To ragoo Oysters.
TAKE a quart of the largest oysters you can get, open them, save
the liquor, and strain it through a fine sieve; wash your oysters in
warm water, make a batter thus: Take two yolks of eggs, beat
them well, grate in half a nutmeg, stir a little lemon-peel small,
a good deal of parsley, a spoonful of the juice of spinach, two
spoonfuls of cream or milk, beat it up with flour to a thick batter,
have ready some butter in a stew-pan, dip your oysters one by one
into the batter, and have ready crumbs of bread, then roll them
in it, and fry them quick and brown; some with the crumbs of
bread, and some without. Take them out of the pan, and set them
before the fire, then have ready a quart of chesnuts shelled and
skinned, fry them in the butter; when they are enough take them
up, pour the fat out of the pan, shake a little flour all over the pan,
and rub a piece of butter as big as a hen's egg all over the pan
with your spoon till it is melted and thick; then put in the oyster
liquor, three or four blades of mace, stir it round, put in a few
pistachio-nuts shelled, let them boil, then put in the chesnuts, and
half a pint of white wine, have ready the yolks of two eggs beat
up with two spoonfuls of cream; stir all well together, when it is
thick and fine, lay the oysters in the dish, and pour the ragoo over
them. Garnish with chesnuts and lemon.
You may ragoo mussels the same way. You may leave out the
pistachio-nuts, if you don't like them; but they give the sauce a
fine flavour.