Skalldyr

Erken's 1914 instructions for opening a boiled lobster: the claws are removed, the head and tail are split lengthwise, the chewing stomach (the 'pope') behind the eyes and the intestine (the 'string') are removed, the claws are cracked gently, and the roe and 'green' are saved.

Boiled mussels layered in jars with bay leaves and whole peppercorns, covered with vinegar and mussel stock, brought to a boil in a water bath and sealed tightly for storage.

Boiled mussels breaded in rusk crumbs and egg, fried golden brown in fat and served with fried parsley and lemon – a French-inspired starter from Erken's fish chapter.

Lobster à l'américaine from Erken's Stor kokebok (1914): boiled lobster in a sauce made from a stock of crushed shells and bouillon, thickened with butter and flour, flavored with tomato purée and the lobster innards pressed through a sieve, with mushrooms, and finished with stiffly whipped cream, grated horseradish, parsley, salt, and paprika.

A cold lobster preparation from Erken's Stor kokebok (1914): the tail halves are filled with a mousse of lobster purée, white sauce, fish aspic, and half-whipped cream, garnished with aspic-coated lobster pieces, truffle, and oysters, served on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise.

Erken's "Lobster au naturel" (1914): 6 lobsters are boiled and cooled in the cooking water, split, and arranged on an oblong platter around a bread base with a silver skewer holding lettuce, crayfish, and empty lobster shells. The heads are stood up against the base, and the tail pieces are laid in a ring. Garnished with lemon, lettuce, and tomatoes filled with mayonnaise.

A cold lobster mold from Erken (1914): the mold is lined with fish aspic over ice and garnished with truffle slices, then filled with a forcemeat of 250 g boiled lobster meat pounded with 80 g fish velouté, sieved and stirred with 2 tbsp fish aspic and 2 tbsp stiffly whipped cream, seasoned with salt and cayenne. It sets cold, is turned out, and served with vegetable purée.

Lobster set in fish aspic in a liter mold, layered with truffle, egg white, roe, capers, and tarragon; turned out and served with lobster salad dressed with oil and vinegar, thick mayonnaise, and a garnish of hard-boiled egg, olives, and capers. From Erken's Stor kokebok (1914).

Lobster salad (mayonnaise de homard) from Erken 1914: cut-up boiled lobster meat is mixed with head lettuce and mayonnaise, arranged high on a platter, covered with thick mayonnaise, and garnished with hard-boiled egg, anchovies, cucumber, beets, olives, and capers. Served ice-cold.

Erken's 1914 recipe for lobster in shells: boiled lobster meat in a butter-and-milk sauce with egg yolk and parsley, filled into shells, sprinkled with rusk crumbs, and gratinated for 5–8 minutes, garnished with lobster roe.

A cold festive preparation from Erken 1914: boiled lobster and slices of cold, roasted hazel grouse are dipped in a dressing of lobster roe, hard-boiled egg yolks, cream, oil, and vinegar, arranged alternately on a platter, and garnished with oysters and head lettuce.

A cold lobster dish from Erken's Stor kokebok 1914: boiled lobster meat is mixed with mayonnaise, mushrooms, and stiffly whipped cream, filled back into the shells, garnished with truffle strips, and arranged on a hollowed-out block of ice with lettuce leaves.

A layered mold dish from Erken 1914: fish forcemeat and stewed lobster are placed in alternating layers in a greased mold, baked for 1 hour in a good hot oven, and served with lobster sauce.

Lobster gratin from Erken 1914: lobster meat from two boiled lobsters mixed into a thick milk sauce with parsley, paprika, sherry, and egg yolks, filled into greased shells, sprinkled with rusk and butter, and gratinated for 7 minutes.

Lobster cutlets I from Erken 1914: a thick lobster stew of butter, flour, milk/fish stock, egg, and chopped lobster meat is cooled until firm, shaped into cutlets, breaded in egg and rusk, and fried golden in fat; garnished with lobster legs and arranged around the claws on a bed of rice or potato with parsley.

A cold party dish from Erken's Stor kokebok (1914): lobster meat and caviar mixed with lobster forcemeat and white sauce, molded in small cutlet molds, coated with a reduced brown aspic sauce with lobster butter, garnished with truffle, glazed with fish aspic, and served with Russian salad.

Lobster croquettes from Erken (1914): a thick white sauce of 75 g butter, 75 g flour and 1 l milk/fish stock is set with 6 gelatin sheets, mixed with 750 g diced lobster meat, 1 dl sherry, seasonings, lobster coloring and an egg yolk. The mixture is chilled completely (preferably overnight), rolled into small logs, breaded in egg

Erken's lobster mousseline from 1914: 250 g raw lobster meat is pounded with salt, pepper and nutmeg, egg white is stirred in, the forcemeat is sieved, warmed for one minute, chilled over ice, and 2.5 dl cream is stirred in. Steamed in a mold in a water bath for about 20 minutes and served with peas or asparagus and melted butter.

Lobster pudding from Erken's Stor kokebok 1914: a thick butter, flour and milk base with egg yolks, cut-up lobster meat and stiffly beaten egg whites, cooked in a mold in a water bath for about 1½ hours and served with creamed butter flavored with lobster roe and sherry.

Erken's basic recipe for boiling live lobster in plenty of water with 50 g salt per liter: head first into vigorously boiling water, hard boiling for 5 minutes and then gentle simmering by size, cooled in the cooking water, and the shell brushed with butter or oil.

Erken's simple recipe for boiled mussels from 1914: 50 mussels are cleaned in salt water, boiled 10 minutes in salted water with paprika, then steamed 5 minutes in their own stock until the shells open, and served with vinegar, pepper and strained stock.

Erken's basic 1914 recipe for boiling crab: vigorously boiling salted water (1 l water to 50 g salt), cooking time 20–25 minutes, cooling on its back, and cleaning where everything is eaten except the "pope" behind the eyes.

Erken's gratinéed crab in shells: cleaned crab meat mixed with half as much rusk crumbs, seasoned with salt, pepper, vinegar, and mustard, stirred with cream, filled into greased shells, sprinkled with rusk crumbs and bits of butter, and gratinéed in the oven.

Crab paste I: finely chopped crab meat simmered with butter and spices for 20 min, then stirred with cream and egg yolks into a thick forcemeat, sieved, pressed into jars, and covered with clarified butter.

Crab paste II (potted crab): crab meat pounded in a mortar with spices, sieved, pressed into small jars, covered with clarified butter and baked at low heat ½ hour, sealed with butter when cold.

A basic recipe from Erken's Stor kokebok for boiled crayfish: the crayfish are boiled 10 minutes in salted water with dill, cooled in the cooking water and served ice-cold au naturel, garnished with olives filled with crayfish butter and green lettuce leaves.

Crayfish in aspic from Erken 1914: crayfish cooked with carrot, onion and parsley, the shells pounded and strained into a mousse with crayfish butter, white sauce, fish aspic and whipped cream, stirred cold over ice. The mixture fills tail shells and a charlotte mold lined with aspic and crayfish tails; unmolded and garnished with truffle and chervil.

Erken's "Crayfish in shells" from 1914: cooked crayfish, mushrooms and small fish balls folded into a white sauce with anchovy butter, crayfish roe, lemon, sherry and cayenne, filled into shells and briefly gratinated in the oven, garnished with parsley.

Erken's recipe for crayfish with rémoulade sauce: 50 crayfish boiled in water and white wine with salt, the meat cleaned and marinated 2 hours in oil, vinegar and pepper, and served cold with a rémoulade of mayonnaise (2 egg yolks, 2 dl oil) with stiffly whipped cream, capers, lemon juice and onion juice.

Crayfish pudding from Erken's Stor kokebok: a thick milk sauce of 50 g butter, 60 g flour and about ½ l milk mixed with 120 g crayfish butter, egg yolks, salt, cayenne and the meat of 40 crayfish, folded with stiffly beaten egg whites and cooked in a greased mold in a water bath about 1 hour. Served at once with asparagus sauce or béch

Crayfish soufflé from Erken 1914: a thick milk-and-flour base seasoned with pepper and nutmeg, stirred with parmesan, crayfish butter, butter and egg yolks, folded with stiffly beaten egg whites and layered with crayfish tails and truffle slices in an ovenproof dish, baked about 25 minutes in a moderate oven.

Crayfish timbale from Erken's Stor kokebok 1914: a mold lined with crayfish tails and fish forcemeat, filled with a ragout of crayfish tails, fish balls, mushrooms and crayfish butter in cream sauce, covered with forcemeat and steamed in a water bath for ½ hour. Served with crayfish sauce.

Erken's method from 1914 for keeping oysters fresh for several days: alternating 12 hours in salt water (30 g salt per liter) and 12 hours dry with the deep shell down.

Warm oyster stew à la Carême: a stock made from oyster liquor and oyster beards, a sauce thickened with butter and flour, seasoned with mushroom, lemon and Madeira; oysters and shrimp are added at the very end without cooking. Served with croutons and parsley.

Erken's oysters à la diable (1914): oysters are placed in their deep shells with a white sauce of butter, flour, milk and oyster liquor, topped with a slice of truffle, more sauce, grated Parmesan and melted butter, set in coarse salt and gratinated golden in high heat.

A cold starter of raw oysters chilled on ice and mixed with grated horseradish, lemon juice, tomato ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, served in glasses or hollowed-out lemon halves.

Oysters à la Marguerite (Erken 1914): finely chopped celery is sweated in butter, thinned with sherry and oyster stock, thickened with cornstarch stirred into cold meat stock, seasoned with lemon, salt and pepper. Oysters and peeled shrimp are warmed in the sauce with the rest of the butter; served on a deep platter with chopped parsley on top.

Oysters à la Villeroi from Erken 1914: oysters are dipped in a cooled, gelatin-set sauce of butter, flour, bouillon, white wine, mushroom, olives, egg yolks and cream, set firm cold, breaded in egg and rusk crumbs and deep-fried light brown; served with fried parsley.

Raw oysters served in the shell on ice, from Erken's "Stor kokebok" 1914. Ice-cold oysters are opened, the beards removed, and they are served at once on a napkin and ice with butter, salt, pepper, lemon and small open sandwiches.

A cold starter from Erken 1914: small choux puffs are filled with caviar, a hollow is made in the center and filled with a fresh oyster seasoned with white pepper and lemon juice; served at once on a platter.

An oyster gratin from Erken's Stor kokebok 1914: layers of cooked macaroni and cleaned oysters with grated cheese, salt, paprika and butter, topped with buttered rusk crumbs and gratinated 15 minutes in a hot oven.

Erken's grilled oysters II from 1914: oysters in deep shells are set in coarse salt, drizzled with lemon and pepper, grilled 5 minutes in a hot oven and topped with a reduced brown sauce of butter, flour, brown bouillon, tomato, mirepoix, white-wine-cooked onion and sherry.

Oyster soufflé from Erken's Stor kokebok (1914): oysters steeped in their own liquor are folded into a cooled butter-flour-cream base with egg yolks, stiffly beaten whites are folded in, and the soufflé is baked in greased ovenproof molds for about 15 min or cooked in a water bath for 20 min. Served with toast, cold butter and lemon.

Erken's instruction for boiling shrimp: dropped into boiling salted water (like seawater), large shrimp boiled 7–8 minutes, small shrimp 5 minutes.

Creamed shrimp: boiled, cut-up macaroni mixed with peeled shrimp and whipped cream stirred with grated horseradish, vinegar, and a little sugar; served cold in shells with finely chopped parsley.

Erken's fried (deep-fried) oysters I from 1914: oysters breaded in rusk crumbs, egg and rusk crumbs, deep-fried light golden brown in lard and served immediately with lemon and parsley.

Erken's stewed mussels (1914): 30 boiled mussels folded into a roux-based sauce of 30 g butter, 15 g flour, and mussel stock, thickened with egg yolk and seasoned with vinegar, parsley, sherry, salt, and pepper. Serve immediately.

Erken's stewed lobster from 1914: boiled lobster meat heated in a white sauce of butter, flour, and milk or soured cream, seasoned with sherry, cayenne, sugar, and salt; roe can be rubbed in with butter for color and flavor.

Erken's stewed crab (1914): a beurre manié of 35 g butter and 25 g flour thinned with 4 dl soured cream, with finely grated crab roe, crab meat, cayenne, salt, and sherry. Filled into cleaned crab shells, brushed with egg, drizzled with butter, sprinkled with rusk crumbs, and gratinated light brown in a hot oven. Served in the shells.