Part 1

Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/oystersfish00murr

Transcriber's note:

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).

OYSTERS AND FISH

by

THOMAS J. MURREY

Author of “Fifty Soups,” “Fifty Salads,” “Breakfast Dainties,” “Puddings and Dainty Desserts,” “The Book of Entrées,” “Cookery for Invalids,” “Practical Carving,” “Luncheon,” “Valuable Cooking Recipes,” etc.

New York Copyright, 1888, by Frederick A. Stokes & Brother 1888

DEDICATION.

_To the Inventor of the_

SHELDON CLOSE-TOP GAS-STOVE,

_Who spent the best part of his life solving the perplexed problem of Economy in Fuel and Labor in our homes, and to those gentlemen connected with gas companies, who assisted and encouraged him, this little work is most respectfully dedicated by_

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTORY 11

THE OYSTER 11

THE OYSTER SEASON 11

OYSTERS OUT OF SEASON 12

OYSTERS PRESERVED IN SHELL 12

THE FOOD OF THE OYSTER 14

FORMATION OF THE DEEP SHELL 14

COCK OYSTERS 15

GREEN OYSTERS 15

BANQUET OYSTERS 16

ORDERING OYSTERS FOR THE FAMILY TABLE 17

HOW OYSTERS SHOULD BE OPENED 18

HOW TO SERVE RAW OYSTERS 18

COLLATION SERVICE 19

HOW TO EAT A RAW OYSTER 19

A BARREL OF OYSTERS 20

READ THIS! 20

COOKED OYSTERS 21

STEWED OYSTERS 21

PHILADELPHIA FRIED OYSTERS 22

CURRY OF OYSTERS 24

PICKLED-OYSTER OMELET 24

DEVILED OYSTERS ON TOAST 24

PICKLED OYSTERS 24

SCALLOPED OYSTERS 25

OYSTER SALAD 25

PLAIN FRIED OYSTERS 26

MISS PARLOA’S “NEW COOK-BOOK” 26

OYSTER TOAST 26

OYSTER OMELET 26

OYSTERS, BROILED 27

TRIPE WITH OYSTERS 27

OYSTERS EN BROCHETTE 27

FRIED OYSTERS 28

OYSTER AND CANNED SALMON PIE 28

OYSTER PATTIES 28

OYSTERS À LA POULETTE 29

PIE OF OYSTERS AND SCALLOPS 29

STEAMED OYSTERS 30

TO SERVE STEAMED OYSTERS 30

ROAST OYSTERS 31

BAKED OYSTERS 31

CLAMS 31

LITTLE-NECK CLAMS 31

SOFT CLAMS IN CHAFING-DISH 32

STEWED LITTLE-NECK CLAMS 33

SOFT CLAMS 33

SOFT-SHELL CLAMS SCALLOPED 33

CLAM TOAST 34

CLAM BROTH 34

CLAM FRITTERS 34

FRIED SOFT CLAMS 35

CRABS 35

HARD-SHELL CRABS 35

CRAB PATTIES, CREAM SAUCE 36

SOFT-SHELL CRABS 37

THE CARE OF SOFT CRABS 38

CRABS, SOFT-SHELL 39

CRAB CROQUETTES 39

CRAB PATTIES, À LA BECHAMEL 40

CRABS, À L’AMÉRICAINE 41

CRABS, DEVILED 41

SCALLOPS 42

SCALLOP BROTH 42

SMALL PATTIES OF SCALLOPS 43

FRIED SCALLOPS 43

SCALLOPS EN BROCHETTE 44

STEWED SCALLOPS 44

MUSSELS 44

THE MUSSEL 44

THE LOBSTER 45

REMARKS ON THE LOBSTER 45

THE SEASON FOR LOBSTER 45

SOFT-SHELL LOBSTER NOT EDIBLE 46

SELECTING LOBSTERS 46

VALUE OF THE LOBSTER AS FOOD 46

BROILED LOBSTER 47

LOBSTER CROQUETTES WITH PEASE 48

LOBSTERS EN BROCHETTE 48

DEVILED LOBSTER 49

STEWED LOBSTER, À LA CRÉOLE 49

CURRY OF LOBSTER 50

LOBSTER SALAD 50

THE OYSTER CRAB 51

TO SERVE OYSTER CRABS 52

OYSTER-CRAB OMELET 52

OYSTER-CRAB SAUCE 52

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 53

SHRIMPS 53

MARKET PRICE OF SHRIMPS 54

SHRIMP OMELET 54

SHRIMP SAUCE 54

PRAWNS 54

CURRY OF PRAWNS 55

PRAWNS, DEVILED, EN COQUILLE 55

PRAWNS, SAUTÉ, À LA MARENGO 55

PRAWN SALAD 56

CRAYFISH 56

CRAYFISH OMELET 57

SALMON 57

SALMON STEAK 57

CANNED SALMON 57

SALMON PATTIES 58

SALMON SURPRISE 59

SALMON À LA CRÉOLE 59

SALMON PIE 60

SALMON IN JELLY 60

SALMON OMELET 61

SALMON, GERMAN STYLE 61

SALMON À L’ITALIENNE 61

SALMON À LA HOLLANDAISE 62

SALMON, HUNTER’S STYLE 62

BOUILLABAISSE 63

CODFISH 63

BOILED CODFISH, OYSTER SAUCE 63

CODFISH TONGUES 64

CODFISH STEAK 64

NEW-ENGLAND CODFISH BALLS 65

BAKED COD 66

SALT CODFISH WITH CREAM 66

SCROD 67

BROOK TROUT 67

BROOK TROUT, SPORTSMAN STYLE 68

BROILED TROUT 69

BROOK TROUT, BAKED 69

BROOK TROUT, BOILED 70

MISCELLANEOUS 70

CATFISH, FRIED 70

TENDERLOIN TROUT 71

FRICASSEED EELS 71

EEL PATTIES 72

STEWED EELS, HOBOKEN TURTLE CLUB STYLE 72

PAN BASS, ANCHOVY BUTTER 73

FILLET OF FLOUNDER, TARTAR SAUCE 74

FRIED TOMCODS 75

BROILED SALT CODFISH 75

BROILED SALT MACKEREL 76

FRIED PORGIES WITH SALT PORK 77

FISH CURRIES 78

A PLAIN FISH CURRY 78

CURRY OF SCALLOPS 78

CURRY OF CRAYFISH 79

CURRY OF EELS, WITH RICE 79

CURRY OF SHAD ROE 79

CURRY OF FROGS’ LEGS 80

BROILED WEAKFISH 80

BAKED WHITEFISH, BORDEAUX SAUCE 81

HALIBUT, EGG SAUCE 82

EGG SAUCE 82

FRIED BUTTERFISH 82

BROILED SHAD 82

BAKED SHAD 83

SHAD ROE À LA POULETTE 83

BROILED ROYANS 84

BROILED SARDINES 84

BROILED SMELTS, SAUCE TARTARE 84

SMELTS FRIED, SAUCE TARTARE 85

BROILED WHITEFISH 85

SHEEP’S-HEAD WITH DRAWN BUTTER 85

DRAWN BUTTER 86

BROILED SHEEP’S-HEAD 86

INTRODUCTORY.

Would it not be beneficial, were the average American to substitute fish for the everlasting steak and chop of the breakfast-table?

For the sake of variety, if for no other reason, we should eat more fish; and it need not always be fried or broiled. A well-made fish stew or a curry should be acceptable to the majority of us, and undoubtedly would be if appetizingly prepared.

This little work does not by any means propose to exhaust the subject of sea-food, for the subject is almost inexhaustible; but it places within the reach of all a series of recipes and suggestions extremely valuable to the average housewife.

THE OYSTER.

=The Oyster Season= opens in the city of New York on the first day of September, and closes on the last day of April in each year. The annual amount of business done in the oyster trade is close on to $5,000,000. Each successive year witnesses an increase in the business.

Notwithstanding the R canon, there are thousands of persons who eat oysters at the summer resorts along the seashore throughout hot weather.

=Oysters out of Season.=--The writer does not recommend the eating of oysters out of their season, no matter how fresh they may be, or how appetizing they may appear.

To supply the demands made upon them by summer resorts, oyster-planters shift the oysters, during the spawning season, from warm shallow water to cold deep water. This checks or prevents the oysters from spawning, and to all appearance they are edible; but the writer firmly believes that interfering with the laws of nature affects the health of the oyster, and they cannot be as wholesome as planters would have us believe.

=Oysters Preserved in Shell.=--So long as the oyster retains its natural juices, it will live out of water, provided the changes in the temperature are not too sudden. The moment the oyster opens its shells, however, the juices run out, and in a short time afterward the oyster dies. To prevent the oyster opening its stony overcoat, is the object of oyster-shippers; and the Patent Office bears witness to their many devices having this object in view. Some wire the shells, others clasp or envelope the broad end of the shells with tin or other metal. No doubt these devices aid in keeping the oyster alive and fresh a little longer. Whether the nervous system of the oyster is affected by the process, is a question. Scientists tell us that oysters possess organs of sensation, and all who have handled oysters learn in time that a sudden jar or shock will kill them. The jar of the machinery of a steamboat will sometimes kill an oyster. When shipped to Europe they are ordered to be stored as far away from the machinery as possible. Some authorities claim that the oyster can hear. One cannot noisily approach an oyster-bed at feeding time without their hearing, and instantly every shell is closed. A cloud or a boat passing over an oyster-bank will cause every shell to close with proverbial tightness, and the sound of thunder will often kill them while they are in transit,--conclusive evidence that the nervous system in an oyster, while not highly developed, is of sufficient importance to merit attention from those who roughly handle oysters.

=The Food of the Oyster= consists of minute animal and vegetable organisms and small particles of organized matter. Ordinary sea-water contains an abundance of this sort of food, which is drawn into the gills with the water. As the water strains through the pores into the water tubes, the food particles are caught on the surface of the gills by a layer of adhesive slime. As soon as they are entangled, the microscopic hair-like projections on the gills strike against them in such a way as to slide them along the gills toward the mouth. When they reach the anterior ends of the gills, they are pushed off, and fall between the lips, which are also covered with thin hair-like projections, which carry the particles forward until they slide into the mouth. No wonder the intelligent tramp wished that he might become an oyster. His food would then come to him in a sort of endless progression.

=Formation of the Deep Shell.=--Although the oyster lies upon the bottom with one shell above and one below, the shells are not upon the top and bottom of the body, but upon the right and left sides. The two shells are symmetrical in the young oyster; but after it becomes attached, the lower or attached side grows faster than the other, and becomes deep and spoon-shaped, while the free valve remains nearly flat. In nearly every case the lower or deep valve is the left.

=Cock Oysters.=--There is a belief among oyster-eaters, that the dark-gray or black oysters are male oysters, and are therefore superior to the female oyster. Such misinformation was evidently promulgated by oyster-openers in anticipation of a tip for serving selected oysters. There is no truth in the assertion, however, for there are just as many black female oysters as there are black male oysters. There is no characteristic color by which a male or cock oyster can be distinguished from a female oyster. Microscopic examination, or a scientific eye, is the means of discovering the sex of an oyster.

The black-oyster romance is of ancient origin. The Roman oyster-smashers successfully “worked it” on Pliny, Horace, and other ancient writers and epicures.

=Green Oysters.=--At least a million dollars worth of oysters are annually destroyed in New-York waters by sludge acid from the oil refineries and illegal dumpings. The acid kills the oysters the instant it touches them, and turns them green. There is very little danger that a poisoned oyster will reach the consumer, but the loss to the planter is enormous.

The green tint of the oyster, or in fact any distinguished color the oyster may possess, is due to the color of its food and to the nature of the surrounding bottom. The bottom of the Shrewsbury River is mud; the oysters take on a peculiar tawny color from their muddy bed. Rockaway oysters exist on a hard sandy bottom. If the beds are covered with sea-lettuce, as they often are, the oysters take on a delicate green tint. When the lettuce is removed by a strong tide or high wind, the oysters gradually assume their white, slightly grayish color. Their shells are round, thin, and brittle. The shells from mud bottoms are long, narrow, thick, and spongy. Intruded mud is enclosed by a thin layer of pearly shell.

The oyster epicure may rest assured of one fact. No matter what the color of an oyster may be, so long as it is alive and seasonable it is wholesome. It cannot absorb enough foreign matter to injure the epicure without committing suicide, and there is no possible danger of any one _swallowing_ a dead oyster.

=Banquet Oysters.=--As served at the average public banquet, the raw oyster is a thing of terror to appetite and to weak digestive organs. When looking for one’s seat, where, through an oversight, one is not furnished with a chart of the tables, one beholds six very small emaciated oysters. The heat in the room has absorbed their moisture, afterwards the bed of fine ice on which they were placed has melted, and the water overflowed them, thereby finishing the work of destruction. One must be under the influence of the sherry and Vermouth of the reception-rooms, to be willing to begin the feast with such an introductory course. No wonder fashionable society demands a substitute for the oyster as the dinner season progresses. In the name of humanity, order the oysters to table and announce the dinner at the same time. Guests are willing to wait a few moments for toothsome oysters, provided they are direct from the ice-box.

=Ordering Oysters for the Family Table.=--Send the servant to the nearest dealer, a few minutes before the oysters are wanted, and let her wait for them. In this way one is quite sure of procuring freshly opened oysters. Many dealers begin opening oysters for their family orders hours before they are to be served; and the result is, they have lost much of their juices before being served.

Miss Parloa’s “New Cook Book” says, “Six large oysters are usually allowed each person.” This error should be corrected in future editions. Large raw oysters on the half-shell are only served at oyster-counters to countrymen, and are not served at a dinner, no matter how unpretentious or how elaborate the affair may be.

=How Oysters should be opened.=--In the author’s work on “Luncheon,” reference is made to the great care which should be exercised in opening oysters; and it will bear repeating. Reject all oysters opened by the “smashing” process. The shells are not only broken and ragged, but, should a person swallow a ragged splinter of oyster-shell, there is great danger of its killing him. Insist on it that your oysters are opened by the so-called “stabbing” process.

=How to serve Raw Oysters.=--If for a quiet family affair, where “opened” oysters are used, keep the plates in ice-water, and dry them before placing the oysters on them. For more pretentious affairs, but where fancy oyster-plates are not a part of the dinner service, use soup-plates. Fill them with fine cracked ice, place a dainty doily over each, and set the oysters on top of the doily. The lemon should be served on a side-dish, and not in the centre of the dish as though one were dining in a restaurant. Four small Rockaways are sufficient to serve at the ordinary course dinner. In nine cases are out of ten, Rockaways are served instead of the Blue Points. It is therefore advisable to order the former; the dealer might make a mistake if he had them in stock, and send the latter.

It is quite English to serve raw oysters on the flat half-shell, but it is quite American to serve them on the deep shell. The American way is the best.

=Collation Service.=--At evening collations, the oysters are served in the centre of a block of ice. A clear, square block of ice is selected, and a cavity or receptacle is made in it by the aid of a hot flat-iron held close to the ice. If one has patience, the cavity may be shaved out with an ice shave; if a pick is used, one is likely to split the cake of ice. An ice boat is easily formed by holding a hot flat-iron to a long piece of ice. Holes may be made through the bottom of the block of ice, and filled with brilliant flowers; and the outer sides and top should be handsomely decorated with flowers and smilax. If electric lights are used in the house, it is an easy matter to place them in the cake of ice: the effect is striking. The wires are carried from the room below the dining-room, or under the carpet.

=How to eat a Raw Oyster.=--Avoid as much as possible the use of condiments, when eating oysters. They were never intended as an accompaniment of the oyster, and are only used by country people. A suspicion of lemon; a dash of salt when the dealer has kept them covered with cracked ice, and the descending ice-water washed out all sea flavor; and, for palates grown callous, a dash of cayenne. Such abominations as ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, etc., should never be used. Do not bolt the oyster, but masticate it; and one will soon learn to tell the different oysters by their different flavors. By bolting them, one will never know how to thoroughly appreciate them.

=A Barrel of Oysters.=--Persons living away from the city are advised to purchase oysters by the barrel. If kept with the deep shell down, and in a cool place, they will live a long time. The novice is likely to bruise fingers in vain attempts to open them; but, like carving, the opening of oysters should be part of a man’s education. Then there is the charm of roasting the oysters in the old-fashioned fire-place. Here the novice may burn a finger or two, but then it’s fun for the youngsters.

=Read this!=--In W. Mattieu Williams’s “Chemistry of Cookery,” I find the following: “More than half a century has elapsed since Dr. Beaumont published the results of his experiments on Alexis St. Martin. These showed that fresh raw oysters required two hours and fifty-five minutes to digest, and stewed fresh oysters three and a half hours for digestion; against one hour for boiled tripe, and three hours for roast or boiled beef or mutton.”

The general impression among the people is, that raw oysters digest almost as soon as they become of the same temperature of the stomach.

COOKED OYSTERS.

=Stewed Oysters.=--Boil half a pint of milk; add to it eleven good-sized oysters, a walnut of butter, a dash of salt and of pepper. Allow the milk to boil up just once, and serve.

The average cook puts the oysters on first, and after they boil cold milk is added. When the milk boils, the stew is served. The result of such treatment of the oyster causes it to shrivel so that it is hardly recognizable, and a good-sized oyster becomes a mere sprat. From this process of cooking originated the ancient moth-eaten jokes about church-fair stews.

Cooked as in the foregoing recipe, the oyster retains its plump characteristics.

=Philadelphia Fried Oysters.=--The author originally published this recipe in the New York “Evening Sun” by request.

The average New Yorker may call the City of Brotherly Love a sleepy sort of a place, but it is wide enough awake gastronomically. It has within its city limits cooks who prepare fried oysters that fairly melt in one’s mouth. They are so delicate that there is not a pang of dyspepsia in a whole winter’s supply of the toothsome dainties. The reputation of Finneli’s Philadelphia fried oysters extends from Maine to California; and immense sums have been offered for the recipe, but its owner would not sell his secret at any price.