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Mustard and Cress (Shells of the oysters must be)
The shells of the oysters must be well washed in the deep shell put a little mayonnaise sauce, sprinkle a little mustard and cress on it, and lay the oyster on the salad, leaving the beards on.
A garnishing instruction rather than a cooked dish: raw oysters returned to their cupped shells over a spoonful of mayonnaise and a pinch of salad cress. The whole thing depends on the oysters being fresh and the seasoning being restrained.
- Mustard and cressThis is the Victorian salad staple: white mustard and garden cress sown together and cut as seedlings at about two inches. Sold today as punnets of cress or as mixed micro-greens; snip the stems short so they sit rather than tangle.
- The deep shellOysters have one cupped shell and one flat lid. Keep the cupped half, scrub the outside under cold water and rinse any grit from the inside, then dry it before the mayonnaise goes in or the sauce slides.
- Leaving the beards onThe "beard" is the frilled mantle and gill edge. On a raw oyster it stays attached anyway; the instruction is a warning not to trim it in the way a cook would when preparing oysters for a stew or patty.
- Quantity of mayonnaise"A little" is probably no more than about half a teaspoon per shell; more and the oyster tastes of nothing but egg and oil. A thick, sharp mayonnaise holds the cress in place better than a loose one.
- ServingBed the shells on crushed ice or coarse salt so they do not rock. Allow three to six per person as an entree course, with brown bread and butter and lemon on the side.
- SourcingUse oysters from a reputable supplier, kept below 5C and shucked to order. Raw shellfish is not advisable for anyone pregnant, immunocompromised, or with liver disease.
Mustard and cress was among the cheapest salads in a nineteenth-century British kitchen: sown on damp flannel or a shallow box of soil in the scullery window and cut within a week or two, it gave a peppery green all year when lettuce was seasonal and dear. Pairing it with oysters in the shell belongs to the late-Victorian and Edwardian fashion for cold, decorative entrees served on ice, where the object was to return the shellfish to its own shell looking untouched.