Henry J. Horn - "Strange Visitors"

Various - "Notes & Queries, No. 14. Saturday, February 2, 1850"

H. Irving Hancock - "Dick Prescott's Second Year at West Point"

Herman Bang - "Det graa hus"

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The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) written by Mrs. F.L. Gillette

M >> Mrs. F.L. Gillette >> The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887)





CRABS. (Soft Shell.)

Crabs may be boiled as lobsters. They make a fine dish when stewed.
Take out the meat from the shell, put it into a saucepan with butter,
pepper, salt, a pinch of mace and a very little water; dredge with
flour and let simmer five minutes over a slow fire. Serve hot; garnish
the dish with the claws laid around it.

The usual way of cooking them is frying them in plenty of butter and
lard mixed; prepare them the same as frying fish. The spongy substance
from the sides should be taken off, also the sand bag. Fry a nice
brown and garnish with parsley.


OYSTERS.

Oysters must be fresh and fat to be good. They are in season from
September to May.

The small ones, such as are sold by the quart, are good for pies,
fritters, or stews; the largest of this sort are nice for frying or
pickling for family use.


FRIED OYSTERS.

Take large oysers from their own liquor into a thickly folded napkin
to dry them; then make hot an ounce each of butter and lard in a
thick-bottomed frying pan. Season the oysters with pepper and salt,
then dip each one into egg and cracker crumbs rolled fine, until it
will take up no more. Place them in the hot grease and fry them a
delicate brown, turning them on both sides by sliding a broad-bladed
knife under them. Serve them crisp and hot.

_Boston Oyster House._

Some prefer to roll oysters in corn meal and others use flour, but
they are much more crisp with egg and cracker crumbs.


OYSTERS FRIED IN BATTER.

_Ingredients._--One-half pint of oysters, two eggs, one-half pint of
milk, sufficient flour to make the batter; pepper and salt to taste;
when liked, a little nutmeg; hot lard.

Scald the oysters in their own liquor, beard them, and lay them on a
cloth to drain thoroughly. Break the eggs into a basin, mix the flour
with them, add the milk gradually, with nutmeg and seasoning, and put
the oysters in a batter. Make some lard hot in a deep frying pan; put
in the oysters one at a time; when done, take them up with a sharp
pointed skewer and dish them on a napkin. Fried oysters are frequently
used for garnishing boiled fish, and then a few bread crumbs should be
added to the flour.


STEWED OYSTERS. (In Milk or Cream.)

Drain the liquor from two quarts of oysters; mix with it a small
teacupful of hot water, add a little salt and pepper and set it over
the fire in a saucepan. Let it boil up once, put in the oysters, let
them come to a boil, and when they "ruffle" add two tablespoonfuls of
butter. The instant it is melted and well stirred in, put in a pint of
boiling milk and take the saucepan from the fire. Serve with oyster or
cream crackers. Serve while hot.

If thickening is preferred, stir in a little flour or two
tablespoonfuls of cracker crumbs.


PLAIN OYSTER STEW.

Same as milk or cream stew, using only oyster liquor and water instead
of milk or cream, adding more butter after taking up.


OYSTER SOUP.

For oyster soup, see SOUPS.


DRY OYSTER STEW.

Take six to twelve large oysters and cook them in half a pint of their
own liquor; season with butter and white pepper; cook for five
minutes, stirring constantly. Serve in hot soup plates or bowls.

_Fulton Market, New York._


BOSTON FRY.

Prepare the oysters in egg batter and fine cracker meal; fry in butter
over a slow fire for about ten minutes; cover the hollow of a hot
platter with tomato sauce; place the oysters in it, but not covering;
garnished with chopped parsley sprinkled over the oysters.

_Boston Oyster House._


BROILED OYSTERS.

Dry a quart of oysters in a cloth, dip each in melted butter well
peppered; then in beaten egg, or not, then in bread or cracker crumbs
also peppered. Broil on a wire broiler over live coals three to five
minutes. Dip over each a little melted butter. Serve hot.


ROAST OYSTERS IN THE SHELL. No. 1.

Select the large ones, those usually termed "Saddle Rocks," formerly
known as a distinct variety, but which are now but the large oysters
selected from any beds; wash and wipe them, and place with the upper
or deep shell down, to catch the juice, over or on live coals. When
they open their shells, remove the shallow one, being careful to save
all the juice in the other; place them, shells and all, on a hot
platter, and send to the table hot to be seasoned by each person with
butter and pepper to taste. If the oysters are fine, and they are just
cooked enough and served hot, this is, _par excellence_, the style.


OYSTER ROAST. No. 2.

Put one quart of oysters in a basin with their own liquor and let them
boil three or four minutes; season with a little salt, pepper and a
heaping spoonful of butter. Serve on buttered toast.


STEAMED OYSTERS.

Wash and drain a quart of counts or select oysters; put them in a
shallow pan and place in a steamer over boiling water; cover and steam
till they are plump, with the edges ruffled, but no longer. Place to a
heated dish, with butter, pepper, and salt, and serve.

_Baltimore Style_


STEAMED OYSTERS IN THE SHELL.

Wash and place them in an air-tight vessel, laying them the upper
shell downward, so that the liquor will not run out when they open.
Place this dish or vessel over a pot of boiling water where they will
get the steam. Boil them rapidly until the shells open, about fifteen
to twenty minutes. Serve at once while hot, seasoned with butter, salt
and pepper.


PAN OYSTERS. No. 1.

Cut some stale bread into thin slices, taking off all the crust, round
the slices to fit patty-pans; toast, butter, place them in the pans
and moisten with three or four teaspoonfuls of oyster liquor; place on
the toast a layer of oysters, sprinkle with pepper, and put a small
piece of butter on top of each pan; place all the pans in a
baking-pan, and place in the oven, covering tightly. They will cook in
seven or eight minutes if the oven is hot; or, cook till the beards
are ruffled; remove the cover, sprinkle lightly with salt, replace,
and cook one minute longer. Serve in patty pans. They are delicious.

_New York Style._


PAN OYSTERS. No. 2.

Lay in a thin pie tin or dripping-pan, half a pint of large oysters,
or more if required; have the pan large enough so that each oyster
will lie flat on the bottom; put in over them a little oyster liquor,
but not enough to float; place them carefully in a hot oven and just
heat them through thoroughly--do not bake them--which will be in three
to five minutes, according to fire; take them up and place on toast;
first moistened with the hot juice from the pan. Are a very good
substitute for oysters roasted in the shell, the slow cooking bringing
out the flavor.

_French Restaurant, New Orleans, La._


OYSTER FRITTERS.

Select plump, good-sized oysters; drain off the juice, and to a cup of
this juice add a cup of milk, a little salt, four well-beaten eggs,
and flour enough to make batter like griddle-cakes.

Envelope an oyster in a spoonful of this batter (some cut them in
halves or chop them fine), then fry in butter and lard, mixed in a
frying pan the same as we fry eggs, turning to fry brown on both
sides. Send to the table very hot.

_Delmonico._

Most cooks fry oyster fritters the same as crullers, in a quantity of
hot lard, but this is not always convenient; either way they are
excellent.


OYSTER PATTIES.

Line patty-pans with thin pastry, pressing it well to the tin. Put a
piece of bread or a ball of paper in each. Cover them with paste and
brush them over with the white of an egg. Cut an inch square of thin
pastry, place on the centre of each, glaze this also with egg, and
bake in a quick oven fifteen to twenty minutes. Remove the bread or
paper when half cold.

Scald as many oysters as you require (allowing two for each patty,
three if small) in their own liquor. Cut each in four and strain the
liquor. Put two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour into a thick
saucepan; stir them together over the fire till the flour smells
cooked, and then pour half a pint of oyster liquor and half a pint of
milk into the flour and butter. (If you have cream use it instead of
milk.) Stir till it is a thick, smooth sauce. Put the oysters into it
and let them boil once. Beat the yolks of two eggs. Remove the oysters
for one minute from the fire, then stir the eggs into them till the
sauce looks like thick custard.

Fill the patties with this oyster fricassee, taking care to make it
hot by standing in boiling water before dinner on the day required,
and to make the patty cases hot before you fill them.


FULTON MARKET ROAST.

It is still known in New York from the place at which it was and is
still served. Take nine large oysters out of the shell; wash, dry and
roast over a charcoal fire, on a broiler. Two minutes after the shells
open they will be done. Take them off quickly, saving the juice in a
small shallow, tin pan; keep hot until all are done; butter them and
sprinkle with pepper.

This is served for one person when calling for a roast of this kind.
It is often poured over a slice of toast.


SCALLOPED OYSTERS.

Have ready about a pint of fine cracker crumbs. Butter a deep earthen
dish; put a layer of the cracker crumbs on the bottom; wet this with
some of the oyster liquor; next have a layer of oysters; sprinkle with
salt and pepper, and lay small bits of butter upon them; then add
another layer of cracker crumbs and oyster juice; then oysters,
pepper, salt and butter, and so on, until the dish is full; the top
layer to be cracker crumbs. Beat up an egg in a cup of milk and turn
over all. Cover the dish and set it in the oven for thirty or
forty-five minutes. When baked through, uncover the top, set on the
upper grate and brown.


OYSTER POT-PIE.

Scald a quart can of oysters in their own liquor; when it boils, skim
out the oysters and set them aside in a warm place. To the liquor add
a pint of hot water; season well with salt and pepper, a generous
piece of butter, thicken with flour and cold milk. Have ready nice
light biscuit dough, rolled twice as thick as pie crust; cut out into
inch squares, drop them into the boiling stew, cover closely, and cook
forty minutes. When taken up, stir the oysters into the juice and
serve all together in one dish. A nice side _entree_.

_Prince's Bay, S. I._


BOSTON OYSTER PIE.

Having buttered the inside of a _deep_ pie plate, line it with puff
paste, or common pie crust, and prepare another sheet of paste for the
lid; put a clean towel into the dish (folded so as to support the
lid), set it into the oven and bake the paste well; when done, remove
the lid and take out the towel. While the paste is baking, prepare the
oysters. Having picked off carefully every bit of shell that may be
found about them, drain the liquor into a pan and put the oysters into
a stewpan with barely enough of the liquor to keep them from burning;
season them with pepper, salt and butter; add a little sweet cream or
milk, and one or two crackers rolled fine; let the oysters simmer, but
_not boil_, as that will shrivel them. Remove the upper crust of
pastry and fill the dish with the oysters and gravy. Replace the cover
and serve hot.

Some prefer baking the upper crust on a pie plate, the same size as
the pie, then slipping it off on top of the pie after the same pie is
filled with the oysters.


MOCK OYSTERS.

Grate the corn, while green and tender, with a coarse grater, into a
deep dish. For two ears of corn, allow one egg; beat the whites and
yolks separately, and add them to the corn, with one tablespoonful of
wheat flour and one of butter, a teaspoonful of salt and pepper to
taste. Drop spoonfuls of this batter into a frying pan with hot butter
and lard mixed, and fry a light brown on both sides.

In taste, they have a singular resemblance to fried oysters. The corn
_must_ be _young_.


FRICASSEED OYSTERS.

Take a slice of raw ham, which has been pickled, but not smoked, and
soak in boiling water for half an hour; cut it in quite small pieces,
and put in a saucepan with two-thirds of a pint of veal or chicken
broth, well strained; the liquor from a quart of oysters, one small
onion, minced fine, a little chopped parsley, sweet marjoram, and
pepper; let them simmer for twenty minutes, and then boil rapidly for
two or three minutes; skim well and add one scant tablespoon of
cornstarch, mixed smoothly in one-third cup of milk; stir constantly,
and when it boils add the oysters and one ounce of butter; after
which, just let it come to a boil, and remove the oysters to a deep
dish; beat one egg, and add to it gradually some of the hot broth,
and, when cooked, stir it into the pan; season with salt, and pour the
whole over the oysters. When placed upon the table, squeeze the juice
of a lemon over it.


Small Oyster Pies.

For each pie take a tin plate half the size of an ordinary dinner
plate; butter it, and cover the bottom with a puff paste, as for pies;
lay on it five or six select oysters, or enough to cover the bottom;
butter them and season with a little salt and plenty of pepper; spread
over this an egg batter, and cover with a crust of the paste, making
small openings in it with a fork. Bake in a hot oven fifteen to twenty
minutes, or until the top is nicely browned.

_Boston Oyster House._


STEWED CLAMS.

Wash clean as many round clams as required; pile them in a large iron
pot, with half a cupful of hot water in the bottom, and put over the
fire; as soon as the shells open take out the clams, cut off the hard,
uneatable "fringe" from each with strong, clean scissors, put them
into a stewpan with the broth from the pot, and boil slowly till they
are quite tender; pepper well and thicken the gravy with flour stirred
into melted butter.

Or, you may get two dozen freshly opened _very_ small clams. Boil a
pint of milk, a dash of white pepper and a small pat of butter. Now
add the clams. Let them come to a boil and serve. Longer boiling will
make the clams almost indigestible.


ROAST CLAMS IN THE SHELL.

Roast in a pan over a hot fire, or in a hot oven, or, at a "Clam
Bake," on hot stones; when they open, empty the juice into a saucepan;
add the clams, with butter, pepper and a very little salt.

_Rye Beach._


CLAM FRITTERS.

Take fifty small or twenty-five large sand clams from their shells; if
large, cut each in two, lay them on a thickly-folded napkin; put a
pint bowl of wheat flour into a basin, add to it three well-beaten
eggs, half a pint of sweet milk and nearly as much of their own
liquor; beat the batter until it is smooth and perfectly free from
lumps, then stir in the clams. Put plenty of lard or beef fat into a
thick-bottomed frying pan, let it become boiling hot; put in the
batter by the spoonful; let them fry gently; when one side is a
delicate brown turn the other.


CLAM CHOWDER.

The materials needed are fifty round clams (quahogs), a large bowl of
salt pork cut up fine, the same of onions finely chopped, and the same
(or more, if you desire) of potatoes cut into eighths or sixteenths of
original size; wash the clams very thoroughly and put them in a pot
with half a pint of water; when the shells are open they are done;
then take them from the shells and chop fine, saving all the clam
water for the chowder; fry out the pork very gently, and when the
scraps are a good brown take them out and put in the chopped onions to
fry; they should be fried in a frying pan, and the chowder kettle be
made very clean before they are put in it, or the chowder will burn.
(The chief secret in chowder-making is to fry the onions so delicately
that they will be missing in the chowder.)

Add a quart of hot water to the onions; put in the clams, clam-water
and pork scraps. After it boils, add the potatoes, and when they are
cooked, the chowder is finished. Just before it is taken up, thicken
it with a cup of powdered crackers, and add a quart of fresh milk. If
too rich, add more water. No seasoning is needed but good black
pepper.

With the addition of six sliced tomatoes, or half a can of the canned
ones, this is the best recipe of this kind, and is served in many of
our best restaurants. _New Bedford Recipe_.


SCALLOPED CLAMS.

Purchase a dozen large soft clams in the shell and three dozen opened
clams. Ask the dealer to open the first dozen, care being used not to
injure the shells, which are to be used in cooking the clams. Clean
the shells well, and put two soft clams on each half shell; add to
each a dash of white pepper, and half a teaspoonful of minced celery.
Cut a slice of fat bacon into the smallest dice, add four of these to
each shell, strew over the top a thin layer of cracker dust; place a
piece of table butter on top, and bake in the oven until brown. They
are delightful when properly prepared.


SCALLOPS.

If bought in the shell boil them and take out the hearts, which is the
only part used. Dip them in beaten egg and fry in the same manner as
oysters.

Some prefer them stewed the same as oysters.


FROGS FRIED.

Frog are usually fried, and are considered a great delicacy. Only the
hind-legs and quarters are used. Clean them well, season, and fry in
egg batter, or dip in beaten egg and fine cracker crumbs, the same as
oysters.


FROGS STEWED.

Wash and skin the quarters, parboil them about three minutes, drain
them. Now put into a stewpan two ounces of butter. When it is melted,
lay in the frogs, and fry about two minutes, stirring them to prevent
burning; shake over them a tablespoonful of sifted flour and stir it
into them; add a sprig of parsley, a pinch of powdered summer savory,
a bay leaf, three slices of onion, salt and pepper, a cup of hot water
and one of cream. Boil gently until done; remove the legs, strain and
mix into the gravy the yolks of two eggs, well beaten to a cream; put
the legs in a suitable dish, pour over the gravy and serve.




POULTRY AND GAME


In choosing poultry, select those that are fresh and fat, and the
surest way to determine whether they are young is to try the skin
under the leg or wing. If it is easily broken, it is young; or, turn
the wing backwards, if the joint yields readily, it is tender. When
poultry is young the skin is thin and tender, the legs smooth, the
feet moist and limber, and the eyes full and bright. The body should
be thick and the breast fat. Old turkeys have long hairs, and the
flesh is purplish where it shows under the skin on the legs and back.
About March they deteriorate in quality.

Young ducks and geese are plump, with light, semi-transparent fat,
soft breast bone, tender flesh, leg-joints which will break by the
weight of the bird, fresh-colored and brittle beaks, and windpipes
that break when pressed between the thumb and forefinger. They are
best in fall and winter.

Young pigeons have light red flesh upon the breast, and full,
fresh-colored legs; when the legs are thin and the breast very dark
the birds are old.

Fine game birds are always heavy for their size; the flesh of the
breast is firm and plump and the skin clear; and if a few feathers be
plucked from the inside of the leg and around the vent, the flesh of
freshly-killed birds will be fat and fresh-colored; if it is dark and
discolored, the game has been hung a long time. The wings of good
ducks, geese, pheasants and woodcock are tender to the touch; the tips
of the long wing feathers of partridges are pointed in young birds and
round in old ones. Quail, snipe and small birds should have full,
tender breasts. Poultry should never be cooked until six or eight
hours after it has been killed, but it should be picked and drawn as
soon as possible. Plunge it in a pot of scalding hot water; then pluck
off the feathers, taking care not to tear the skin; when it is picked
clean, roll up a piece of white paper, set fire to it and singe off
all the hairs. The head, neck and feet should be cut off, and the
ends of the legs skewered to the body, and a string tied tightly
around the body. When roasting a chicken or small fowl there is danger
of the legs browning or becoming too hard to be eaten. To avoid this,
take strips of cloth, dip them into a little melted lard, or even just
rub them over with lard, and wind them around the legs. Remove them in
time to allow the legs to brown delicately.

Fowls, and also various kinds of game, when bought at our city
markets, require a more thorough cleansing than those sold in country
places, where as a general thing the meat is wholly dressed. In large
cities they lay for some length of time with the intestines undrawn,
until the flavor of them diffuses itself all through the meat,
rendering it distasteful. In this case, it is safe, after taking out
the intestines, to rinse out in several waters, and in next to the
last water, add a teaspoonful of baking soda, say to a quart of water.
This process neutralizes all sourness, and helps to destroy all
unpleasant taste in the meat.

Poultry may be baked so that its wings and legs are soft and tender,
by being placed in a deep roasting pan with close cover, thereby
retaining the aroma and essences by absorption while confined. These
pans are a recent innovation, and are made double with a small opening
in the top for giving vent to the accumulation of steam and gases when
required. Roast meats of any kind can also be cooked in the same
manner, and it is a great improvement on the old plan.


ROAST TURKEY.

Select a young turkey; remove all the feathers carefully, singe it
over a burning newspaper on the top of the stove; then "draw" it
nicely, being very careful not to break any of the internal organs;
remove the crop carefully; cut off the head, and tie the neck close to
the body by drawing the skin over it. Now rinse the inside of the
turkey out with several waters, and in the next to the last, mix a
teaspoonful of baking soda; oftentimes the inside of a fowl is very
sour, especially if it is not freshly killed. Soda, being cleansing,
acts as a corrective, and destroys that unpleasant taste which we
frequently experience in the dressing when fowls have been killed for
some time. Now, after washing, wipe the turkey dry, inside and out,
with a clean cloth, rub the inside with some salt, then stuff the
breast and body with "Dressing for Fowls." Then sew up the turkey
with a strong thread, tie the legs and wings to the body, rub it over
with a little soft butter, sprinkle over some salt and pepper, dredge
with a little flour; place it in a dripping-pan, pour in a cup of
boiling water, and set in the oven. Baste the turkey often, turning it
around occasionally so that every part will be uniformly baked. When
pierced with a fork and the liquid runs out perfectly clear, the bird
is done. If any part is likely to scorch, pin over it a piece of
buttered white paper. A fifteen pound turkey requires between three
and four hours to bake. Serve with cranberry sauce.

_Gravy for Turkey._--When you put the turkey in to roast, put the
neck, heart, liver and gizzard into a stewpan with a pint of water;
boil until they become quite tender; take them out of the water, chop
the heart and gizzard, mash the liver and throw away the neck; return
the chopped heart, gizzard and liver to the liquor in which they were
stewed; set it to one side, and when the turkey is done it should be
added to the gravy that dripped from the turkey, having first skimmed
off the fat from the surface of the dripping-pan; set it all over the
fire, boil three minutes and thicken with flour. It will not need
brown flour to color the gravy. The garnishes for turkey or chicken
are fried oysters, thin slices of ham, slices of lemon, fried
sausages, or force meat balls, also parsley.


DRESSING OR STUFFING FOR FOWLS.

For an eight or ten pound turkey, cut the brown crust from slices or
pieces of stale bread until you have as much as the inside of a pound
loaf; put it into a suitable dish and pour tepid water (not warm, for
that makes it heavy) over it; let it stand one minute, as it soaks
very quickly. Now take up a handful at a time and squeeze it hard and
dry with both hands, placing it, as you go along, in another dish;
this process makes it very light. When all is pressed dry, toss it all
up lightly through your fingers; now add pepper, salt--about a
teaspoonful--also a teaspoonful of powdered summer savory, the same
amount of sage, or the green herb minced fine; add half a cup of
melted butter, and a beaten egg, or not. Work thoroughly all together,
and it is ready for dressing either fowls, fish or meats. A little
chopped sausage in turkey dressing is considered by some an
improvement, when well incorporated with the other ingredients. For
geese and ducks the stuffing may be made the same as for turkey, with
the addition of a few slices of onion chopped fine.


OYSTER DRESSING OR STUFFING.

This is made with the same ingredients as the above, with the
exception of half a can of oysters drained and slightly chopped and
added to the rest. This is used mostly with boiled turkey and chicken,
and the remainder of the can of oysters used to make an oyster sauce
to be poured over the turkey when served; served generally in a
separate dish, to be dipped out as a person desires.