Oyster and Peanut Soup
Josephine Nicaud
Take half a pound of shelled and roasted peanuts, well pounded. Add two spoonfuls of flour, mix well, boil a pint of oyster water and mix with the peanuts and flour, let it thicken slowly for fifteen minutes, stirring all the time. Add a pint of oysters and let them cook five minutes. Flavor with salt, red and black pepper.
An unexpected and delicious pairing — briny oysters and rich ground peanuts. It comes together fast, so mind the timing on the oysters.
- Pounded peanuts → peanut butter“Half a pound of shelled and roasted peanuts, well pounded” is, in effect, fresh peanut butter. A scant cup of natural (unsweetened) peanut butter is a fine shortcut.
- “Oyster water”The liquor from the oysters is the broth — don’t discard it. Bottled clam juice can stretch it if you’re short.
- Don’t overcook the oystersAdd them at the very end and cook just until their edges curl, about 5 minutes — longer makes them tough.
- SeasonSalt with red and black pepper; the soup should be nutty, savory, and gently spiced.
Peanut soup is one of the clearest culinary legacies of West Africa in the American South. The peanut — the “goober,” from the Kikongo nguba — crossed the Atlantic with the slave trade and took deep root in Southern cooking, where ground-nut soups and stews became regional classics (Virginia peanut soup among them). Pairing it with Gulf oysters is a distinctly Louisiana flourish, and the recipe carries the name of the Eustis family cook Josephine Nicaud.
From page 9 of the 1904 edition.
Original page from the book
