Oyster Vol-au-Vent

Remove the undone center of the baked vol-au-vent and fill with oyster mixture.

Put the liquor and beards of three dozen oysters into a saucepan, add a little pepper (cayenne) and the finely chopped rind and strained juice of half a lemon. Put the pan on the fire, boil up the liquor and thicken with three ounces of butter rubbed into two tablespoonfuls of flour. Continue to boil till the liquor is reduced to one teacupful, strain it into another saucepan, add the oysters, place the pan at the side of the fire and simmer gently for five or six minutes, then stir in one teacupful of cream and keep the mixture warm. Prepare a paste as follows: Rub twelve ounces of butter into an equal quantity of flour and mix in the juice of a lemon added to one egg beaten up in one teacupful of cold water. Make this into a paste, handling it as little as possible, turn it out on a well-floured board and roll it out to one and one-fourth inches in thickness. Cut it with a vol-au-vent tin cutter to take off the rough edges, make it the required shape, cut round the top one-half inch from the edge and one-fourth inch deep and bake the vol-au-vent in a hot oven for forty-five minutes. When done carefully take out the center, remove the soft underdone paste and fill it up with the oyster mixture. Arrange the vol-au-vent on a napkin spread over a dish and serve with a garnish of fried parsley.