The Big Oyster (10 page)

Take about a quart of oysters and take off ye black fins and wash 'em clean and blanch 'em and Drayn the liquor from them; then take a quarter of a pound of fresh butter and a minced anchovie and two spoonfulls of grated bread, and a spoonfull of minced Parsley, and a little grated Nutmeg, no salt (for ye anchovy is salt enough).

Squese these into a lump, then line your Patepan with good cold crust, but not flacky, and put to one half of your mix's, Butter and anchovie etc. at the bottom; then lay your oysters two or three thick at most; then put to 'em ye other half of ye mixed Butter and anchovie etc. and pick some grayns of Lemon on ye top (and youlks of hard egg if you like 'em).

Put in two or three spoonfulls of ye oyster liquor and close it with ye Crust which should be a good deal higher than ye oysters to keep in the liquor. Bake it, and when it comes out of the oven cut up the Lid, and have ready a little oyster Lyquor and lemon juice stew'd together, and pour it in and cut ye lidd in Pieces and lay round it.

The leading English cookbook of the eighteenth century,
The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy
by Hannah Glasse, was published in 1747 and also became the leading cookbook in the British colonies in America. One of the most influential cookbooks ever published, the book reflects a cuisine that used oysters, and almost everything else, extravagantly. There are ten oyster recipes, including a soup, a sauce, two ragouts, an oyster loaf, an oyster pie, and pickled oysters—all of which would have been found on eighteenth-century New York tables. The fact that the oyster loaves are simply an ornament to accompany an appetizer gives an idea of the quantity of food served in prosperous eighteenth-century homes.

   
To Roast a Leg of Lamb with Oysters

Take a Leg about two or three Days kill'd, stuff it all over with Oysters and roast it. Garnish with horse-raddish.

   
To Make Collups of Oysters

Put your Oysters into Scollop-shells for that purpose, set them on your Gridiron over a good clear Fire, let them stew till you think your Oysters are enough, then have ready some Crumbs of bread rubbed in a clean Napkin, fill your Shells, and set them before a good Fire, and baste them well with Butter. Let them be of a fine brown, keeping them turning, to be brown all over alike; but a Tin Oven does them best before the Fire. They eat much the best done this way, though most People stew the Oysters first in a Sauce-pan, with a Blade of Mace, thickened with a Piece of Butter, and fill the Shell, and then cover them with Crumbs, and brown them with a hot Iron—but the Bread has not the fine Taste of the former.

A tin oven, also called a Dutch oven, was a polished tin box into which the food was put. One end was open and this open side was placed close to a fire. Food would cook both from direct fire heat and the reflected heat of the polished tin. A back door permitted basting.

   
To Make Oyster-Loaves

Fry the French Roles as above [Take three French Roles, take out all the Crumb, by first a Piece of the Top-crust off; but be careful that the crust fits again the Same place. Fry the roles brown in fresh Butter] take half a Pint of Oysters, stew them in their own Liquor, then take out the Oysters with a Fork, strain the liquor to them, put them into a sauce-pan again, with a Glass of White Wine, a little beaten Mace, a little grated Nutmeg, a quarter of a Pound of Butter rolled in Flour, shake them well together, then put them into the roles; and these make a pretty side dish for a first Course. You may rub in the crumbs of two Roles, and toss up with the Oysters.

Probably the most common
fate of the eighteenth-century New York oyster was to be pickled. Peter Kalm found this recipe in New York City:

As soon as the oysters are caught, their shells are opened and the fish washed clean; some water is then poured into a pot, the oysters are put into it, and they are boiled for a while; the pot is then taken off the fire again and the oysters taken out and put upon a dish until they are almost dry. Then some nutmeg allspice and black pepper are added, and as much vinegar as is thought sufficient to give a sourish taste. All this is mixed with half the liquor in which the oysters are boiled, and put over the fire again. While boiling great care should be taken to skim off the thick scum. At last the whole pickling liquid is poured into a giant glass or earthen vessel, the oysters are put into it, and the vessel is well stopped to keep out the air. In this manner oysters will keep for years, and may be sent to the most distant parts of the world.

Kalm reported that oysters pickled by this recipe “have a very fine flavor.” His only complaint was that they could not be fried. Fried oysters were already a well-established New York passion. He suggested a second recipe for preserving oysters that was also used by New York merchants.

They are taken out of the shells, fried in butter, put into a glass or earthen vessel with melted butter over them, so that they are fully covered with it and no air can get to them. Oysters prepared in this manner have likewise an agreeable taste, and are exported to the West Indies and other parts.

The first recipe was a more typical way of preserving oysters. Pickling is an old technique used for fish, vegetables, and meat—a way of keeping food for long journeys. Oysters, though, could also be shipped live. Contrary to popular opinion, they are not fragile and in fact are far more durable than most other food. Their shell amounts to a thick, lime-rock encasement and they can live out of the water for a number of days. Sprinkled with oatmeal for nourishment, they can live even longer.

   
To Feed Oysters

Put them into water, and wash them with a birch besom till quite clean; then lay them bottom downwards into a pan, sprinkle with flour or oatmeal and salt, and cover with water. Do the same everyday, and they will fatten. The water should be pretty salty.

—MARIA ELIZA KETELBY RUNDELL,

The Experienced American Housekeeper or Domestic Cookery formed on Principles of Economy for the Use of Private Families,
1823

In Europe, the Dutch,
English, and others had gathered oysters by wading out in low tide and picking them up or by raking, a technique that works well for gathering lunch but becomes backbreaking when used to harvest large quantities for commerce. In New York, oysters were only occasionally found in water shallow enough so that they could be picked up. The Lenape showed the Europeans how to row out in ten or fifteen or more feet of water and use tongs, a rakelike tool with a long handle and two sets of teeth to grab the shells. When the floor of the skiff was filled, they would row back to shore and unload. In the eighteenth century, oystermen began using sail power, often in catboats, which have a single mast planted forward and a large open deck. A few were larger, with a cabin that slept two. But oyster beds are close to shore and there were no long trips at sea. Sail power allowed oystermen to harvest greater quantities of oysters and bring them to market inexpensively.

A question of considerable interest to New York merchants in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was how to convert the harbor's oyster beds into a profitable commodity of trade. Without refrigeration and given the traveling time of horses and sailing ships, this was a difficult problem, but it was the logical next challenge for a plentiful native New York product.

New York was rapidly becoming a leading North American port. After 1664, when British colonial government replaced the rule of the Dutch West India Company, New York's economy evolved from one based on hunting to one based on agriculture and fishing. In 1686, the last of the wolves in Manhattan, the only remaining feared predator, were killed. The flour barrel replaced the fur pelt as the most valued cargo, and remained so for more than one hundred years. In 1678, the colonial government required the sifting, “bolting,” of flour for export to be done at the port, thus facilitating inspection and quality control. As a result, port trade increased. In 1678, 3 ships, 8 sloops, and 7 boats came to New York. Only sixteen years later, 60 ships, 62 sloops, and 40 boats came. Between 1714 and 1717, an average of 64 ships cleared the port of New York in a year. By 1721, the average was 215 ships.