ABSTRACT
The Greeks knew better: according to Athenaeus, boiled and fried them served their oysters, finding them, best of all when roasted in the coals till the shells opened. It requires no great elaboration, though much rare skill in the cooking. For this purpose the largest oysters must be selected: the fattest and juiciest. In the half-shell they may be fried, after seventeenth-century fashion, a touch of butter and pepper on each; verjuice or vinegar, and grated nutmeg added once they are served. Or else, taken from the shell, they may be dipped into a marvellous preparation of vinegar, parsley, laurel leaves, onion, chives, cloves, basil and in the result the mighty imagination of the great Alexandre would rejoice. Or, again, in simpler American fashion, enveloped in unpretentious batter of eggs and bread-crumbs, fry them until they turn to an unrivalled, indescribable golden-brown, and in the eating thereof the gods might envy.
