Oysters - best dressed

When it comes to tarting up oysters in the half shell for grilling or baking, the three stand-out traditional recipe toppings that have survived at least a century are – Rockefeller, Kilpatrick and Mornay.

Rockefeller – classic American

Out of this tasty grilled threesome, the Oysters Rockefeller recipe is the most complicated. It is also the only one that hasn’t fallen completely into the public domain as every interpretation is guesswork on the original, which is still kept secret by the current owners of Antoine's in New Orleans, the restaurant that invented the dish in 1889. Antoine's, founded in 1840 by Antoine Alciatore, still serves its Oysters Rockefeller to the same tune it did in 120 years ago - a recipe said to have been originally used on the restaurant’s signature French snail dish at the time. Following a shortage of snails, the chef substituted oysters in their half shell.

Most imitation Oysters Rockefeller recipes (and there’s some wild ones out there, even using cheese!) use spinach as the base for the ‘green’ colour of the sauce topping but Antoine's owners in the past say this ingredient does not feature in the original dish. Spinach cropped up in many recipe books after Antoine’s provided ‘a’ Rockefeller recipe for the Life Picture Cook Book (published in 1958) using chopped spinach. However, the recipe on page 282 of this cookbook classic, featuring restaurant signature dishes of the time, has a telling disclaimer: “The exact recipe … is a secret of the house. Owner Roy Alciatore gives this as a close facsimile.”

Food technos have put Antoine’s oyster recipe through lab tests and guestimate that it could include parsley, strained celery, scallions or chives, olive oil, capers and maybe watercress. There’s also a hot sauce involved, such as Tabasco, and an anise-flavoured liqueur. The Life Picture Cook Book recipes features Herbsaint (a name that sounds similar to the way the French pronounce “absinthe”) an absinthe-like, greenish-amber liqueur made in (and unique to) New Orleans. In the 19^th century the original liqueur used by Antonie’s for its oyster and snail recipes would have likely been absinthe, a popular drink at the time, but banned in the US between WW1 and 2007, when it could have been easily replaced by Herbsaint or a similar French liqueur like Pernod (which is slightly sweeter).

Of the many Rockefeller recipes out there, the good ones should feature lots of herbs plus celery leaves. There's a rumor that the original recipe was created out of what happened to be lying around the kitchen, including scraps. Herbs should include tarragon and chervil, and use the freshest herbs you can find and never use dried herbs.  

The topping recipe (in US measurements) Antonie’s provided for the Life Picture Cook Book is (for three dozen oysters in the half shell):

• 6 tablespoons (90grams) butter
• 6 tablespoons (45g) finely minced raw spinach
• 3 tablespoons (45g) minced onion
• 3 tablespoons (45g) minced parsley
• 5 tablespoons(35g)  bread crumbs (packaged)
• Tabasco sauce to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon (3ml) Herbsaint (substitute Pernod)
• 1/2 teaspoon (3ml) salt

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add all the ingredients except the oysters. Cook, while stirring constantly, for 15 minutes. Press the mixture through a sieve or a food mill. Cool. Line six pie tins with rock salt. Set 6 oysters in the rock salt on each pie tin. Divide the topping into 36 equal portions. Place one portion on each oyster. Broil until topping is brown.

Traditionally, oysters in their half shells have been placed on a bed of rock salt to keep them steady. These days a crumpled liner of tinfoil will do the same trick.

US measurements have been equated to Australasian measurements using the guide in Stephanie Alexander’s The Cook’s Companion.

Kilpatrick – classic Aussie

Who the hell was Kilpatrick? We can’t find the creator of this salty grilled oyster recipe but if you web search it the recipe is most likely to come out of Australasia where is has become a home favourite, along with that classic surf & turf recipe, carpet bag steak.

Like the Australasian character, the taste is not subtle – an explosive dose of strong salty fermented sauce (traditionally Worchester from Lea and Perrins), bacon dices and butter.

As usual, a host of recipe variations can be found that include tomato sauce (added to the Worchester), garlic and even cheese.

Stick to the original recipe – a combination of Worchester sauce, butter and finely chopped bacon and spring onions (add some flat leaf parsley if you like) - sautéed together and sprinkled on top of the oysters after the sauce. Grill or bake in a moderate oven until starting to brown – up to 15 minutes.

Oysters Mornay – classic French

A European classic - simply oysters grilled with a béchamel (basic white sauce) and cheese topping originating from France, where they have been very fond of smothering seafood with cheese sauce over the culinary centuries.

This recipe is an easy one and there are few variations other than the addition of an extra bit of seasoning such as mustard, nutmeg, garlic and paprika. You can get quite a flavour kick without over-killing the taste of the oyster. Even oyster-phobics have been known to get stuck into these, fresh from the oven.

The basic topping can be white sauce or a béchamel sauce – the French  version which uses milk that has been infused with herbs/spices such as a bayleaf. Either way, the sauce is a equal amount of butter and flour (a roux) that is cooked for a few minutes, before the liquid is whisked in and the sauce is thickened and simmered for a while. The grated cheese of choice – usually Parmesan or Swiss – is added to the sauce, along with an optional slug of cream and an egg yolk to make an even richer topping. Parmesan, as pictured, provides a crisper topping.

Basic white sauce (300ml):

25 grams of butter and sifted flour

300ml milk

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour, stirring with a wire whisk. Add the milk, stirring rapidly. If making béchamel sauce – flavour the milk by heating it with 8 black peppercorns, a bayleaf, and pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and rest it for 10 minutes for the flavours to infuse. Drain through a sieve before adding to the roux.  

When blended and smooth, season with black pepper and salt and you have the option of tarting up the flavour even more with a little crushed garlic, pinch of mustard or nutmeg.

Simmer gently for five minutes stirring the bottom regularly to ensure it doesn't burn (don’t let it boil). Remove sauce from heat and whisk in 125grams of grated cheese. If you want it really rich, you can add an egg yolk combined with 30ml of cream.

Spoon sauce (hot or cold – as it can be made in advance) to almost cover each oyster, sprinkle with extra cheese and a pinch of paprika (optional) and place under grill or bake until browned at a moderate temperature (180 degrees celsius).

Oysters raw – classic Kiwi

Use rock oysters for these grilled topping recipes. Our plump Kiwi sand oysters (especially Bluff) are best natural with a little seasoning, plus its hard to find sand oysters sold in their shell in New Zealand.

Our favourite natural presentation (pictured) is on top of oblong, eraser-sized pieces of a thick white bread, such as sourdough or ciabatta, that have been sautéed in a little olive oil until the top and bottom are browned – so you have fried ‘bread’ bases (very Kiwi). Garnish with freshly ground black pepper and finely grated lemon rind.

Winter 2009

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