Fifteen New Ways for Oysters

Sarah Tyson Rorer, known in her books as Mrs. Rorer, was a prolific writer of cookery books in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  Over 50 books and countless articles bear her byline. 

Born in 1849, she spent a great deal of time with her father, Charles Tyson Heston, who was a pharmacist. In her father's laboratory she learned about chemistry and laboratory work methodology. She would use this interest in science in her writing on food. In 1871 Sarah married to William Albert Rorer and had three children, only two survived. Her curiosity never waned and in 1879 she enrolled in a cooking course at Philadelphia's New Century Club and soon she was teaching the classes.  She was so successful that she started her own cooking school in 1882.  The Philadelphia Cooking School not only offered cooking classes, it offered chemistry classes and classes on diets for both the healthy and infirmed.

Her fame spread as she began writing a column in Philadelphia's Table Talk magazine and in the national Ladies Home Journal.  He first cookbook, Mrs. Rorer's Philadelphia Cook Book was published in 1886. She was a direct and pithy writer.  She debunked popular thoughts on fish with this statement:

"Fish is not brain food, because no fishermen of my acquaintance are overly brilliant."

She advocated no activity after a large meal, no fried foods, no food in the morning, and lots of fresh air.


Along with her full length manuscripts, she published a series of small, pamphlet-like books, among them, Fifteen New Ways for Oysters, published in 1894.  It was just that -- 15 recipes for oysters.  This is one of them:

Baked Mushrooms

Peel and cut short the stems from a pound of good sized mushrooms;put them in a baking pan, gills up; put a tiny bit of butter on each; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Run them in a hot oven for fifteen minutes; then pour in the pan about a gill of cream and one gill of oyster liquor that has been boiled  and strained; bring to boiling point. Dish the mushrooms, cover them over with the oysters, add two tablespoons of sherry to sauce.  Make it very hot and pour it over.

Mrs. Rorer was quite the writer and really needs a biography!  There are a lot of Mrs. Rorer's books out there, so keep an eye out in dusty old bookstore!

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River Run Cookbook

One of the best Southern restaurants in America is in Plainfield, Vermont. The man behind the restaurant is from Brewer, Mississippi. Jimmy Kennedy met his wife, Maya, in New York City, but they didn’t find their true calling until they moved back to Maya’s hometown of Plainfield and moved into the Post Office.
Well, the Post Office was gone by then, actually they just moved into the building.



There they opened up River Run, served up a mean breakfast, gained a loyal following and wrote a cookbook: River Run Cookbook. River Run is a hard place to describe. It is tiny, filled with two dozen mismatched chairs and a few tables. The main meal is breakfast, Southern breakfasts including fried green tomatoes, jambalaya, fried potatoes, and even traditional granola and pancakes. My favorite is the fried catfish with grits, eggs and biscuits.

Many times after breakfast, Jimmy would turn the restaurant kitchen over to someone else who would keep cooking into the evening. I can’t recall ever going to Vermont with out going to River Run. It is a great hang out for writes, too. Lorrie Goldensohn, who wrote one of my favorite books about the poet, Elizabeth Bishop is a regular. Two other regulars contributed to the River Run Cookbook, David Manet wrote the foreword and Howard Norman wrote the afterward.



Southerners love their casseroles, a fact that surprised Maya Kennedy on her first Christmas in Mississippi. This is Jimmy’s mother’s casserole and a holiday favorite. My mother made a similar variation every Christmas.

Corn & Oyster Casserole

4 cups crushed saltines (about 90 crackers, or 1/2 box)
2 pounds canned creamed corn
1 pound fresh or canned oysters
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Set oven to 350 degrees.

In a 1 1/2 casserole dish that is abut 4 inches deep, sprinkle some crumbled saltines-just enough to cover the bottom. Then, ever so gently, spoon or pour some of the corn over the crackers, just enough to cover. Next, place the oysters an inch or so apart on top of the corn. (If the oysters are really big, cut them into chunks.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat this layering process until you reach the top of the dish, making sure you finish with cracker crumbs. (You may have a bit of creamed corn left over.) Dot with butter.

Bake until the top is browned and the sides are bubbling a little, 35 to 45 minutes. (A glass dish will take the longer cooing time.)

Don’t even think of going to Vermont without going to River Run. If it going to be a while, you can order River Run Sauce online. And when you go, cross the street to visit Ben Koenig’s Country Bookshop.

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A Passion For Oysters

We have found ways to use our holiday leftovers and now we are heading into the festive New Year. What a great time to look at wonderful, celebratory recipes.

I have a passion for oysters. I ate my fist raw oysters as a child in a dark and dreamy restaurant whose walls were covered in red damask. It was a dinner with my parents and a long lost friend of my Fathers. His friend had a flashy Jaguar fitted with a television in the back seat and a lovely son slight older than I. The son and I road in the back of the Jaguar watching television. At the restaurant, we ordered raw oysters and I was convinced that they were the finest food known to man… and attractive boys.

Later that year, we were visiting my godparents on the Mississippi coast. I was absolutely mad to have raw oysters again. In the bright sunlight, in the middle of the afternoon, alone with my parents, I must confess that the oysters had lost a bit of their charm. But soon I recovered and raw oysters are a favorite.

Shirly Line wrote A Passion For Oysters. The slim book is written for the British market, offering detailed descriptions of “British Oysters.” There are obligatory oyster “facts” and lovely recipes.

This simple recipe is a British favorite. It is accompanied by this “fun fact.”

It would seem that Lord Cavendish, the former owner of Burlington House, built the Burlington Arcade. Far from being a merely architectural creation, the Arcade had an expressed purpose – to keep passers-by from throwing oyster shell into his garden.

Oysters on Toast

oysters, as many as you like
25-40 g/1 to 1 1/2 oz unsalted butter, per 12 oysters
2 slices of bread, or more or less as desired
lemon wedges (optional)

Open the oysters, reserving the liquor. Melt the butter in a frying pan and toss in the oysters. Stir-fry for no more than 40 seconds, depending on the size of the oysters. Do not overcook. Toast the bread. Using a slotted spoon, remove the oysters from the pan and pile them on the toast. Pour the reserved oyster liquor into the pan, swirling it into the butter. Pour over the oysters and enjoy. A lemon wedge adds a little extra je ne sais quoi, but it is the perfect compliment to any oyster.

A great amuse-bouche for the New Year, but remember, don’t throw the shells into anyone’s garden.

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The Gun Club Cook Book

To Love and to Dine are man's chief ends and when man has lost the power to enjoy them,
death has lost its sting and the victory of the gave is a hollow triumph.
Charles Browne

In Princeton, New Jersey, a group was organized for the express purpose of shooting clay pigeons. They named themselves the Nassau Gun Club. They began shooting against other teams and these teams were invited to dinner. The Nassau Gun Club built a special room at the Nassau Club for their dinners. Then a larger room was built and a large kitchen added. Before long, the recipes of the gun club were compiled into the The Gun Club Cook Book. The book was later revised with these words from its author and shooter, Charles Browne:

"Several booksellers have found the title, "The Gun Club Cook Book," misleading and have had some difficulty in attracting the attention of possible buyers. Women associated the "The Gun Club" with stalkers of game and eaters of wold flesh, while men thought of "cook Book" in terms of Women's Social Centers and Church Bazaars. We cannot remedy this, but would ask our readers to tell their friends that the Gun Club shoots only clay birds ans is situated entirely within the precincts of civilization -- if a college town can be called civilized -- and let the men know that this is no cook book of the angel-cake variety."

The gun club boys are indeed heavy on the beef, chicken, pork and lamb. Their adventurous side offers up snails, frogs legs, an occasional whale steak ( not found in fishmongers anymore), alligator tail and chop suey. Browne recommends grabbing some La Choy for this dish.

Here is a favorite oyster dish:

Panned Oysters -- à la Gun Club

Prepare a sauce by melting 1 cup of butter and when hot add 1 tablespoon finely chopped bacon -- previously crisply cooked and drained, 2 tablespoonfuls chopped parsley and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Salt , black pepper and red pepper. Mix well and keep hot but do not cook any further.

The oysters are panned in a little of their own liquor and when done (their edges are beginning to curl) the sauce is added and well mixed and the dish is immediately served. The oysters may be transferred to hot ramekins for individual service and a tablespoon of the sauce spread upon each portion.

A decade or so after The Gun Club Cook Book, Charles Browne was back with the The Gun Club Drink Book. The last copy of this title I found for sale was over $800! Do you know how much "drink" you could buy for $800?

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