Captain Cropper, an old Marylander, had a restaurant that was much
patronized by good livers, and in addition to the usual Southern dishes
he specialized on terrapin a la Maryland, sending back to his native
State for the famous diamond-back terrapin. His recipe for this was as
follows:

Terrapin a La Maryland

Cut a terrapin in small pieces, about one inch long, after boiling it.
Put the pieces in a saute pan with two ounces of sweet butter, salt,
pepper, a very little celery salt, a pinch of paprika. Simmer for a few
minutes and then add one glass of sherry wine, which reduce to half by
boiling. Then add one cup of cream, bring to a boil and thicken with two
yolks of eggs mixed with a half cup of cream. Let it come to a near boil
and add half a glass of dry sherry and serve.

You may thicken the terrapin with the following mixture: Two raw yolks
of eggs, two boiled yolks of eggs, one ounce of butter, one ounce corn
starch. Rub together and pass through a fine sieve.

Uncle Tom's Cabin, Tony Oakes, the Hermitage, and Cornelius Stagg's were
noted road-houses where fine meals were served, but these are scarcely
to be considered as San Francisco Bohemian restaurants.

The Reception, on the corner of Sutter and Webb streets, which continued
up to the time of the fire, was noted for its terrapin specialties, but
it was rather malodorous and ladies who patronized it usually went in
through the Webb street entrance to keep from being seen. The old
Baldwin Hotel, which stood where the Flood building now stands, at the