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Oyster Broth in Cups
Open thirty-six large, fresh oysters; place them in a saucepan with their liquor and an extra pint oyster juice, adding a pint water, four branches cleaned white celery, and two branches well-washed parsley. Season with half teaspoon salt and two saltspoons cayenne pepper and let boil for five minutes. Skim the scum from the surface, remove the celery and parsley, strain the broth into six cups and serve. A very little butter and sweet cream can be added to each cup if desired. Place the thirty-six oysters in a bowl and keep in a cool place for to-morrow. N.B. Lay aside six of the deepest equal-sized shells for to-morrow.
A clear oyster essence rather than a stew — the oysters themselves are strained out, saved, and used the next day, which is the whole point of the instruction at the end. Read it as the first half of a two-day plan.
- The hinge: the oysters are the flavouring, not the dishFive minutes at a boil will firm the oysters considerably, which is acceptable only because they are being lifted out and reserved for a second preparation. If you want plump oysters in the cup, poach them separately for a minute or two and drop them in at the end.
- SaltspoonsA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon, so two saltspoons of cayenne is half a teaspoon in a little over two pints of liquid, plus whatever the oysters give up. That is a genuinely fierce broth by current tastes; a quarter teaspoon is plenty, and you can pass more at the table.
- The extra pint of oyster juiceBottled clam juice is the standard modern substitute; use a pint, and taste before adding the half teaspoon of salt, since bottled juice is already salted.
- Branches of celeryA branch is a rib, not a whole head. Four ribs with their leaves, plus two parsley stems, are removed before serving and are there for perfume only.
- SkimmingThe grey scum that rises is coagulated oyster protein. Take it off patiently and strain through a fine sieve or a cloth — grit from the shells settles out here, and a cloudy oyster broth looks unpleasant in a clear cup.
- Butter and creamAdd them off the heat, a teaspoon of each per cup at most. Boiling cream into salty oyster liquor will curdle it.
- Holding the oysters overnightCooked oysters and reserved shells both need the refrigerator at 40F or below in a covered container, not a cool larder. Use them the following day and no later.
- YieldSix cups, as stated: two pints of juice and water plus the oysters' own liquor, less what boils away, comes to something under a cup apiece.
Oyster broth belongs to the long American stretch when oysters were cheap protein rather than a luxury — Chesapeake and Long Island beds supplied cities by the barrel, and cookbooks of the period treat three dozen oysters as an unremarkable purchase. What marks this entry as a professional's recipe is its thrift: nothing is wasted, the oysters are banked for a second dish, and six matched deep shells are set aside, presumably because tomorrow's preparation is to be served in them. Serving clear soup in handled cups rather than plates was a fashion of the same period, associated with lighter, more informal service and with the bouillon cups that turn up in china catalogues of the era. The International Cook Book collects this kind of professional-kitchen economy alongside its foreign dishes, and the instruction to plan across two days is a reminder that these books were written for cooks running a household menu, not a single evening.