Part 30

FANCY ROAST OR PAN-BROILED OYSTERS

Eight oysters will be enough for one person. Drain the oysters on a cloth or napkin, making them as free from moisture as possible. Heat an omelet-pan, with a small piece of butter in it, very hot; then drop the oysters one by one into the pan, turning each before the next is put in. One should work quickly, otherwise the first will be overdone before the last is put in. When the pan is full, shake it a moment, lift it from the fire, and turn the oysters quickly into a square covered dish, with toast-points in the corners. Season them with salt, pepper, and a bit of butter, and serve them as quickly as convenient.

Each oyster should be cooked so quickly that its juices are shut into itself and do not ooze out into the pan. There is usually a very little juice with the butter, but if it is considerable, one may know that the oysters have not been cooked in a sufficiently high temperature. Oysters are very nice done in this way, but it takes a skilful worker to do them without letting the juice ooze out, or, on the other hand, over-cooking them. The toast-points are made by cutting small squares of bread diagonally across.

OYSTER BROTH

Chop a dozen oysters in a chopping-tray until they are quite fine. Turn them into a small saucepan with a cup of cold water, and let them slowly approach the boiling-point, and then simmer them for five minutes, the object being to get as much as possible of the flavor of the oysters into the water. Then strain out the oysters, season the liquor with a bit of salt, and serve.

A broth with milk may be made by putting in less water, and adding milk three or four minutes before the broth is taken from the fire.

OYSTERS COOKED IN A CHAFING-DISH

Chafing-dishes are generally made of silver, and are much used just at present for cooking oysters at the table. A chafing-dish consists of a covered dish resting in a frame, and heated from below with an alcohol lamp. It is brought to the table with the lamp lighted and the raw oysters ready to be cooked. Some member of the family takes it in charge, and the result is a much more satisfactory dish than could be otherwise obtained, for it requires intelligence and a cultivated taste to cook and season these delicious bivalves.

=Uses of the Chafing-dish.= It may be used for broth, stew, soup, and fancy roast, the treatment being exactly the same as with a saucepan or an omelet-pan on a stove.

EGGS

Eggs, next to milk, are the most valuable form of food for those who are very ill. They contain in excellent proportion most of the elements necessary to nourish the body; but being a concentrated form of food, it is well to associate with them milk or some other liquid, and such starchy foods as bread, potatoes, etc.

According to Lawes and Gilbert the composition of egg is as follows:

SHELL Carbonate of lime 10.00%

{ Nitrogenous matter 16.00% { Fatty matter 30.70% YOLK { Saline matter 1.30% { Water 52.00% ------- Total 100.00%

{ Nitrogenous matter 20.40% WHITE { Saline matter 1.60% { Water 78.00% ------- Total 100.00%

A large proportion of both yolk and white is albumen. It has been found by experiment (page 25) that when white of egg is subjected to a temperature of 134°-140° Fahr. little white threads appear in it; that if the temperature be increased to 160° Fahr., the whole mass becomes a white, but tender, easily divided substance; that if the heat be raised to 200° Fahr. it loses its tender, jelly-like consistency, and becomes firm and tenacious; and that with continued rise of temperature the toughness increases until at from 300°-350° Fahr. it becomes so hard that it is used as a cement for marble.

From these statements it will at once be inferred that the proper cooking temperature of eggs is not that of boiling water, but 52° lower. Eggs cooked the customary three minutes in boiling water will be overdone in the part nearest the shell, and not cooked at all in the center of the yolk, as three minutes is not long enough for the heat to penetrate to that point. The yolk, though not injurious in this condition, is not as palatable as when it is cooked. The condition of the white, however, is of grave importance, as even well persons are sometimes made ill by eating it.

It is generally agreed that although albumen will coagulate at a temperature somewhat lower than 160° Fahr., the degree of firmness obtained by exposing it to this temperature is the most desirable for food. Therefore we speak of 160° Fahr. as its cooking temperature. An egg cooked ideally would be subjected to that temperature for a sufficient time to allow the heat to penetrate and act upon all portions of it. The time required is half an hour. Cooked according to this method, the white would be opaque and firm, but tender and delicate, the yolk not liquid and lukewarm, but thick and almost firm. The flavor of both is delicious.

A knowledge of the proper temperature necessary to bring about this change is absolutely essential to any one who would cook eggs, and dishes which contain them, such as creams, puddings, etc., as they should be cooked. A great deal of the philosophy of cooking depends upon this knowledge, for nearly all kinds of meat, fish, oysters, milk, and other albuminous foods contain as one of their most valuable nutrients the substance known as albumen. When they are cooked with reference to this alone, we find that they are also done in the best-known way with reference to their other ingredients.

Practically with our present kitchen appliances it is exceedingly difficult to maintain for half an hour a steady temperature of 160°, but excellent results may be obtained by the following method.

SOFT-COOKED EGGS

Pour enough boiling water into a saucepan to more than cover whatever number of eggs are to be cooked; then put in the eggs, and let them stand for ten minutes on the hearth or any place where the water will not lose its warmth too quickly. Remember that it is the heat in the water which is to do the cooking. The saucepan should remain uncovered. Practically this is an excellent way to do, for the amount of heat in the water will not fall below 160° Fahr. in the ten minutes, and that time is sufficient for it to penetrate to the center of the egg. Moreover, if the egg be forgotten, and remains in the water for a longer time, it will not become hard unless the temperature of the water be raised.

Theoretically an egg should be cooked at 160° Fahr., but practically this would involve a considerable waste of time and necessitate the use of a thermometer. Almost the same result is obtained in an easy and convenient way by the above method, although it is not an exact one. The proportion of boiling water for each egg which will insure cooking in the time given is one pint, but somewhat less will do if many are to be cooked; for instance, eight eggs will do in six pints, as comparatively less heat is lost in warming the pan.

POACHED OR DROPPED EGGS

From a thin, even slice of home-made bread cut out a round piece with a biscuit-cutter; toast it a delicate brown.

Pour some boiling water into a small saucepan and salt it, using a saltspoon of salt to a cup of water; place it on the stove to boil. Break a fresh egg into a cup, and when the water is boiling slip it gently into the pan. At first the egg will cool the water below the boiling-point, but should the water again begin to boil, withdraw the pan to a cooler part of the stove. When the white is firm, or at the end of about two minutes, lift out the egg by means of two spoons or a skimmer (being careful not to break the yolk), and place it on the round of toast. The egg should not be trimmed. Season it with a speck of salt, a little pepper, and a bit of butter placed on the middle of the yolk. This is a dainty and easy way of preparing eggs for the sick, and one is always sure of the condition of the eggs, which is not the case when they are cooked in the shell.

A layer of minced ham or of minced chicken laid on the toast makes a palatable variation.

Egg-poachers, or little tin cups with perforated bottoms set in a frame, may be bought for poaching eggs, but in those that the author has seen the raw albumen runs into the little holes and makes it difficult to remove the egg after it is done without breaking it. Muffin-rings may also be used.