Turn a couple of dozen oysters into a basin with their liquor. Put one ounce of butter into a saucepan and work it together with a tablespoonful of flour into a smooth paste; when warm add a little mace, cayenne, and salt, and pour in gradually three tablespoonfuls of cream. Boil for a few minutes and pour in the strained liquor from the oysters, add the oysters last, and boil for a couple of minutes longer. Line some small patty pans with some thin puff paste, put a quantity of rice in each to keep them in shape, cover the top with more of the paste and bake in a brisk oven. Take them out, remove the top, empty out the rice, fill them with the oysters and a little of the liquor, cover and serve.

Oyster Pie

Line a pie dish with puff paste, and fill it with slices of stale bread; butter the paste that covers the edge of the dish, lay a cover of puff paste over the pie, press the edges very lightly together, trim them, and bake quickly in a hot oven. Meanwhile drain the liquor from one quart of oysters and chop them fine with a sharp, thin bladed knife. Blend a teaspoonful of corn starch in a very little cold milk, pour over it one-half pint of boiling milk or cream, put it over the fire in a saucepan, stir till it thickens, and then add one ounce of butter; when the butter has been well mixed in, season the chopped oysters with salt and pepper, stir them into the thickened milk, let simmer (stirring all the time), for five minutes, and then take from off the fire. When the bread pie is baked remove from the oven, and while still hot carefully take off the upper crust; remove the bread, and fill the dish with the thickened cream or milk and chopped oysters, replace the top crust, put the pie again in the oven till it is thoroughly hot and then serve.

Oyster Poulette

Place thirty-six freshly-opened oysters in a saucepan with a little of their own liquor, one ounce of butter, half a pinch of salt and pepper and parboil for three minutes, adding half a pint of hollandaise sauce; stew well together for two minutes longer, but without letting the liquor boil, add one teaspoonful of chopped parsley and the juice of half a lemon, stir slightly and serve very hot.

Scalloped Oysters

Strain the oyster liquor, rinse the oysters in it, then plump and beard them. Measure the liquor and add to it an equal quantity of rich white sauce; if this does not thicken it sufficiently add one teaspoonful of flour, rubbed into a small piece of butter, stir over the fire until pretty hot, stir until it boils and boil ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Put in the oysters and keep them nearly simmering for three minutes, then put them into their shells with a little of the sauce, put a layer of sifted breadcrumbs on them, pour over this a little clarified butter and brown them in the oven.