HOW TO COOK AND EAT OYSTERS. 301 



" Oyster and Parsnip Pie. Boil the parsnips tender and 

 cut them in slices, then line your dish with good paste, 

 and lay upon it some pieces of butter, then a layer of 

 parsnips, some spice, pepper, &c., then some oysters and 

 yolks of hard-boiled eggs, then more butter and spice, &c,, 

 then parsnips, then oysters, eggs, &c., until your dish is 

 filled. Put butter on the top of all, and cover it all with 

 paste ; bake half an hour or so, and when it comes out of 

 the oven, pour over it melted butter and juice of lemon, 

 and serve hot." 



" Pickled Oysters. Put two dozen of large oysters into a 

 stew-pan over a fire, with their liquor only, and boil them 

 five minutes ; then strain the liquor into another stew-pan, 

 and add to it a bay-leaf, a little cayenne pepper, salt, a 

 .gill and a half of vinegar, half a gill of ketchup, a blade of 

 mace, a few allspice, and a bit of lemon peel ; boil it till 

 three parts reduced, then beard and wash the oysters, put 

 them to the pickle, and boil them together two minutes. 

 When they are to be served up, place the oysters in rows, 

 and strain the liquor over them ; garnish the dish with 

 slices of lemon or barberries." (w] 



Glamorganshire way of Pickling Oysters. Beard them 

 nicely ; then slowly stew them in the liquor from their 

 shells, with a bay-leaf or two, and some whole black pep- 

 per ; a very small quantity of vinegar is then added, and 

 they are placed in stone jars, corked, and covered with 

 pitch. They are then ready for the London markets. 

 This oyster pickling may be s-een going on in almost every 

 cottage. The oysters when raw sell at i/- the hundred, 

 and when pickled at about 1/9, or even at z/-. 



(w) From an old Cookery Book. 



