Hundred Year Old Chowder

This is for Southern Girl.
I hope it makes more sense to you than it does to me!

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Classic Recipe -- Daniel Webster's Chowder Recipe
From 'The Cook' (1885)

Four tablespoonfuls of onions, fried with pork.
One quart of boiled potatoes, well mashed.
One and a half pounds sea-biscuit*, broken.
One teaspoonful of thyme, mixed with one of summer savory.
Half-bottle of mushroom catsup**.
One bottle of port or claret.
Half of a nutmeg, grated.
A few cloves, mace, and allspice.
Six pounds of fish, sea-bass or cod, cut in slices.
Twenty five oysters, a little black pepper, and a few slices of lemon.

The whole put in a pot, covered with an inch of water, boiled for an hour, and gently stirred.

FOOTNOTES
*Sea-biscuit
Also known as hard·tack (härd'tăk') n.
A hard biscuit or bread made with only flour and water. Also called sea biscuit, sea bread; Also called ship biscuit.

**Mushroom Catsup
Put mushrooms into a jar, squeeze them with your hand, strew with salt and let them lay two days. Strain through a coarse cloth, put them on the fire with allspice, cloves, mace and whole pepper. Boil well for an hour. Strain again. When cold, put into bottles.

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And something a little more modern from Wolfgang Puck.

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Oysters Chesapeake

12 oysters
12 oyster shells
1 cup flour
Salt and pepper
4 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. dry white wine
1 tsp. paprika
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. shallots finely chopped
12 drops Tabasco sauce

Combine flour and salt and pepper.
Coat each oyster with the flour mixture.
Saute in butter until lightly browned on both sides.
Remove oysters and place in shells.
Add wine, paprika, lemon juice and shallots to the pan the oysters were sauted in and heat for several minutes stirring constantly.
Pour sauce over oysters and place at least 1 drop of Tabasco on each oyster.
The Skinny: Use apple cider in place of the white wine if you must avoid alcohol.