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Oyster Sauce
Set a basin on the fire with half pint oysters, from which all bits of shell have been picked, and one pint boiling water; let boil three minutes, skim well, and then stir in half a cup butter beaten to a cream, with two table-spoons flour, let this come to a boil, and serve with boiled turkey. Or, make drawn butter, add a few drops lemonjuice, a tablespoon of capers, or a few drops vinegar, add oysters drained of the liquor, and let come to boiling point. The sauce is richer if cream instead of water is used in making the drawn butter, but in this case do not add the lemon juice or vinegar.- Mrs. H. C. M.
A flour-thickened butter sauce built on oysters and their liquor, meant for the boiled turkey that anchored a Victorian holiday table. Two versions are given: a plain one and a sharpened one finished with lemon or capers.
- Do not overcook the oystersThree minutes at a boil will shrink and toughen them. Bring the liquid to a bare simmer and give them 1-2 minutes, just until the edges ruffle; if you are following the second method, they need only to reach the boiling point and come off the heat.
- "Half pint oysters"Shucked oysters were sold by liquid measure. Half a pint is about 8 fl oz, perhaps a dozen or so medium shucked oysters with their liquor, depending on size. The recipe as written calls only for water, but you can save the liquor and count it as part of the pint for a better sauce.
- "Set a basin on the fire"A basin here is simply a saucepan or bowl-shaped pan set over direct heat. Use a heavy nonreactive saucepan over medium heat.
- Drawn butterIn American books of this period drawn butter is not clarified butter but a thickened butter sauce: butter and flour cooked together, let down with water, milk or cream. The second method assumes you know how to make it, so treat it as roughly 2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp flour to a cup of liquid.
- The butter and flour pasteHalf a cup of butter creamed with two tablespoons of flour works like a beurre mani he classual equal-parts version, since it is much richer in butter. The recipe wants it beaten soft and smooth; whisk it into the simmering liquid in small pieces so it disperses, rather than dropping it in as one lump. Let it boil so the raw flour taste cooks out.
- Cream and acid do not mixCream and acid -- The closing direction is to leave out the lemon juice or vinegar when cream is used. Acid can cause heated cream to separate, and the flour offers only partial protection, so follow the original and choose either the sharpened water-based version or the rich cream one.
- SeasoningNo salt or pepper is specified. Oyster liquor is salty, so season at the end. A little white pepper and a grating of nutmeg suit the cream version.
- YieldSomething over three cups. It thickens as it stands; loosen with a spoonful of hot water or cream before it goes to the table.
Boiled turkey with oyster sauce was a fixture of nineteenth-century American and English tables. Oysters were shipped inland by rail and barrel in the 1870s and 1880s and were comparatively cheap, and Buckeye Cookery uses them freely in stews, patties, stuffings and sauces. The dish also reflects how the period treated turkey: boiling a large bird was common, and the pale, mild meat was usually sent to the table with a white sauce. The contributor's initials, Mrs. H. C. M., are typical of the book, which was assembled from recipes contributed by many hands and credited in this abbreviated way.