Home › Village Receipts › Oyster Chops
Oyster Chops
— Mrs. Henry Heath
One quart of oysters (solid), parboil in their own liquor, or water if not enough liquor. Blend four tablespoons of butter, four tablespoons of flour with one-half cup of oyster liquor; one-half cup of cream added slowly; cook until thick, then add one teaspoon of finely chopped parsley, one teaspoon of salt, dust of cayenne pepper, little nutmeg, tablespoon of lemon juice, little celery salt. Cut oysters in small pieces, mix thoroughly through the sauce, cool and form in the shape of a chop, roll in bread crumbs, put in a piece of macaroni (dry) to look like a chop bone. Fry in deep fat (half lard and half beef suet).
— Mrs. Thomas Cole
A croquette dressed up as a lamb chop, held together by a very stiff white sauce. Two things decide whether it works: the oysters must barely cook, and the mixture must be cold and firm before shaping.
- Parboil means seconds, not minutesParboil is brief -- Oysters are done when their edges ruffle, roughly a minute or two in their own liquor. Held longer they tighten into rubber, and they will get a second cooking in the fryer besides.
- The sauce is a panada, not a gravyFour tablespoons each of butter and flour to one cup of liquid is deliberately stiff — this is glue, and it should pull away from the pan in a mass. If it slumps, cook it down further before adding the oysters.
- Chill hard before shaping"Cool" here means spread on a plate and refrigerated until firm, at least two hours and preferably overnight. Warm mixture will burst in the fat.
- Oyster quantityA quart of "solid" oysters means shucked meats measured without most of their liquor, about 2 lb, or somewhere around three to four dozen depending on size. Shucked oysters sold in tubs are the modern equivalent; a quart is two pints.
- The macaroni boneA short length of dry, straight macaroni pushed into the narrow end of each chop mimics the protruding rib. It softens slightly in the fryer and is not meant to be eaten; a small skewer or a trimmed wooden pick does the same job.
- Frying fatHalf lard and half beef suet gave a high smoke point and a firm crust. Any neutral oil good to 375F works; that temperature, held steady, browns the crumbs in about two minutes without heating the interior long enough to toughen the oysters.
- CrumbingThe recipe rolls straight in crumbs, which is enough for a very stiff mixture, but flour, then beaten egg, then crumbs is more reliable and worth the extra step if the chops feel soft.
- Yield and servingExpect roughly 10-12 chops, serving 5-6 as a first course or supper dish. Lemon wedges suit, as does tartare or a thin cream sauce.
Shaping minced or creamed food into the outline of a cutlet and finishing it with a false bone was a standard flourish of late nineteenth-century cookery, applied to chicken, veal, salmon and -- where oysters were plentiful -- to oysters. The trick belongs to the same impulse that produced moulded jellies and piped potato borders: a modest quantity of an ingredient stretched with sauce and presented as something grander. Oysters were shipped inland by rail in kegs and cans in this period and were cheap enough that a community collection could call casually for a quart of them.