r cracker meal; as you lift each oyster from the sauce lay it on
the meal, turn it gently over in the meal, so that a light coat adheres,
and the sauce is by no means rubbed off. Place them on an oiled plate
where they will get quite cold, so that the sauce may chill and form a
whitish glaze under the crumbs. Beat two eggs with two tablespoonfuls of
water, and when free from strings dip each oyster in the egg, using a
small fork; let superfluous egg drip off for a moment, then lay the
oyster again on a deep bed of cracker crumbs, cover well, pat very
gently, and lay each as you do it on a dish sprinkled with them. Fry two
minutes in very hot deep fat, being careful the oysters do not touch
each other.

If I have made these directions as clear as I hope, it will be
understood that each oyster has a rich creamy coating under the crumbs,
and every effort must be made to avoid breaking the outer shell of egg
and crumb. For this reason the fat should be heated to 400 deg.. But
although great care in handling is necessary, they are not difficult to
succeed with when that care is given.

_Oyster Kabobs._--There are two ways of preparing these dainties, and I
give both. For those who cannot eat bacon the first will probably be
acceptable. For kabobs of any kind, silver or plated skewers are proper,
although very slender wooden ones may be used. Put in a stewpan a small
onion chopped _very fine_, a dessertspoonful of parsley, and a dozen
mushrooms, also chopped; let these fry one minute in a large
tablespoonful of butter, add a dessertspoonful (scant) of flour, stir
all together, then drop in as many fat oysters as are required; they
must have been blanched in their own liquor and the beards removed; stir
all round, and add three beaten yolks of eggs, one at a time, taking
care they do not curdle, but get just thick enough to cling round the
oyster. String six oysters on each little skewer, basting with the sauce
wherever it does not adhere; let each skewer cool, then roll the whole
in beaten eggs and abundant cracker meal, so that the skewer will seem
to be run through a sausage lengthwise. Fry two minutes in very hot deep
fat, serve on a napkin; allow one skewer to each person. Two minutes, if
the fat be sufficiently hot, will fry oysters a pale yellow-brown. They
should never take longer than this, for oysters harden and shrink if
overdone in the least. For this reason the use of a pyrometer, when
possible, saves mistakes an