Stewed oysters on toast

Oysters were extremely popular in the Georgian era and, selling for remarkably low prices, were enjoyed by people at all levels of society. The unknown ladies behind our Cookbook certainly had a taste for them – we’ve seen them serve oysters in soups, bake them in bread rolls and add them to pies in their hundreds.

Here, they set out how to make a simple repast of stewed oysters on toast:

Method for stewing oysters from The Cookbook of Unknown Ladies

How to Stew Oysters

Take an hundred of large oysters unopened, save all their own liquor. Pick out all splinters from them. Put them in a stew pan with an anchovy shred, half a nutmegg grated, a few blades of mace, half a pint of white wine. Sett to stew on ye fire slowly till ye oysters are done. Then, take half a pint of sweet cream that has been first boyld & is cold. Put in to a lump of butter roll’d in flowere. Toss these up with y oysters, shakeing them well untill ye flower is not raw. Let them get a boyle or two together. Take care it is not burnd. [Serve] them with white bread sippits toas[t]ed under them.