=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.
=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.