Oyster-sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and poach the oysters
Open oysters and remove all liquid.
Boil the oysters in the liquid for one boil.
Remove oysters from the liquid.
Make the sauce
Add three or four blades of mace to the liquid.
Add some melted butter and some thick cream or rich milk to the liquid.
Return oysters to the liquid and boil again.
As soon as the liquid boils, remove oysters from the heat.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Mace
- Adds a warm, aromatic flavour to the liquid.
- Butter (in the method)
- Adds fat, giving the sauce a rich, smooth mouthfeel.
- Cream or rich milk (in the method)
- Adds fat and body, making the sauce richer and creamier.
The step that matters
Remove the oysters as soon as the liquid boils. Oyster meat is protein. Prolonged heat makes proteins tighten and squeeze out moisture, so the oysters turn firm and rubbery. Pulling them off the heat at the first boil keeps them tender.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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