Page:The White House Cook Book.djvu/96

 78 SHELL-FISH.

SMALL OYSTER PIES.

FOR each pie take a tin plate half the size of an ordinary dinner plate ; butter it, and cover the bottom with a puff paste, as for pies ; lay on it five or six select oysters, or enough to cover the bottom ; but- ter them and season with a little salt and plenty of pepper; spread over this an egg batter, and cover with a crust of the paste, making small openings in it with a fork. Bake in a hot oven fifteen to twenty minutes, or until the top is nicely browned.

Boston Oyster House - STEWED CLAMS.

WASH clean as many round clams as required ; pile them in a large iron pot, with half a cupful of hot water in the bottom, and put over the fire ; as soon as the shells open take out the clams, cut off the hard, uneatable "fringe" from each with strong, clean scissors, put them into a stewpan with the broth from the pot, and boil slowly till they are quite tender ; pepper well and thicken the gravy with flour stirred into melted butter.

Or, you may get two dozen freshly opened very small clams. Boil a pint of milk, a dash of white pepper and a small pat of butter. Now add the clams. Let them come to a boil and serve. Longer boiling will make the clams almost indigestible.

ROAST CLAMS IN THE SHELL.

ROAST in a pan over a hot fire, or in a hot oven, or, at a "Clam Bake," on hot stones; when they open, empty the juice into a sauce- pan ; add the clams, with butter, pepper and a very little salt.

RJH> Bench.

CLAM FRITTERS.

TAKE fifty small or twenty-five large sand clams from their shells ; if large, cut each in two, lay them on a thickly-folded napkin ; put a pint bowl of wheat flour into a basin, add to it three well-beaten eggs, half a pint of sweet milk and nearly as much of their own liquor ; beat the batter until it is smooth and perfectly free from lumps, then stir in the clams. Put plenty of lard or beef fat into a thick-bottomed frying pan, let it become boiling hot ; put in the batter by the spoon- ful ; let them fry gently ; when one side is a delicate brown turn the other.

�� �