Part 32 (1/2)

HOT LOBSTER.

271. INGREDIENTS.--1 lobster, 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, grated nutmeg; salt, pepper, and pounded mace, to taste; bread crumbs, 2 eggs.

_Mode_.--Pound the meat of the lobster to a smooth paste with the b.u.t.ter and seasoning, and add a few bread crumbs. Beat the eggs, and make the whole mixture into the form of a lobster; pound the sp.a.w.n, and sprinkle over it. Bake 1/4 hour, and just before serving, lay over it the tail and body sh.e.l.l, with the small claws underneath, to resemble a lobster.

_Time_.--1/4 hour. _Average cost_, 2s. 6d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

_Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons.

LOBSTER SALAD.

272. INGREDIENTS.--1 hen lobster, lettuces, endive, small salad (whatever is in season), a little chopped beetroot, 2 hard-boiled eggs, a few slices of cuc.u.mber. For dressing, equal quant.i.ties of oil and vinegar, 1 teaspoonful of made mustard, the yolks of 2 eggs; cayenne and salt to taste; 3 teaspoonful of anchovy sauce. These ingredients should be mixed perfectly smooth, and form a creamy-looking sauce.

_Mode_.--Wash the salad, and thoroughly dry it by shaking it in a cloth.

Cut up the lettuces and endive, pour the dressing on them, and lightly throw in the small salad. Mix all well together with the pickings from the body of the lobster; pick the meat from the sh.e.l.l, cut it up into nice square pieces, put half in the salad, the other half reserve for garnis.h.i.+ng. Separate the yolks from the whites of 2 hard-boiled eggs; chop the whites very fine, and rub the yolks through a sieve, and afterwards the coral from the inside. Arrange the salad lightly on a gla.s.s dish, and garnish, first with a row of sliced cuc.u.mber, then with the pieces of lobster, the yolks and whites of the eggs, coral, and beetroot placed alternately, and arranged in small separate bunches, so that the colours contrast nicely.

_Average cost_, 3s. 6d. _Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons.

_Seasonable_ from April to October; may be had all the year, but salad is scarce and expensive in winter.

_Note_.--A few crayfish make a pretty garnis.h.i.+ng to lobster salad.

THE Sh.e.l.l OF THE LOBSTER.--Like the others of its tribe, the lobster annually casts its sh.e.l.l. Previously to its throwing off the old one, it appears sick, languid, and restless, but in the course of a few days it is entirely invested in its new coat of armour. Whilst it is in a defenceless state, however, it seeks some lonely place, where it may lie undisturbed, and escape the horrid fate of being devoured by some of its own species who have the advantage of still being encased in their mail.

LOBSTER (a la Mode Francaise).

273. INGREDIENTS.--1 lobster, 4 tablespoonfuls of white stock, 2 tablespoonfuls of cream, pounded mace, and cayenne to taste; bread crumbs.

_Mode_.--Pick the meat from the sh.e.l.l, and cut it up into small square pieces; put the stock, cream, and seasoning into a stewpan, add the lobster, and let it simmer gently for 6 minutes. Serve it in the sh.e.l.l, which must be nicely cleaned, and have a border of puff-paste; cover it with bread crumbs, place small pieces of b.u.t.ter over, and brown before the fire, or with a salamander.

_Time_.--1/4 hour. _Average cost_, 2s. 6d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

CELERITY OF THE LOBSTER.--In its element, the lobster is able to run with great speed upon its legs, or small claws, and, if alarmed, to spring, tail foremost, to a considerable distance, ”even,” it is said, ”with the swiftness of a bird flying.”

Fishermen have seen some of them pa.s.s about thirty feet with a wonderful degree of swiftness. When frightened, they will take their spring, and, like a chamois of the Alps, plant themselves upon the very spot upon which they designed to hold themselves.

LOBSTER CURRY (an Entree).

274. INGREDIENTS.--1 lobster, 2 onions, 1 oz. b.u.t.ter, 1 tablespoonful of curry-powder, 1/2 pint of medium stock, No. 105, the juice of 1/2 lemon.

_Mode_.--Pick the meat from the sh.e.l.l, and cut it into nice square pieces; fry the onions of a pale brown in the b.u.t.ter, stir in the curry-powder and stock, and simmer till it thickens, when put in the lobster; stew the whole slowly for 1/2 hour, and stir occasionally; and just before sending to table, put in the lemon-juice. Serve boiled rice with it, the same as for other curries.

_Time_.--Altogether, 3/4 hour. _Average cost_, 3s.

_Seasonable_ at any time.