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Escalloped Oysters
Dip oysters in corn meal; put back in shell, pour a little drawn butter over them, and lay a small strip of bacon on top of each oyster. Bake three minutes, and serve in shell.
A two-line recipe that assumes a great deal: a hot oven, deep shells, and the cook's own judgement about when an oyster is done. The written three minutes is the part that needs the most attention.
- The hinge: donenessAn oyster is cooked when its edges ruffle and it plumps, which at 450F takes roughly five to eight minutes in the shell. Past that it tightens into rubber, so watch the edges rather than the clock.
- The bacon will not cook in three minutesA raw strip laid on top and baked for the stated time comes out pale and flabby, and pork that has barely warmed through is not something to serve. Render the bacon most of the way in a skillet first, then lay the half-cooked strip over the oyster so the two finish together.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given. Treat it as a hot oven, around 450F, or run them under a broiler a few inches from the element.
- Drawn butterUsage varies. In American books of this period drawn butter frequently means a thin flour-and-butter sauce let down with water, while other writers use it simply for melted butter. Melted butter is the simpler reading for this dish.
- CornmealIndian meal or plain fine cornmeal, not a self-rising or seasoned coating mix. Drain the oysters well before dipping or the meal turns to paste; you want a light dusting, not a crust.
- The shellsUse the deep half of the shell, and steady them on a bed of coarse salt or crumpled foil in the pan so the butter and liquor do not run out. Shells from shucked oysters should be scrubbed and rinsed before reuse.
- "Escalloped" hereThis is not the breadcrumb casserole the name usually signals now. Escalloped in the older sense simply means served in the scallop-shaped shell, one oyster to a shell.
- YieldFigure four to six oysters a person as a first course. A quart of shucked oysters runs to roughly two dozen, depending on size.
Escalloped originally described the vessel rather than the method: food baked and served in a shell, or in a shell-shaped dish, a usage that predates the crumb-topped casserole sense familiar in American kitchens. This version, oyster and bacon under quick heat, belongs to the same family as the English savoury angels on horseback. Oysters were cheap and abundant in this period, moving inland by rail in barrels, and were expected at tables that wanted to look hospitable. The brevity of the instruction is itself a period detail: books of this kind were written for cooks who had watched the work done and needed only a reminder of the order of operations.