Broiled Oysters
1 pint selected oysters 1/4 cup melted butter 2/3 cup seasoned cracker crumbs Clean oysters and dry between towels. Lift with plated fork by the tough muscle and dip in butter, then in cracker crumbs which have been seasoned with salt and pepper. Place in a buttered wire broiler and broil over a clear fire until juices flow, turning while broiling. Serve with or without Maitre d'Hotel Butter.
Oysters and Macaroni 1 pint oysters 3/4 cup macaroni broken in 1 inch pieces Salt and pepper Flour 1/2 cup buttered crumbs 1/4 cup butter Cook macaroni in boiling salted water until soft; drain, and rinse with cold water. Put a layer in bottom of a buttered pudding-dish, cover with oysters, sprinkle with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and dot over with one-half of the butter; repeat, and cover with buttered crumbs. Bake twenty minutes in hot oven.
A straightforward treatment of shucked oysters: butter, crumbs, and fast dry heat. The whole thing hinges on stopping the moment the oysters plump and their liquor runs.
- TimingShucked oysters need roughly two to three minutes total under fierce heat, turning once. "Until juices flow" is the real signal — the edges ruffle and the flesh firms. Past that they shrink and turn rubbery.
- A clear fireThis means a bed of coals burned down past flame and smoke, so nothing sooty touches the food. A gas or charcoal grill at high heat, or a hot oven broiler with the rack near the element, does the same job.
- The wire broilerA hinged double-sided wire basket, buttered so the crumbs release. A fine-mesh grill basket is the modern equivalent; the point is that oysters are too soft and small to turn individually on bars.
- Selected oystersTrade language for a large grade of shucked oysters, sold by volume in their own liquor; 'select' generally sat below 'extra select' and 'counts' in the usual grading. A pint runs to roughly 16 to 24, depending on size — enough for two or three as a course.
- The tough muscleThe pale adductor muscle where the oyster attached to its shell. Lifting there keeps the soft body intact; "plated fork" simply means silver-plated, of no consequence now.
- Cracker crumbsCrushed plain soda or common crackers, not seasoned breadcrumbs. Saltines work; go lightly on added salt since the crackers and the oyster liquor both bring some.
- Maitre d'Hotel ButterSoftened butter worked with lemon juice, chopped parsley, salt and pepper, set firm and sliced over the hot oysters. It is worth making — the acid balances the butter-and-crumb richness.
- For the second recipeA 'hot oven' of the period is usually reckoned at somewhere around 400 to 450F, and the pudding-dish is any deep buttered baking dish. Buttered crumbs are breadcrumbs tossed with melted butter, in the region of a tablespoon per quarter cup.