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.
By : Thomas J. Murrey
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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.
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