Oysters, Manhattan Style

3 to 6 oysters for each service

For 2 dozen oysters take

½ cup of butter

½ teaspoonful of salt

½ teaspoonful of paprika

1 tablespoonful of fine-chopped parsley Bacon as needed ¼ lemon for each service

The oysters should be fresh-opened. Dispose them on the deep part of the shells. Cream the butter and work into it the salt, paprika and parsley; divide the prepared butter and put a bit on each oyster, then cut slices of bacon into lengths to cover the oysters, one over each. Let cook about twelve minutes in a hot oven, or until the bacon is crisp. Serve each shell on a folded napkin with a quarter of a lemon. For Oysters a la Mornay see Chapter IV.

Fried Oysters, With Cabbage Tartare

Wipe a pint of choice oysters on a soft cloth; season half a cup of flour with salt and pepper, roll the oysters, one by one, in the flour (more may be needed), then dip in an egg beaten with three table-spoonfuls of milk, and, finally, roll in sifted bread or cracker crumbs. Fry in deep fat. In an ordinary frying bowl five or six oysters may be fried at a time. Drain on soft paper at the mouth of the oven. Let each oyster lie by itself on the paper while draining (to avoid softening the crust). The fat should be hot enough to brown the crumbs and cook the oysters in eighty or ninety seconds. A skimmer is quite as good as a frying basket for oysters; slip from the skimmer into the fat and remove with the skimmer when cooked. Have ready a thick napkin (made hot in the oven) on a serving dish. On this set a bowl, made of a cabbage, filled with cabbage tartare; dispose the oysters on the napkin around the cabbage. Serve at once. Cole slaw or Philadelphia relish may replace the cabbage tartare. This dish should be served by an attendant upon plates previously set down before those to be served.