152 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



fire until they look like mushrooms, and give off a nasty 

 rancid smell. When they are eaten fresh, they are 

 taken with ginger and vinegar, and a sauce is made by 

 boiling down the water in which oysters have pre- 

 viously been boiled.* 



" Oyster Soup. — Take fifty oysters ; blanch them, but 

 do not let them boil ; strain through a sieve, and save 

 the liquor. Put a quarter of a pound of butter into 

 a stew-pan; when it is melted, add six ounces of flour; 

 stir it over the fire for a few minutes, add the liquor 

 from the oysters, two quarts of veal stock, one quart 

 of new milk ; season with salt, peppercorns, a little 

 cayenne pepper, a blade of mace, Harvey's sauce and 

 essence of anchovy, a tablespoonf ul of each ; strain it 

 through a tammy, let it boil ten minutes ; put the 

 oysters into the tureen, with a gill of cream, and pour 

 the boiling soup upon them.^f 



Gower Recipe for Oyster Soiqi. — Boil four sheep's 

 feet in two quarts of water, till reduced to one quart ; 

 it will then be a stiff jelly ; put in it, while boiling, a 

 small blade of mace ; take off the fat, and thicken it 

 with one and a half tablespoonfuls of ground rice ; add 

 from twenty to fifty oysters; boil it till thick enough, 

 and add a teacupf ul of cream. 



Ouster Soup is also particularly good when made 

 with a fish stock ; as, for instance, with equal quan- 

 tities of flounders, skate, and eels, or indeed with any 

 fish that is abundant, and not much in request for 

 other purposes. 



Oyster Soup. — Take four dozen o} 7 sters ; lay the fish 

 apart, and pass the liquor through a sieve, into a 



* ' Flight of the Lapwing.' f Murray's 'Modern Cookery.' 



