Oysters Are Perfect During Lent
Oyster house, Baltimore, Maryland, 1905, Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Here is some Lenten season advice from a 1940s food writer found in the pages of the Atlanta Daily World. If you’re planning to admit meat for the entire 40 days of Lent or maybe just for Wednesday’s and Friday’s oysters are perfect. They may be served in such a great variety of ways that your family won’t become tired of them.
Oyster Stew Recipe
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
large pinch of paprika
dash of Tabasco sauce
good dash of Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
32 oysters
2 cups thin cream
2 cups rich milk
Butter
Instructions
Put butter, paprika, Tabasco, Worcestershire, salt, pepper, and oysters in the top of a double boiler. Heat over boiling water until edges of the oysters began to curl. Then add milk and cream and when piping hot, ladle into warm soup bowl into which you have put a portion of butter. Serve at once with salted oyster crackers. Be sure to have a bottle of horseradish in a prominent place on the table.
Atlanta Daily World, February 10, 1940
