Lobster pot

“ It's haulin' up lobster pots from the bottom of the ocean and decoratin' 'em inside with fish—ripe fish, at that. The scheme is to lure the lobsters into the pot. Seems to work too; but I guess a lobster ain't got any sense of smell.
"Better put on some old clothes fust," advised Eb, and as I always like to dress the part I borrows a moldy suit of oilskins from Ira, includin' one of these yellow sea bonnets, and climbs aboard. ”

“ But the smaller one is chiefly employed as a kind of anchor, by means of which the animal can cling to the weeds or rocks at the bottom of the sea.
Lobsters are caught in pots made of basketwork, just as crabs are. But they are not nearly so dainty as crabs, and do not mind whether the bait is fresh or putrid. They are always very much attracted, too, by any object that glitters, and many a lobster has been lured to its death merely by one or two oyster-shells hung up inside the pot in such a manner as to show the shining pearly interior. ”

“ In entering, after first reconnoitering around and over the pot, the lobster always backs in, primarily that he may be prepared to meet any foe following him, also because his large claws would be apt to catch in the net funnel should he enter head first. After discovering that he is imprisoned, which he does very speedily, he seems to lose all desire for the bait, and spends his time roaming around the pot hunting for a means of escape. ”

“ When the last pot is hauled the anchor is far enough away to hold the boat in position. The pots are set at distances from the shore ranging from 100 yards to 5 or 6 miles. This method of setting pots was first used about the year 1865 in Sagadahoc County. The traps are set in from 3 to 10 fathoms in the warm season.
In winter fishing the pots are generally set singly, as the lobsters are more scattered then and the best results are attained by shifting the position of the pots slightly each time they are fished. ”

“ It struck her as decidedly uncommon to be lectured on the error of jumping to conclusions by a distinguished Southern United States attorney baled up in a rubber suit with a freshly painted hood while tearing miles and miles to sea in quest of lobster. She could not understand why it was necessary to burn so much gasoline in pursuit of this most edible scavenger, and presently said so.
“Why are we going so far?” she inquired. “We've been passing lobster pots ever since we left.”
“Ah, Miss Kath'rine,” said Timothy, “but we're not after the common, ordinary little ol' lobster. ”

“ Sauté the onion in the butter, and to this add the flour, salt, Cayenne pepper, paprika, pepper, lemon juice, and parsley. Mix well and add the milk. When the whole has cooked until it is thick, add the lobster. Pour the mixture into the clean shell of the lobster, sprinkle with cracker crumbs, and place in the oven long enough to brown the crumbs. Remove from the oven, place on a serving dish, garnish with the claws and tail of the lobster, if desired, and serve at once. ”

“ Let it gradually come to a boil, and skim very carefully; keep it gently simmering, and on no account let it boil fast, as the fish would have a very unsightly appearance. When the meat separates easily from the bone, it is done; then take it out, let it drain well, and dish it on a hot napkin. Rub a little lobster spawn through a sieve, sprinkle it over the fish, and garnish with tufts of parsley and cut lemon. Lobster or shrimp sauce, and plain melted butter, should be sent to table with it. ”

“ Very large lobsters are not the best, the meat being coarse and tough.
STEWED LOBSTER.
Having boiled the lobster, extract the meat from the shell, and cut it into very small pieces. Season it with a powdered nutmeg, a few blades of mace, and cayenne and salt to your taste. Mix with it a quarter of a pound of fresh butter cut small, and two glasses of white wine or of vinegar. Put it into a stew-pan, and set it on hot coals. Stew it about twenty minutes, keeping the pan closely covered lest the flavour should evaporate. Serve it up hot. ”

“ Put the oysters, salt, pepper, and onion juice into the thickened cream, and serve.
If milk be used, add a tablespoonful of butter to the thickened milk.
Lobster. Lobster should be perfectly fresh. If it be cooked, the odor should be fresh and the shells look bright, and when the tail is drawn back it should spring into position again. If the lobster be bought alive, see that it moves lively. To boil it, plunge it into boiling water and cook gently from ten to twenty minutes. A very small lobster will cook in ten minutes and a large one in twenty. ”

“ Be careful not to put in too much oil, as shell-fish absorbs the sharpness of the vinegar. Serve it up in a dish, not in a bowl.
LOBSTER SAUCE. Pound the spawn with two anchovies, pour on two spoonfuls of gravy, and strain all into some melted butter. Then put in the meat of the lobster, give it all one boil, and add the squeeze of a lemon. Or leave out the anchovies and gravy, and do it as above, either with or without salt and ketchup, as may be most approved. Many persons prefer the flavour of the lobster and salt only. ”

“ Chop one onion, one bay leaf, thyme, red pepper, garlic, parsley; melt one tablespoon butter and cook the above chopped herbs until yellow; thicken with flour, add enough water to make plenty of sauce, pepper, and salt. Place lobster in this; cook twenty minutes. Serve on large platter, very hot.
Mrs. L. S. Firetag
LOBSTER À LA NEWBURG
Three lobsters, one-half cup sherry, one cup of cream, one tablespoonful butter, yolks of three eggs. Boil live lobsters twenty minutes in salt water; when cool pick out the meat, put it in the wine and butter, and let cook three minutes, always stirring ”

“ The first essential condition is that the lobster should be alive. Sever and slightly crush the claws, with the view of withdrawing their meat after cooking; cut the tail into sections; split the carapace in two lengthwise, and remove the queen (a little bag near the head containing some gravel) . Put aside, on a plate, the intestines and the coral, which will be used in the finishing of the sauce, and season the pieces of lobster with salt and pepper.
Put these pieces into a sautépan containing one-sixth pint of oil and one oz. of butter, both very hot. ”

“ They may be brushed with clarified butter before the coral is strewed over them, but they scarcely need it. A fierce degree of heat will destroy the excellence of all these preparations.
BOUDINETTES OF LOBSTERS, PRAWNS, OR SHRIMPS. (ENTRÉE) .
(Author’s Receipt.) When the fish has been prepared as above, mould it in as many very small round cups as will suffice for a dish; heat them gently through at the mouth of the oven or before the fire, and serve them dry, or with a little rich white sauce, coloured with lobster-coral poured round, but not upon them. ”

“ They will throw up a great deal of scum, which must be taken off. Wipe the lobster with a damp cloth, rub a piece of butter over, then wipe it with a dry cloth. Take off the large claws, and crack them; split down the tail, and place the whole neatly in a dish. A very nice sauce, as follows: boil hard 2 eggs, pound the yolk in a mortar, with a little vinegar, and the spawn of the lobster, make it quite smooth, add a large spoonful of salad oil, 3 spoonsful of good vinegar, a tea-spoonful of made mustard, and a little cayenne and salt. ”

“ Put the fish into a piece of cheese-cloth, let cold water run over it, and squeeze dry. Mix ingredients all together. Take a little flour in the hand and roll half a tablespoonful of the mixture between the palms, to the size of a small peach. Fry in deep fat.
To Boil a Lobster
Have a large kettle on the fire with plenty of boiling water, deep enough to cover the lobster well. Put into this one cupful of salt, if you cannot get the sea-water. When the water is galloping, put in the lobster, head foremost, and keep it under water. ”

“ It should be quite half an hour in coming to a boil, scum well, then draw the kettle to the side, and if a fish of 10 lbs. weight (larger are not so good) , let it simmer 30 minutes, but if it do not simmer gently the fish will be spoiled and the skin cracked. When done, garnish with slices of lemon, scraped horse-radish, parsley, barberries, whole capers, or the pea of a lobster, forced through a sieve. A very few smelts or sprats fried, laid round the turbot. Lobster sauce is most esteemed, but shrimp or anchovy sauce answer very well. ”

“ Drop the mixture from a tablespoon into hot fat, and fry until an amber color.
SCALLOPS
Scallops are dried with a napkin, then rolled in cracker dust, then in egg and crumbs, and immersed in hot fat for a minute, or just long enough to take a light color. Mix salt and pepper with the crumbs.
LOBSTERS
Lobsters are in season from March to November. They are in the market all the year, but during the off months they are light and stringy. Their size increases with their age; therefore a small, heavy lobster is better than a large one. ”

“ You must first prepare a paste of salt, dry mustard, curry powder, black pepper, and salad oil. Spread it over the lobster, then melt an ounce of butter in a fire-proof dish, put in the fish, and heat it well through, browning the top. If you are using fresh lobster, it will require fully ten minutes in cooking.
Tinned salmon, or the remains of a tinned tongue, may be used in the same manner, and so may the Australian beef.
The remains of a cold roast duck are suitable for a most excellent devil. To make it you must remove the bones and cut the meat into rather small pieces, but not too small. ”

“ Put a crouton of fried bread on an oval dish and cover it with a forcemeat of fish, and on this place the whole lobster, cover it with buttered paper, and put it in a moderate oven just long enough to cook the forcemeat. Then make some quenelles of anchovy butter, olives, and button mushrooms, mix them with Italian sauce (No. 6) , and garnish the dish with them, and round the crouton arrange the fillets of lobster with a garnish of slices of truffle. Add a dessert-spoonful of crayfish butter and a good squeeze of lemon juice to the sauce, and serve. ”

“ Alive, they are mottled bluish-green in color, but upon being cooked they change to bright red. As soon as they are caught, many of them are packed in ice and shipped alive to various points, while others are plunged immediately into boiling water and sold cooked. A live lobster ready for cooking is shown in Fig. 31. Lobsters vary greatly in size. Only those 9 inches or more in length can be sold, the smaller ones being thrown back into the water. When they are purchased either raw or cooked, they should be heavy for their size ”

“ Break up two small live lobsters or one medium-sized one, and prepare it à l’Américaine (see “Lobster à l’Américaine”) . Reserve a few slices of the meat for garnishing purposes. Finely pound the rest with the shell; combine the purée with one quart of ordinary velouté prepared beforehand, and add the lobster sauce. Rub through a sieve, first, then through tammy; heat without allowing to boil; add the required quantity of consommé, and once more pass the whole through a strainer.
Complete, when dishing up, with three oz. of best butter. ”

“ Draw apart, and take out the meat. If you have the claws lying flat on the board when you strike, you not only break the shell, but mash the meat, and thus spoil a fine dish. Remember that the stomach of the lobster is found near the head, and is a small, hard sack containing poisonous matter; and that the intestinal vein is found in the tail. These should always be carefully removed. When lobster is opened in the manner explained it may be arranged handsomely on a dish, and each person can season it at the table to suit himself. ”

“ Tie the skewer to a spit, and put the lobster down to a sharp fire; baste with champagne, butter, pepper and salt. After a while the shell of the animal will become tender, and will crumble between the fingers. When it comes away from the body the operation of roasting is complete. Take down the lobster, skim the fat from the gravy in the dripping-pan, add the juice of a Seville orange, pepper, salt, and spice, and serve in a lordly dish. ”

“ Melt margarine; stir in flour, egg, seasoning and cream. Then add all of the vegetable stock slowly, blending and stirring carefully to prevent lumping. (Vegetable stock is liquid saved from canned vegetables or from cooking fresh vegetables. Store in jars in refrigerator.) Cook sauce in double boiler until smooth and thick, stirring constantly. Shred lobster meat and sprinkle with lemon juice. Combine meat and sauce, mixing well together and heating until mixture bubbles up for three minutes. Arrange lobster shells, pulling open, around inside of greased 11⁄2 qt. glass baking dish. ”

“ Mix all well together, but avoid breaking up the pieces of lobster. Put into a thoroughly greased bag, and cook in a hot oven for twenty minutes. Turn into a very hot dish and add a squeeze of lemon before sending it to table. Serve with boiled rice and chillies.
LOBSTER CUTLETS
made from tinned lobster are very nice. Take the lobster from the tin, and pound it with an ounce of butter. Add half a saltspoonful of salt, the same of white pepper, and of ground mace. Beat all into a smooth paste, shape into neat cutlets, and cook in a well greased bag from six to eight minutes. ”

“ Season with salt, pepper, onion and lemon juice. Chop the lobster meat fine; melt the butter, cook in it the flour and seasonings, add the cream and lobster stock, and, when cooked, stir in the chopped lobster. When cool spread upon one side of the fillets, roll up the fillets and fasten with wooden [58] toothpicks that have been dipped in melted butter. Bake on a fish-sheet about fifteen minutes, basting with butter melted in hot water.
Set a plain border-mould in ice water; decorate the bottom and sides with pim-olas or gherkins cut in slices and dipped in half-set aspic ”