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Oyster Forcemeat
Chop fine one dozen oysters and add to them one large pint of stale bread crumbs; three tablespoons of butter; one tablespoon of salt; one-eighth tablespoon of cayenne; one teaspoon of minced parsley; one tablespoon of lemon juice; three of oyster juice; the yolks of two raw eggs and a grating of nutmeg; pound to a smooth paste and rub through a purée sieve; add more salt if necessary. This is a fine forcemeat for timbales, or for stuffing poultry or fish. It may also be made into balls dipped in beaten egg yolks, then in bread crumbs and fried, or rolled into very small balls; dipped in egg yolks, then in bread crumbs and fried; or rolled into very small balls, dipped in egg yolks and browned in the oven to use in soups.
A classic quenelle-style forcemeat, thickened with crumbs rather than cream, meant to be poached in timbale moulds, fried as croquettes, or rolled into pea-sized balls as a soup garnish. Two of the measurements need judgment before you begin.
- The salt is almost certainly a misprintA tablespoon of salt against a pint of crumbs and a dozen oysters is roughly four times what the mixture will carry, before you account for the salinity of the oyster liquor. Read it as a teaspoon, season at the end, and taste a poached teaspoonful rather than trusting the page.
- "One-eighth tablespoon" of cayenneAn odd unit even for the period; it works out to a scant half teaspoon, which is still assertive. Start with an eighth of a teaspoon and adjust.
- A large pint of stale bread crumbsThis means soft crumbs torn or grated from day-old crumb, loosely filling a pint measure, not dry commercial crumbs. Around 2 to 2 1/2 cups, weighing perhaps 3 oz. Packaged dried crumbs will absorb far more liquid and give you a dense paste.
- Oysters and their liquorA dozen shucked oysters, drained, gives roughly 1 cup. Save the liquor for the three tablespoons called for, and strain it through a fine sieve to catch shell grit.
- Pound and sieveThe mortar and the purée sieve exist to get an absolutely smooth paste. A food processor does the work in under a minute; passing the result through a drum sieve or fine-mesh strainer afterwards is still worth it if the forcemeat is going into timbales, where texture is the whole point.
- Raw yolks bind, they do not stay rawThe yolks set during poaching, frying or baking. Every use given here cooks the mixture through, so treat it as a batter and cook it promptly rather than holding it warm.
- Cooking the formsTimbales: buttered moulds in a water bath at 325F until just set, about 25 to 30 minutes. Croquettes: fry at 360 to 375F until deep gold, 2 to 3 minutes. The tiny soup balls: a hot oven, about 400F, for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once.
- YieldRoughly 2 1/2 to 3 cups of forcemeat, enough for six small timbales, stuffing for a 3 to 4 lb fish, or several dozen garnish balls.
Forcemeat comes from the French farce, a seasoned pounded stuffing, and by the turn of the twentieth century American cookbooks used the word for anything from a bird's stuffing to the delicate quenelle garnishes that gave a clear soup its finish. Oysters carried the flavor here because they were still cheap and everywhere in the eastern United States, sold by the quart from barrels and turning up in soups, patties, stuffings and sauces in a way that reads as luxury now and read as thrift then. The Butterick Publishing Company, better known for dress patterns and The Delineator, issued this book as part of a broad early-1900s trade in household manuals aimed at the woman running a home without a trained cook.