Crab Cakes For Breakfast. (Very Nice.)

Take the crab after it is picked and season it high with red pepper and salt. Then add butter, and make them in round cakes, using a little flour to hold them together. Then dip them in egg and cracker beaten fine. Fry in hot butter or lard.

Boiled Crabs

Put the crabs in a large kettle with about one quart hot salted water to a kettle full of crabs and let them steam twenty minutes. Put a cover over the kettle and on it a weight, in order that the steam may not escape. Then take them out, wipe them clean, and if the backs can be easily removed, they are done; if not, steam them longer. Then take off the small claws, the backs, and all between the backs and the inner shell, and throw them away. The large claws may be cracked and sent to the table with the rest of the crab when picked.

Soft Crabs

Take off the small claws, wash, wipe and open the crabs, and after removing the spongy part and the sand-bag, season in and outside with salt and pepper. Then close them and fry in fresh butter a light brown on both sides.

Fricasseed Oysters

Drain one quart of oysters. Heat and strain the liquor, thickening it with corn starch to the consistency of drawn butter. After it has boiled up once add the oysters, and cook them for three minutes. Then take them off the fire, add the juice of half a lemon, a little nutmeg, a lump of butter the size of an egg, and the yolk of one egg stirred in last of all. Eat it while hot.

Fricasseed Oysters

Strain one and a half quarts of oysters, and boil the liquor with a little parsley, and, if you like, a little onion, pepper and salt. Put in the oysters and let them come to a boil. Mix one tablespoonful of butter, with half a spoonful of flour, and stir it in to thicken it. Boil half a pint of milk with the yolk of one or two raw eggs. Put the milk when boiled into the tureen and pour the oysters in.

Pickled Oysters

Scald the oysters in their own liquor until plump. Then take them out, lay them on a dish, and cover with a cloth two or three double. Strain the liquor through a coarse cloth, then boil it. Season with whole black pepper, salt and a few pieces of mace. When cold add a glass of wine and one of vinegar to every gallon of liquor. Then add the oysters.

Fried Oysters

Take fine large oysters and drain them well. To one quart have ready three eggs well beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper. Dip the oysters in the eggs, then in pounded cracker until well covered. Have the lard boiling, put in the oysters and be careful not to burn them. Serve on a flat dish. Garnish with slices of lemon. Do not pound cracker too fine.

Devilled Crabs

Have the crabs nicely picked and see that none of the shell is left in them. Then chop them fine and to two dozen crabs, allow one pound of butter, a little cayenne pepper and salt. Have the shells clean and nice, and add a small lump of butter to each one. Fill them with the seasoned crabs, and sprinkle them with a little powdered cracker. Put them in the oven and let them remain until they are a light brown. They may be eaten either hot or cold. 5

Soft Shell Crabs

Soft crabs are nothing more than hard crabs after shedding their shells. They merely get too large for their shells and slip out. Yet they taste very differently. In twenty-four hours they are hard again; this accounts for the short supply.

How To Cook Soft Shell Crabs

Take the shell and remove all the spongy substance on both sides; remove the apron or a small loose shell rising to a point in the middle of the under shell; wash them nicely. I think it safest and best to remove all the fat as it is so delicate it sours in cooking. Fry in butter, adding little salt and cayenne pepper. I prefer them without the backs, but most people do not.

Crab Croquettes

Pick the meat carefully and chop fine, leaving out the fat. Season with cayenne pepper and salt, and to a dozen croquettes a large iron spoon of butter, a little rich cream; add two well-beaten eggs. Mix all up. Make in forms of croquettes and dip in cracker and egg, and boil in very hot lard. Everything is better boiled than fried in lard. It is best to use a wire frying-basket, so they will not break up.