Take two quarts of large oysters, and drain the liquor from them through a sieve. Then wash them and cut off the hard part. Have ready some large scollop or clam shells. You may use either real shells or substitutes made of tin. Butter the bottoms, and sprinkle them with a few bread crumbs. Lay the oysters on them, seasoned with cayenne pepper, and grated nutmeg. Put a small bit of butter on each. Pour the liquor from the settlings, and having thickened a sufficiency of it with bread crumbs, put in as much as the shells will hold. Set a gridiron over some coals, and place on it the oysters in the scollop shells to cook the bottom part a little. Then put them into a tin oven before the fire to brown, taking care to turn them round so that the browning may be equal.

Serve them up in the shells on a large dish. Send them to table hot.

Take care not to cook them too much, as it will shrivel them and destroy the flavour.