Oyster Pie

Line a deep dish that will hold rather more than a quart, with a good pie-crust nearly half an inch thick. Strain the liquor from a quart of oysters. Put in the bottom of the dish a layer of fine cracker or bread crumbs; then add the oysters, with bits of butter and mace, a little pepper and salt, and a part of the liquor. The liquor should fill the dish only about one-half. Over the oysters put another layer of fine crumbs, and cover with pie-crust. Cut an opening in the top of the crust, and ornament with leaves of pastry. Bake about an hour. Brown gradually. Serve the pie hot.

A pie containing a pint, or a pint and a half of oysters, is large enough for a family of two or three.

Oyster Pie

Make a nice paste and lay into a deep dish, turn a teacup down in the centre. This will draw the liquor under it, and prevent it from boiling over; it also keeps the upper crust from falling in and becoming clammy. Lay in the oysters, add a little pepper, butter, and flour; make a wide incision in the upper crust, so that when the pie is nearly done, you can pour in half a teacup of cream or milk. Secure the edges of the crust according to the directions for making Pastry, and bake it an hour. It should be put into the oven immediately, else the under crust will be clammy. Use but little of the liquor.

Roasted Oysters

Take them, unopened, rinse the shells clean, and lay them on hot coals, or the top of a cooking-stove, with the deepest side of the shell down, so as not to lose the liquor. When they begin to open a little, they are done, and the upper shell will be easily removed with a knife, and the oyster is to be eaten from the lower shell. Some persons prefer to have roast oysters laid on buttered toast.

How To Fry Oysters

Lay them in a cloth a few minutes to dry them; then dip each one in beaten egg, and then into sifted cracker-crumbs, and fry in just enough fat to brown them. Put pepper and salt on them before you turn them over.

Escaloped Oysters

Butter a deep dish, and cover the bottom and sides with fine crumbs of bread. Put in half the oysters, with pounded mace, pepper, and salt, and cover them with bread crumbs and small bits of butter; add the rest of the oysters with pepper and mace, and cover as before. Put in but little of the liquor, as oysters part with a good deal of moisture in cooking, and if the mixture is too wet, it is not as good. Bake a quart of oysters half an hour. A plainer dish, with little butter and no spice is very good.

Pickled Oysters

Boil the liquor of an hundred oysters and pour it over them. "When they have stood a few minutes, take them out and boil the liquor again, with a gill of vinegar, a few whole black peppers, and two or three blades of mace. When this is cold, pour it over the oysters, and cover them closely. This is a very good way to keep them.

Steamed Oysters

Put a peck of oysters (or less, according to the family) into a steamer, and steam till they open. Eat them from the shell, with vinegar and pepper, or put them for two or three minutes into a saucepan, and stir in a bit of butter.

Oysters Raw

Wash the shells very thoroughly, and wipe them dry. Open them, and remove the upper shell, but leave the under shell with the oyster in it. Place the oysters thus prepared on a dish, with one or two lemons cut in halves, and serve. They should be eaten with salt, pepper, and lemon-juice.

Plain Stewed

Boil one quart of oysters for three minutes. Then pour them into a hot dish, upon pieces of toast buttered. Sprin kle pepper over them.

Stewed Oysters, Another Way

Boil a pint of milk; rub a tablespoonful of flour smooth in cold milk, and strain into it; then strain in the liquor of a quart of oysters, and, when it boils up again, add half a spoonful of butter, a little salt, and the oysters, and let the whole boil two minutes more, or until the oysters begin to curl.

Curried Oysters

Put the liquor of one quart of oysters into a stew-pan. Add a little hot water if there is not much liquor. Rub a large spoonful of butter into one of flour. When the liquor boils up, stir this in, and also two or three teaspoonfuls of curry-powder. (Some cooks put in, also, the milk of a cocoa-nut and the juice of lemon; but this is not necessary.) Lastly add the oysters, and, when they have boiled one or two minutes, take them up in a deep dish, and serve rice with them on another dish prepared as directed for curries.

Oyster Patties

Line small patty-pans with a nice crust. When cool, turn them out upon a dish. Stew a pint of large oysters one or two minutes in their own liquor, with a heaping teaspoon-ful of butter, two blades of mace, and some lemon-juice. Dredge in a little flour. Take them up, and set them where they will become cool. Then put two or three oysters in each puff, and serve. Omit the lemon-juice, if you choose. If the patties are to be eaten hot, stew as above, and bake covers of paste on tins. Put the oysters hot, into the puffs, place over them the covers, fresh from the oven, and serve.