Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesLeslie, Eliza
General
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Leslie, Eliza
Cooking, American
Put two middle-sized lobsters into boiling salt and water. When they
are half boiled, take the meat from the shell, cut it into very small
pieces, and put it into a pie dish. Break up the shells, and stew them
in a very little water with half a dozen blades of mace and a
wine-glass of vinegar. Then strain off the liquid. Beat the coral in a
mortar, and thicken the liquid with it. Pour this into the dish of
lobster to make the gravy. Season it with cayenne, salt, and mushroom
catchup, and add bits of butter. Cover it with a lid of paste, made in
the proportion of half a pound of butter to a pound of flour, notched
handsomely, and ornamented with paste leaves. Do not send it to table
till it has cooled.
TO BOIL PRAWNS.
Throw a handful of salt into a pot of boiling water. When it boils very
hard, put in the prawns. Let them boil a quarter of an hour, and when
you take them out lay them on a sieve to drain, and then wipe them on a
dry cloth, and put them aside till quite cold.
Lay a handful of curled parsley in the middle of a dish. Put one prawn
on the top of it, and lay the others, all round, as close as you can,
with the tails outside. Garnish with parsley.
Eat them with salt, cayenne, sweet oil, mustard and vinegar, mixed
together as for lobsters.
CRABS
Crabs are boiled in the same manner, and in serving up may be arranged
like prawns.
HOT CRABS.
Having boiled the crabs, extract all the meat from the shell, cut it
fine, and season it to your taste with nutmeg, salt, and cayenne
pepper. Add a bit of butter, some grated bread crumbs, and sufficient
vinegar to moisten it. Fill the back-shells of the crab with the
mixture; set it before the fire, and brown it by holding a red-hot
shovel or a salamander a little above it.
Cover a large dish, with small slices of dry toast with the crust cut
off. Lay on each slice a shell filled with the crab. The shell of one
crab will contain the meat of two.
COLD CRABS.
Having taken all the meat out of the shells, make a dressing with sweet
oil, salt, cayenne pepper, mustard and vinegar, as for lobster. You may
add to it some hard-boiled yolk of egg, mashed in the oil. Put the
mixture into the back shells of the crabs, and serve it up. Garnish
with the small claws laid nicely round.
SOFT CRABS.
These crabs must be cooked directly, as they will not keep till next
day.
Remove the spongy substance from each side of the crab, and also the
little sand-bag. Put some lard into a pan, and when it is boiling hot,
fry the crabs in it. After you take them out, throw in a handful of
parsley, and let it crisp; but withdraw it before it loses its colour.
Strew it over the crabs when you dish them.
Make the gravy by adding cream or rich milk to the lard, with some
chopped parsley, pepper and salt. Let them all boil together for a few
minutes, and then serve it up in a sauce-boat.
TERRAPINS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account