Marion Harland's Complete Cook Book: A Practical and Exhaustive Manual of Cookery and Housekeeping

fire to a delicate brown. Put on a hot platter and cover with a brown sauce. Brown sauce for broiled oysters Cook together a scant tablespoonful, each, of butter and browned flour; pour upon a half pint of cleared consommé; season with salt, pepper, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, a little mushroom catsup and a few drops of kitchen bouquet. Add a dash of lemon juice and serve. Scalloped oysters Drain the oysters and dispose in a buttered bake-dish in the following order: In the bottom have a light layer of crushed cracker crumbs; season with paprika and salt, drop bits of butter upon them and wet with oyster liquor and milk mixed in equal quantities. Now comes a layer of oysters, similarly seasoned, next a layer of crumbs. Go on thus until the dish is full or the materials are used up. The top layer should be crumbs with a double allowance of butter. Cover closely and bake half an hour, then uncover and brown lightly. Oyster scallops Prepare as above, but bake in pâté-pans or in shells, covering each with fine crumbs. In tide-water Virginia, notably near Williamsburg, the first capital of the state, large, fluted shells are dug up many feet below the surface, which, when cleaned, make the best possible receptacle for scalloped oysters. All who have eaten fresh oysters, just from York river, cooked in these fossil remains, will agree with me that they are incomparably savory. Send sliced lemon around with them. Fried oysters They must be large, plump and fresh. Drain well; spread upon a clean, soft towel, and cover with another, patting them gently to dry them on both sides. Roll each over and over in salted cracker-crumbs; set on the ice for an hour; dust more crumbs over them, and fry, a few at a time, in boiling hot butter, cottolene or other fats. Drain, garnish with parsley and serve. Oysters creamed and baked Heat a large spoonful of butter in a clean frying-pan, rub in a tablespoonful of flour, and stir to a white roux. Remove to the table. Season