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Oyster Soup (Empty the oysters into)
Empty the oysters into a colander and drain off all the liquor; then strain the liquor through a very coarse cloth to rid it of all scum, etc. To a whole can of oysters take a quart of milk.
Put the milk, oyster liquor, one level tablespoonful flour rubbed very smooth with one heaping tablespoonful of butter, one tablespoonful salt, one-half teaspoonful pepper, all on the fire together in a farina-boiler (or put a skillet one-third filled with boiling water under the saucepan, to prevent the milk burning). When it comes to a boil, put in the oysters and let them stew for twenty minutes or till the gill of the oyster turns and begins to ruffle and crimp at the edge. Serve immediately, for if they are cooked too long, they become hard, dark and tasteless. If you put the salt in last, it will not curdle the soup. Some add one level teaspoonful whole cloves and same of mace, tied up in a net bag, but they are little improvement.--Mrs. R.
A plain milk-and-oyster stew that hinges on one thing: the oysters go in at the very end and come out as soon as their edges curl. The recipe contradicts itself on this point, and the second half is the half to follow.
- Twenty minutes is wrongOysters are done when the frill of the mantle ruffles, which takes two to three minutes in barely simmering milk. The text says so itself in the next sentence — "if they are cooked too long, they become hard, dark and tasteless." Cook to the sign, not the clock.
- "The gill of the oyster"In period cookery writing "gill" is used loosely for the frilled rim of the oyster (gills and mantle edge together), which is what the recipe describes as ruffling and crimping. When that rim lifts and crimps, the oyster is done.
- A farina-boilerA double boiler. The alternative given — a skillet of boiling water under the saucepan — is an improvised bain-marie and works the same way. Any heavy saucepan over low heat will do if you stir and never let the milk reach a rolling boil.
- A whole can of oystersCanned and "cove" oysters were sold in several sizes, so the quantity intended here is uncertain. Against the quart of milk, a pint of fresh shucked oysters with their liquor (or two 8 oz containers from the fish counter) gives a workable proportion.
- The saltA full tablespoon is far too much for a quart of milk plus the oyster liquor by modern palates, particularly since oyster liquor is already saline. Start with a teaspoon and correct at the end. The advice to add it last is sound -- salt added early to hot milk encourages curdling.
- Strain the liquorThe coarse cloth catches grit and shell fragments, which are the usual reason a homemade oyster soup feels sandy. Do not skip it, and pour carefully so the sediment stays behind in the bowl.
- ThickeningOne tablespoon of flour worked into butter and stirred into a quart of milk gives a very thin liaison — this is a soup, not a chowder. Rub them to a smooth paste and whisk in cold or the flour will lump.
- YieldAbout a quart and a half, serving four. Serve at once; reheating toughens the oysters as surely as overcooking does.
Oyster soup and oyster stew were common food around the Chesapeake rather than special-occasion cooking, and Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879) carries several versions contributed by different women -- this one signed simply "Mrs. R." The can helps place it: by the 1870s Baltimore was a major center of oyster packing, and canned and "cove" oysters shipped inland to households that had never seen tidewater. Stewing oysters in milk was common in the North and Mid-Atlantic, in contrast to older English recipes that stewed them in their own liquor with wine and spice; the optional bag of cloves and mace may be a remnant of that older style, though the writer's dismissal of it as "little improvement" is one cook's opinion and not evidence of a general shift.