(circa 1783)
Mince a bit of cold veal and six oysters. Mix with a few crumbs of bread, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a very small bit of lemon peel. Add the liquor of the oysters. Warm all, but do not boil. Let it go cold. Have ready a good puff paste, roll thin, and cut it in round or square bits. Put some of the above mixture between two of these bits and twist the edges. Fry them a fine brown.
This is a very good thing, and baked, is a very fashionable dish. Brush all the patties over with egg before baking.
In the eighteenth century oysters were plentiful in the Truro river and sold at 3d a hundred. Great quantities were shipped overseas in quart barrels made of split withies. Much of the trade was with the West Indies.