Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

STUFF TO EAT, DRINK THE SHELL GAME
-ETIQUETTE (PART 9) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
============================ CLAMS, OYSTERS AND MUSSELS
-============ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For clams and oysters, served raw on the half shell, begin by
squeezing lemon juice (with one hand over the wedge or slice to
prevent squirting) onto the clam or oyster not into the sauce. Steady
the shell against the plate with your free hand and extract the clam
or oyster with a small shellfish fork. You may dip it into your own
sauce container (in many formal situations, clams and oysters are
served only with lemon) and then lift the meat whole into your mouth.
Horseradish and cocktail sauce can also be dabbed onto the individual
clam or oyster, which is then lifted to the mouth completely dressed.
Never cut a raw clam or oyster. And only in an informal setting
should you drain the juice from the shell into your mouth; do so as
unobtrusively as possible. As for oyster crackers, there are two
schools of thought about whether it's permissible to drop them into
the sauce and retrieve them with a fork. Taste dictates. For steamed
clams, lift both halves of the fully opened shell (if the shell
doesn't open during cooking, don't eat what's inside). Separate each
clam by pulling it out by its neck. Discard the neck sheath and,
holding it by the neck, dip it first into a cup of broth and then
into melted butter, and eat it in one bite, neck and all. Pile all
the empty shells on a second plate. You may choose to drink the cup
of broth. The procedure is essentially the same for steamed mussels,
though you don't have to worry about a neck and neck sheath. For
mussels cooked in a souplike sauce (moules marinaras, for example),
lift each shell and extract the mussel with a seafood fork;
alternatively, you can eat it right from the half shell along with
its juice. The extra broth can be sopped up with fork-speared bread
or eaten with a spoon as a soup. Fried clams, oysters, scallops or
shrimps can be cut with a fork and eaten. Fantail shrimp (fried
Oriental style) can be lifted with your hands by the tail, dipped
into a sauce and then eaten. However, leave the tail. CRAB ~~~~ Break
one crab leg from the body and crack it into sections with a
nutcracker. Remove the meat with a seafood fork or a nutpick, then
dip it into melted butter or a mayonnaise sauce. With hard-shell
crabs, first pull the legs from the body with your fingers and then
suck out the meat (as noiselessly as possible). The remainder of the
body can then be turned on its back and the meat removed with a fork
or pick. Crab claws served as hors d'oeuvres are to be picked up by
the shell with your fingers, dipped in sauce and sucked out.
Soft-shell crabs are meant to be eaten in their entirety, both crab
and shell, with a knife and fork. LOBSTER ~~~~~~~ Put on a lobster
bib or, to be a bit more subtle, tuck a napkin into your collar or
neckline. With your hands, twist the lobster's big claws from its
body. Use a nutcracker to open each claw, then remove the meat with a
pick or lobster fork, dip it in sauce (melted butter for a hot
broiled or boiled lobster, mayonnaise for a cold one) and enjoy.
Next, break the tail away from the body. If the tail has already been
split, the meat can be easily removed. If it hasn't been split, just
break off the little flaps and push through to get the meat out in
one piece. Cut this meat with a knife and fork, dip and eat. The legs
are then twisted off with your hands, and the meat is sucked out.
Finally, the tomalley (green liver) of a male lobster can be eaten,
as can the coral (roe) of the female. PATTY SHELL FOOD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When serving yourself anything in a patty shell,
lift up to your

Submitted By SAM LEFKOWITZ On 10-18-95

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