Part 3

=Crabs, Deviled.=--Pick out the meat of four dozen boiled hard-shell crabs, put it into a bowl, and add a half-pint of mayonnaise. Mix carefully with your hand; wash a dozen of the shells, put a little of the mixture into each; grate a loaf of dry bread, season a pint of it with salt and pepper, sprinkle it over the crabs evenly; make twelve little balls of butter about the size of hickory-nuts; put one on top of each crab, and bake in a quick oven.

SCALLOPS.

The scallop-shell is familiar to even the children who have visited the seashore, and the novice wonders why so small a tidbit should require so large a shell. The edible part of the scallop is only the powerful central muscle by which the mollusk opens and closes its shell. The medium-sized scallops are the best. The very large and very white variety are more than likely to have been inflated and bleached by the aid of saleratus.

Scallop-shells were extensively used in ancient cookery, and gave to various dishes the prefix “scalloped.”

=Scallop Broth.=--The peculiar flavor of scallops is quite attractive to the convalescent, and a broth made from them is nourishing; but care should be exercised in selecting the shell-fish. To improve their appearance, shippers add quantities of saleratus to the scallops, which has the effect of bleaching them, and increasing their size: this custom may please the dealers, but not consumers. Select medium-sized scallops of a natural creamy color, wash them, and cut them into small pieces. To half a pint of these, add half a pint of warm water and half a pint of milk, a “pea” of butter, and a pinch of salt; simmer for twenty minutes; strain and serve.

A pint of milk and no water may be used if the patient desires it.

=Small Patties of Scallops.=--Wash a pint of scallops, drain, cut them up, and scald them; then put them in just milk enough to prevent burning. Add salt and white pepper, simmer until quite tender, and thicken with half a teaspoonful of flour dissolved in cold water. Pour this mixture in small patty-shells (see recipe for oyster patties), and serve after the soup and before the fish, or as an entrée.

=Fried Scallops.=--Rinse a pint of scallops in cold water slightly salted, then dry them in a napkin, and dredge them slightly with flour. Fry them in pork-fat. Egg batter and crumbs are not recommended.

=Scallops en Brochette.=--Drain twenty-four medium-sized scallops in a napkin. Parboil them a moment. When cool arrange them on four skewers, six on each, alternated with thin slices of bacon the size of the scallops in width. Brush over the scallops a little melted butter, and broil. When done, serve with tufts of watercresses and lemon.

=Stewed Scallops.=--Scald fifteen scallops, and put them into a stewpan with half a pint of boiling milk, a dash of cayenne, and a saltspoonful of salt. Just before serving, add very little table butter.

MUSSELS.

=The Mussel= is called the poor man’s oyster; but why the poor should have a monopoly of this very useful shellfish, the writer is at a loss to comprehend. During warm weather the spiced mussel is a treat: it may have the honor of ushering in a family dinner instead of the clam, and at collations and suppers it should be welcome. As they may be purchased at from eighteen to twenty-five cents per quart, it is a waste of time to pickle them at home, unless living at the seashore.

THE LOBSTER.

=Remarks on the Lobster.=--It takes a lobster about five years to arrive at maturity, or over ten inches in length. The spawning season depends upon the temperature of the water. Along the Sound, the season begins in June, and ends in September.

=The Season for Lobster.=--Lobsters are at their best before the spawning season. They are then filled with roe, or coral as the red spawn is called by some. This is a great delicacy, and is highly esteemed by epicures. After the spawning season, which is late in the summer, they are in very poor condition, and should not be offered for sale until cool weather.

The green part in the body of the lobster is called the tom-alley by New-England folks. It is excellent eating.

The external spawn adhering to the tail of the female lobster, when not highly developed, is edible, and is used in garnishing and making lobster butter, paste, and cardinal-fish sauces.

It is a curious fact, that the lobster changes or re-makes a shell from eight to ten times the first year, five to seven the second, three to four the third, and from two to three the fourth year. So says Professor G. O. Sars of Norway, about the European lobster, whose habits agree more or less closely with those of the American lobster.

=Soft-shell Lobster not edible.=--After the fifth year the change of shell is only annual. A soft-shell or shedder lobster, unlike the soft-shell crab, is not edible, and if eaten is likely to produce ill effects. In a soft condition the lobster itself is sick, and is therefore unfit for food.

=Selecting Lobsters.=--Always select a firm shell, of a deep dark-green color. Light-colored, thin-shelled lobsters are likely to be lean and poor. When plunged into the boiling water, the joints contract, and the tail draws under, provided the lobster was alive at the time of immersion. If dead when boiled, the tendons are relaxed, the claws hang loosely, the tail will not possess a spring-like tenacity when straightened out. Select the former, and reject the latter.

=Value of the Lobster as Food.=--According to Professor Atwater of Middletown, Conn., the nutritive value of the flesh of the lobster, compared with beef as a standard and reckoned at 100, is 61 to 97. Forty per cent of the lobster is edible, the remainder is shell and waste.

Buckland says, “That phosphorus exists in large quantities, may be easily proved. A lobster in hot weather, when it ceases to be fresh, assumes a highly phosphorescent appearance when seen in the dark, equal if not superior to that of a glow-worm or luminous centipede. This light increases by friction.... The presence of phosphorus in the lobster is of great importance to the consumers of these sea luxuries. There is no substance which conveys phosphorus so readily into the human system in an agreeable form, and which the system so readily and quickly assimilates, as the flesh of crabs and lobsters.”

=Broiled Lobster.=--Select alive and active lobster not less than ten and a half inches long. (If below this measurement, the dealer should be arrested for breaking the law which protects the lobster.) Split it in two lengthwise, which instantly kills it. Remove the entrail through the fleshy part of the tail, and the crop or stomach near the head. This done, there are two ways of preparing it for table. One is as follows:--

Remove the flesh from the tail, and brush over it a little melted butter or olive-oil; broil it gently, but not too well done. Heat the shell, put the meat back in the shell again, add more butter, salt, pepper, and serve on hot plates. The body parts may be boiled, and furnish dainty pickings for a late meal.

The other way is that which is generally adopted by restaurants. Brush a little butter over the entire half of the green lobster; broil the shell side thoroughly first, then turn, and broil the other. Serve with maitre-d’hôtel sauce.

A lobster that has once been boiled and then broiled is so thoroughly over-cooked as to be very indigestible.

=Lobster Croquettes, with Pease.=--Boil one-half pint of milk, thicken it with a tablespoonful of flour, and let it become cold. Mince the meat of a one-pound can of lobster, or one pound of fresh lobster; when very fine, add a saltspoonful of salt and half a saltspoonful of white pepper. Moisten the lobster mince with the thickened milk, and work the whole to a paste; add very little bread-crumb if too thin; let it become amalgamated over the range, and place in the ice-box until wanted; then shape it into neat rolls or cones; dip them in egg and crumbs, and fry in plenty of hot fat. Arrange the forms neatly on a dish, put round them a border of pease, and serve.

=Lobsters en Brochette.=--Instead of boiling the lobster-tails, cut them in pieces, and arrange these on small skewers, alternated with small pieces of bacon; brush melted butter over them, and either broil or bake them; serve with sauce tartare (which see on p. 84).

=Deviled Lobster.=--Take two live lobsters, remove the tails, split them in two, and make several incisions in them crosswise. Mix together half a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful each of dry mustard and curry, and half a saltspoonful of white pepper, add a tablespoonful of oil; mix, spread it over the lobsters, and broil them. When done, return to the shells, which should have been kept hot for the purpose; pour a little melted butter over them, and serve.

=Stewed Lobster, à la Créole.=--Remove the tail part of the meat from three green lobsters; split them in two lengthwise; remove the thread-like intestine. Melt an ounce of butter in a deep frying-pan; add the lobster; toss it for a few minutes in the butter; add salt and pepper and half a pint of hot water; cover, and simmer three-quarters of an hour; drain, and reduce the water one-half by rapid boiling. Put in a saucepan half an ounce of butter and a tablespoonful of minced onion; fry brown, and add three peeled and sliced tomatoes, one sweet pepper, four okra pods cut small, and half a teaspoonful of salt. Allow these to cook fifteen minutes, add the broth, and simmer until reduced to a pulp; rub through a sieve; put this _puree_ on a hot dish, place the lobster on top, add a little lemon-juice, and serve.

=Curry of Lobster.=--Remove the meat from two boiled lobsters, cut it into neat pieces; take all green fat and coral, and set them aside; mix the green fat with a heaping spoonful of curry-powder. Squeeze out the juice of three limes, and add to it half a teaspoonful of powdered sugar. Put into a frying-pan an ounce of butter; when creamed add a teaspoonful of minced onion browned a little; now add the mixed curry-powder; dissolve a teaspoonful of rice-flour in cold water, add this to a pint of hot water or soup-stock, simmer until thick; now add the lobster, and simmer twenty minutes longer. Wash and dry the coral, separate it. Prepare a border of rice on a dish, and over it sprinkle the coral and eggs (if any); pour the curry in the centre, and serve.

=Lobster Salad.=--Take two live hen (female) lobsters; boil them thirty minutes; drain. When cold, break them apart; crack the claws, and if the tail-fins are covered with eggs remove them carefully. Take out the sand-pouch found near the head; split the fleshy part of the tail in two lengthwise, remove the small long entrail found therein. Adhering to the body-shell may be found a layer of creamy fat; save this, and also the green fat in the body of the lobster (called tom-alley by New-Englanders), and the coral. If celery is used, tear the lobster into shreds with forks; if lettuce, cut the lobster into half-inch pieces. Place the salad herb in a bowl, add the lobster and the fat, and pour over it a rich mayonnaise; garnish with the claws and heads, tufts of green, hard-boiled eggs, etc. The lobster eggs may be separated, and sprinkled over the mayonnaise. The coral is used for coloring mayonnaise, and also butter, which is then used in decorating salmon and other dark fish used in salads.

THE OYSTER CRAB.

The little crab found in the oyster is not, as commonly supposed by two-thirds of the oyster-eating community to be, the young of the blue crab; but it is a distinct species. It is a messmate of and caterer to the wants of the oyster, being therefore a benefit instead of a detriment to the latter. In return for the oyster’s kindness in protecting it against its enemies, the little crab catches and crushes food which in its entire state could not be taken by the oyster. A singular thing in connection with them is, that all found inside of the oyster are females. The male of the same variety is found in the neighborhood, but its shell is firm.

Oyster-crabs are found at the grocer’s, put up in half-pint bottles, which retail from 60 to 75 cents each. At the markets they are sold at $2.50 per quart.

=To Serve Oyster Crabs.=--Put on a small saucer a crisp but dry leaf of lettuce, and put in the centre of each leaf a scant tablespoonful of the oyster crabs. Add a scant teaspoonful of mayonnaise to each, and serve as a whet before a ladies’ collation, or at an afternoon luncheon.

=Oyster-Crab Omelet.=--This is a most tempting dish. Roll an ounce of butter into little balls, dredge these with flour, put them in a pan, and when they begin to melt whisk them; do not let it brown; add a gill of hot water, and simmer until thick; now add half a pint of oyster crabs, salt, and a pinch of cayenne. Beat up four eggs thoroughly, and make them into an omelet; just before folding, add the crabs, and serve.

=Oyster-Crab Sauce.=--Add a tablespoonful of oyster-crabs to half a pint of drawn butter, sauce hollandaise, or in fact any white or cream fish-sauce, and serve with boiled fish.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

The writer is deeply indebted to Prof. George Brown Goode’s compilation and reports of the “Fishery Industries of the United States,” for much of the natural history of fish and shell embodied in this work.

SHRIMPS.

The common shrimp, which is caught in immense quantities along our coast all summer, and used for bait, is a dainty which summer residents should not neglect. When a shrimp salad is wanted, however, the servant is sent to the nearest grocer for a can of Southern shrimp, and the delicious morsel at their very door is used to feed the fishes. The trouble seems to be, that servants dislike the trouble of picking them out of their transparent shells.

Summer hotels would buy the native shrimp if fishermen would take the trouble of offering them. No more appetizing or appropriate garnish for lobster salads and for portions of boiled fish can be imagined than the little home shrimp properly boiled. A plunge into the hot water is about all the cooking they need.

=Market Price of Shrimps.=--Cooked and shelled shrimps are to be had in our markets during warm weather, for from thirty to fifty cents per quart. Canned shrimps retail for from thirty to forty cents per can, and $3.50 per dozen. Rinse them in fresh water before using them.

=Shrimp Omelet.=--Toss half a pint of canned or fresh shrimps in a little hot butter for a moment; add a little salt and pepper and a tablespoonful of tomato sauce. Prepare the omelet, and just before folding add the shrimps, and serve.

=Shrimp Sauce.=--Cut up the shrimps into halves, add them to a creamy fish sauce of any kind; mix and serve.

PRAWNS.

Scientifically there is a difference between the prawn and the shrimp; but it need not be considered by the housewife, except that the prawn, that comes to this market from the South already cooked and shelled, is larger than the shrimp, and a little stronger flavored.

The shrimps and prawns are found in salt and brackish water, while the crayfish are inhabitants of fresh water.

=Curry of Prawns.=--Prawns are at their best served as a curry. Boil two quarts of live prawns thirty minutes, drain when slightly cooled, break away the shells, and set them aside. Put two ounces of butter in a frying-pan; when very hot add a clove of garlic and one sliced apple; brown slightly, remove the garlic, and add a dessertspoonful of curry-powder mixed with a gill of water; stir, and add half a pint of soup-stock and half a teaspoonful of flour; now add the prawns, and the juice of half a lemon in which a lump of sugar has been dissolved. Pour out on a hot dish, and send to table with rice croquettes.

=Prawns, Deviled, en Coquille.=--Simmer a quart of prawns fifteen minutes in water flavored with a little sharp vinegar; drain, and cut them very fine. Add two ounces of butter, a gill of water, salt and pepper, the yolks of two eggs, and bread-crumbs to absorb the moisture. Mix to a paste. Partly fill the shells, cover with crumbs, add a small pat of butter to each, and bake to a delicate brown.

=Prawns, Sauté, à la Marengo.=--Wash one pint of “shelled” prawns, simmer them twenty minutes, drain, and toss them a moment in a little hot olive-oil; remove them, add a sprig of parsley, half a dozen button mushrooms, a gill of hot water, salt and pepper, and thicken with a little flour. Put the prawns on a dish, pour the sauce over them, garnish with fried eggs and slices of tomatoes fried.

=Prawn Salad.=--Take one quart of prawns and one quart and a pint of cut celery; put the celery in a bowl; add the prawns; garnish neatly, and serve with a mayonnaise.

CRAYFISH.

The crayfish are inhabitants of fresh-water streams; and they bear a striking resemblance to the lobster in appearance, spawning habits, shedding their shell, etc. Their season begins early in the spring, and lasts until cold weather. During a bountiful supply of these delicious shell-fish, large quantities are packed away in ice-houses for winter use, when there is a big demand for them from caterers who use them as garnishment, and for salads and sauces. They cost from three to four dollars per hundred in the New-York markets. Those that come from Milwaukee are highly esteemed; and, as they are already cooked, they may be used at luncheon, and on fast-days as salads. A crayfish salad is an enjoyable dish.

=Crayfish Omelet.=--Rinse half a pint of crayfish tails in salted water, and drain them; then split each tail in two lengthwise, and remove the thread-like intestine found therein. Toss them about a moment in a little butter and tablespoonful of broth or gravy; season with a dash of cayenne. Make a four-egg omelet, and just before folding add the crayfish.

SALMON.

=Salmon Steak.=--Put into fast boiling water, salted, a slice of fresh salmon, and boil for five minutes quite rapidly; then set on back of the range where it will simmer for fifteen minutes longer. Drain, and place it on a napkin surrounded with a border of parsley. On the two ends of the platter place slices of lemon. Serve with a sauce in a sauce-boat. Drawn butter with a few prawns or shrimps cut up in it is a nice sauce for salmon.

=Canned Salmon.=--The canning of salmon at the source of supply has been of lasting benefit to mankind, for we are now able to procure a pound of salmon in any quarter of the globe for a reasonable sum. Canned salmon has one advantage over the fresh fish: it does not deteriorate, and lose its flavor. Those who have tried it say they do not get surfeited with canned salmon, although many of the same individuals dislike the fresh salmon owing to its richness, and on this account rarely eat it.

=Salmon Patties.=--This is a very nice way of serving salmon at luncheon. Open a pound can of salmon, drain, add to the small amount of salmon liquid sufficient water to make a gill, season it with salt and pepper, and, if on hand, add a little anchovy paste. Beat up the yolks of two eggs with half a teaspoonful of flour dissolved in a little cold water or milk: add the gill of water, place it on the range to become hot and thick, whisking it meanwhile; break the salmon into pieces, and add to the sauce. When quite hot, fill the patty shells with it, and serve. A very rich sauce may be made by the addition of butter and cream.

The patty shells are made as follows: Roll out some very light puff-paste, half an inch thick; stamp it in rounds with a three-inch cutter, press a small cutter in the middle of each round to the depth of quarter of an inch; put the rounds on a buttered tin, brush a little beaten egg over them, and bake in a quick oven. When done, remove the centre, scoop out a little of the inside, and the shells are ready for the mixture.

=Salmon Surprise.=--Boil two quarts of potatoes with their jackets on. When done, peel and mash them with butter and warm milk. Arrange a border of potatoes on a flat, oval dish. In the centre of this put a pound of canned or cold salmon separated into neat-sized pieces, salt, pepper, a very little mace, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley; cover the salmon with a layer of raw oysters; add a little oyster-liquor, cover the oysters with a thin smooth layer of mashed potato, and brush the beaten yolk of egg over all. Then make a small hole in the centre, and place the dish in an oven hot enough to brown the outside quickly.

=Salmon à la Créole.=--Scald and put three large tomatoes to simmer in very little water, until tender: chop up very fine a sweet Spanish pepper and quarter of an onion; fry these in a little bacon fat; add the tomato, salt, and little white pepper. Simmer until reduced to a pulp. Open a pound can of salmon; set the can in a saucepan half full of hot water, turn the salmon out on a dish. When it is quite hot, pour the pulp over it, and serve. Canned tomatoes may be used instead of fresh tomatoes.

=Salmon Pie.=--Cut up four boiled potatoes into neat pieces; cut half a pound of boiled salt pork into dice; divide a pound of canned salmon into symmetrical pieces; roll out quarter of a pound of puff-paste, cut it into squares, and roll each of these into a little ball. Arrange these ingredients alternately in a deep yellow dish, season with salt and pepper, add hot water or gravy to prevent burning, cover the top with paste, make a hole in the centre, and bake in a moderate oven.

=Salmon in Jelly.=--Take one gallon of clear soup, and boil it down to a quart. Soak a teaspoonful of gelatine in cold water, and add to the reduced soup to make sure that it will be stiff when cold.

Take a two-quart tin mould, set it on ice, and pour enough of the liquid in it to cover the bottom. Let this become firm. Cut into slices, and then into diamonds, boiled beets, white turnips, and cold boiled tongue; dip each into the liquid, and place them in the mould in a very neat and artistic manner; when they become firm, spread over them a layer an inch thick, of cream-mashed potato; now add a pound of canned salmon, and pour round the edges and on top the remainder of the reduced soup, and set the mould in a very cold place to become firm. When wanted, dip the mould into hot water quickly, and turn it out. This is an excellent dish for collations, wedding breakfasts, etc. The potato must be made rich with butter and milk, and beaten to a light consistency before being placed in the mould. Any other kind of cold fish will answer quite as well as salmon for this and other dishes herein mentioned.

=Salmon Omelet.=--Separate half a pound of canned salmon into flakes, season with salt and pepper, a little lemon-juice, and add a little of the liquid; heat it a little, whip up the eggs for an omelet, prepare it as usual, and just before completing the fold add the salmon; then turn it out on a hot dish.

=Salmon, German Style.=--Boil two quarts of sauerkraut; drain it, and pile it on a hot dish; have ready a pound of canned salmon hot; make a hole in the centre of the kraut, insert the fish, simmer and season the salmon liquid, pour it over the dish, and serve.

=Salmon à l’Italienne.=--Boil half a pound of macaroni in water slightly salted; drain. Heat a can of salmon in hot water; turn it out on a dish; arrange the macaroni round it; pour over the macaroni the contents of a pound can of tomato-pulp (hot), sprinkle over this a little grated Parmesan cheese, and serve.

=Salmon à la Hollandaise.=--Heat a pound of canned salmon in the original can; turn it out on a hot dish, garnish neatly, and pour over it the following sauce: Cream two ounces of butter, whisk into it the yolks of two beaten eggs, add a little salt and white pepper, and half a teaspoonful of strong vinegar; put the pan in a larger one containing hot water, whisk it until it thickens, and just before serving add a little lemon-juice.