Shrimps

This is a cross-reference entry that turns into a working formula for scalloped shrimp in its last two sentences. The original assumes you have the book's lobster recipes and its fish tomato sauce in front of you, so the gaps are worth filling in.

• The hinge: shrimp are already cookedShrimp for scalloping would have been boiled and shelled before assembly, and the bake is only to heat through and brown the crumbs. A short bake in a hot oven is enough; a long bake turns them tough and squeaky.
• Oven temperature"Bake till brown" for a shallow crumbed dish implies a fairly hot oven; a modern equivalent of roughly 400F is a reasonable guess, though the original gives no figure. If the crumbs colour before the middle is hot, the dish was too deep or the filling too cold going in.
• Quantities to work fromFor 1 lb of cooked, peeled shrimp use about 1 cup of tomato sauce and 3/4 cup of fresh crumbs tossed with 2 tablespoons melted butter. That fills a 1-quart dish and serves three to four.
• Tomato saucePeriod fish tomato sauces were commonly a thin roux loosened with strained stewed tomato, often seasoned with onion, clove and a little sugar, though this book's version is not given here. A plain modern tomato sauce works, but keep it loose enough to pour, not a thick pasta sauce, or the layers will not settle.
• "Cut fine"This means chopped small, not minced to paste. Small shrimp can be left whole; large ones are better cut into two or three pieces so a spoonful holds together.
• Stewed wholeFor stewing, the instruction to leave them whole is sound, but shell them first unless you intend to serve a shell-on dish; shells in a cream stew are unpleasant to eat around.
• DevillingDevilled shellfish of this era generally relied on mustard and cayenne, often with a sharp bottled sauce, worked into a butter or cream base, then crumbed and browned. Season the mixture before it goes in the dish, since nothing sharpens once it is baked.