour should evaporate. Serve it up hot. If you choose, you can send it to table in the shell, which must first be nicely cleaned. Strew the meat over with sifted bread-crumbs, and brown the top with a salamander, or a red hot shovel held over it. FRICASSEED LOBSTER. Put the lobster into boiling salt and water, and let it boil according to