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Groom
Fry one dozen Eastern oysters; beat four eggs, put in pan with oysters, and cook together; serve on buttered toast.
A three-line oyster omelet of the sort that turned up on late-supper and breakfast tables. The original assumes you know how to handle oysters; nearly all the risk here is overcooking them.
- The hinge: cook the oysters brieflyOysters firm up in about a minute per side in hot butter and turn rubbery beyond that. Sear them just until the edges ruffle, then add the eggs, which need only another minute or two over moderate heat.
- "Eastern oysters"Crassostrea virginica, the Atlantic and Gulf oyster, as distinct from the West Coast Olympia. A dozen shucked oysters is roughly a half-pint container, about 8 oz.
- Drain them firstShucked oysters carry a lot of liquor. Drain and pat dry or the pan will steam rather than fry and the eggs will go watery. Save the liquor for a sauce or chowder.
- "Fry" means pan-fry in butter"Fry" means pan-fry -- since the oysters go straight into beaten egg, no batter or crumb coating seems intended here, though "fried oysters" elsewhere in this period often did mean crumbed. A spoonful of butter in a skillet over fairly brisk heat suits the dish.
- SeasoningNone is given, as was common in short-form recipes. Salt, pepper and a little cayenne suit this; oysters are already saline, so salt the eggs rather than the oysters.
- YieldFour eggs and a dozen oysters serve two generously, or three at a light breakfast. Two rounds of buttered toast per person.
The Bride's Cook Book belongs to a genre of turn-of-the-century novelty cookbooks that paired very short, very manageable recipes with what seems to be a running joke about newlywed housekeeping, hence a dish called "Groom." The dish itself is an oyster omelet, a standard of American chafing-dish and late-supper cookery of the period, when barrelled Eastern oysters moved inland by rail and were cheap enough to be everyday food rather than a luxury. Recipes of this length assume a reader who already knows the technique and needs only the proportions, which is why the seasoning, the pan and the heat all go unmentioned.