Enquire within upon everything

Have ready also a vegetable marrow, or part of one, cut into bits, and sufficiently boiled to require little or no further cooking. Put this in with a tomato or two. These vegetables improve the flavour of the dish, but either or both of them may be omitted. Now put into the stewpan the oysters with their liquor, and the milk of the cocoa-nut, if it be perfectly sweet; stir them well with the former ingredients; let the curry stew gently for a few minutes, then throw in the strained juice of half a lemon. Stir the curry from time to time with a wooden spoon, and as soon as the oysters are done enough, serve it up with a corresponding dish of rice on the opposite side of the table. This dish is considered at Madras the ne plus ultra of Indian cookery. 1183. Fried Oysters. Large oysters are the best. Simmer for a minute or two in their own liquor; drain perfectly dry; dip in yolks of eggs, and then in bread-crumbs, seasoned with nutmeg, cayenne, and salt; fry them of a light brown. They are chiefly used as garnish for fish, or for rump steaks; but if intended to be eaten alone, make a little thick melted butter, moistened with the liquor of the oysters, and serve as sauce. 1184. Stewed Oysters. The beard or fringe is generally taken off. When this is done, set on the beards with the liquor of the oysters, and a little white gravy, rich, but unseasoned; having boiled for a few minutes, strain off the beards, put in the oysters, and thicken the gravy with flour and butter (an ounce of butter to half a pint of stew), a little salt, pepper, and nutmeg, or mace, a spoonful of ketchup, and three of cream; some prefer a little essence of anchovy to ketchup, others the juice of a lemon, others a glass of white wine; the flavour may be varied according to taste. Simmer till the stew is thick, and the oysters warmed through, but avoid letting them boil. Lay toasted sippets at the bottom of the dish and round the edges.