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Broiled Oysters
Take some fine large-sized oysters, lay them on a soft cloth to dry, pepper over, and then place them on a well buttered gridiron over a clear fire and leave till thoroughly hot. Lay them then on slices of well buttered toast cut rather thin and serve while hot.
Broiled Oysters, Breaded Take freshly opened oysters and an equal quantity of bread and cracker crumbs, flatten them on a well greased broiler and broil for two minutes on each side. Salt slightly and arrange on the toast, then lightly glaze them over with maitre d'hotel sauce and serve.
Broiled Oysters, in the Shell Put a couple of dozen large oysters on a gridiron over a moderate fire, with the flat shell uppermost; when done they will open. Keep the liquor in the shells and serve hot.
Three short methods, all built on the same principle: oysters need heat only long enough to firm and plump. The book assumes a coal grate and a gridiron; a broiler element or a grill does the same work.
- The hinge: two minutes, no moreThe hinge: brief cooking -- the book allows only two minutes a side for the breaded oysters. An oyster is done when its edges ruffle and it firms slightly. Held on the heat past that it tightens into rubber and weeps its liquor away. "Thoroughly hot" in the first method means hot through, not browned.
- Gridiron equivalentsA well-buttered gridiron over a clear fire is a hot grill grate or a broiler pan set close to the element; the shell method calls for a moderate fire, so less fierce heat. Preheat the grate before the oysters go on, or they stick and tear.
- Drying mattersLaying the shucked oysters on a cloth to dry, as the first method directs, is not fussiness: surface liquid steams instead of searing.
- "An equal quantity of bread and cracker crumbs"Most naturally read as a quantity of mixed bread and cracker crumbs equal to the oysters, pressed onto them. The book does not say which cracker is meant.
- Maitre d'hotel sauceConventionally butter creamed with chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper, softened rather than melted, which slips over the hot oysters and glazes them. A spoonful per serving is enough.
- Broiling in the shellFlat shell uppermost keeps the liquor in the deep cup. Set them level, on a bed of coarse salt or crumpled foil if the grate lets them rock, and take them off as soon as the shells gape rather than waiting for them to open wide.
- BuyingUse oysters from a reputable supplier, refrigerated and alive if in shell; discard any that are already gaping and do not close when tapped. Any shell that stays sealed after the others have opened should be discarded rather than pried.
- YieldSix to eight oysters per person as a first course, with one thin slice of buttered toast each.
The book dates from the era when New York ran on oysters, and a hotel menu could reasonably assume a cook had large oysters on hand at any hour. Broiling was the plainest of the hotel treatments, sitting alongside frying, panning, stewing and the more elaborate baked preparations, and the three variants given here run from the barest version through a breaded one to the shell method, which is essentially a grate-top version of the older practice of roasting oysters in their own shells over embers. The bed of buttered toast is a Victorian habit rather than a modern one, meant to catch the liquor that would otherwise be lost on the plate.