Oyster Stew

A plain milk-and-butter oyster stew of the sort that filled the supper column of nearly every American menu book. The whole dish stands or falls on how briefly the oysters are heated.

• Pull them the moment they curlShucked oysters need about two minutes in hot liquid; the ruffled edge drawing up is the signal to stop. Anything past that and they tighten into rubber and leak their liquor into the broth.
• A quart of oystersA quart of shucked oysters with their liquor, as sold in tubs at a fish counter — roughly 2 lb; the count varies with grade, so a quart may hold anywhere from about forty to seventy oysters. Note that the recipe lists the cup of liquor separately from the quart. Buy them refrigerated and use them the day you open the container.
• Oyster liquorThe cloudy juice packed with the oysters. A quart tub usually yields close to the cup called for; if it falls short, make up the difference with water rather than bottled clam juice, which will overwhelm the milk.
• StrainingHeating the liquor before straining is deliberate: heat coagulates the albumin in the liquor, which then carries the fine grit and shell fragments out with it in the sieve. Line the strainer with a layer of muslin or a coffee filter for the last of it.
• Rolled crackerSoda or oyster crackers crushed to crumbs with a rolling pin, used as a light thickener. A tablespoon barely bodies the broth; it is not meant to make a chowder.
• Scalded milk or creamScalding means heating to just below the boil, until a rim of bubbles forms at the edge of the pan. Add it off the heat and serve at once; returning the pot to a boil risks curdling the milk against the salty oyster liquor and will toughen the oysters a second time.
• SeasoningHalf a teaspoon of salt is modest for this quantity. Taste after the milk goes in, since oyster liquor varies a great deal in saltiness.
• ServingSix portions, as the recipe states. Ladle over a few whole oyster crackers in warmed bowls.