Modern cookery for private families

an oyster merchant in an extensive business that once was sufficient. TO SCALLOP OYSTERS. Large coarse oysters should never be dressed in this way. Select small plump ones for the purpose, let them be opened carefully, give them a scald in their own liquor, wash them in it free from grit, and beard them neatly. Butter the scallop shells and shake some fine bread-crumbs over them; fill them with alternate layers of oysters, crumbs of bread, and fresh butter cut into small bits; pour in the oyster-liquor, after it has been strained, put a thick, smooth layer of bread-crumbs on the top, moisten them with clarified butter,[51] place the shells in a Dutch oven before a clear fire, and turn them often until the tops are equally and lightly browned: send them immediately to table. Footnote 51: Common cooks merely stick small bits of butter on them. Some persons like a little white pepper or cayenne, and a flavouring of nutmeg added to the oysters; others prefer pounded mace. French cooks recommend with them a mixture of minced mushrooms stewed in butter till quite tender, and sweet herbs finely chopped. The fish is sometimes laid into the shells after having been bearded only. SCALLOPED OYSTERS À LA REINE. Plump and beard the oysters, after having rinsed them well in their own strained liquor; add to this about an equal quantity of very rich white sauce, and thicken it, if needful, with half a teaspoonful of flour, mixed with a small slice of butter, or with as much arrow-root only; put in the oysters, and keep them at the point of simmering for three or four minutes: lay them into the shells, and cover the tops thickly with crumbs fried a delicate brown and well dried; or heap over them instead, a layer of fine crumbs; pour clarified butter on them, and brown them with a salamander. TO STEW OYSTERS. A pint of small plump oysters will be sufficient for a quite moderate-sized dish, but twice as many will be required for a large one. Let them be very carefully opened,