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The Beards of the Oysters
Thyme. Bayleaf and Parsley.
One pint of White Stock.
Two ounces of Butter.
One and a half ounce of Flour.
Three gills of Fish Stock or Oyster Liquor, One gill of Cream.
Salt. A few drops of Lemon-juice.
Cayenne. Cook the butter in the flour, stir in the white stock and the fish stock, add the beards of the oysters and the onion, thyme, parsley, and bayleaf; cook all together for about twenty minutes; add the cream, a little salt and cayenne and a few drops of lemon-juice; pass through a tammy-cloth and serve with the oyster cutlets.
This is the sauce that accompanies oyster cutlets: a velouté built on white stock and oyster liquor, with the trimmed beards simmered in it for flavour and then strained out. Nothing in the finished sauce is meant to be recognisable as oyster except the taste.
- What the beards areThe "beard" is the frilly dark mantle and gill fringe trimmed from a shucked oyster before the plump body is used for cutlets. It is too tough to eat whole but carries a great deal of flavour, which is the entire point of this recipe. If you are not making oyster cutlets, the beards from a dozen or two shucked oysters serve the same purpose.
- GillsThis is a British book, so a gill is a quarter of an imperial pint, five fluid ounces. Three gills of fish stock or oyster liquor is 15 fl oz, about 425 ml or a scant two US cups; one gill of cream is 5 fl oz, about 150 ml. The pint of white stock is imperial too, 20 fl oz or 570 ml.
- White stockA light, uncoloured stock of veal or chicken, made from unroasted bones so it stays pale. A good unsalted chicken stock stands in perfectly well; avoid anything browned or heavily reduced, which will muddy both colour and flavour.
- The missing onionThe method calls for onion but the ingredient list omits it. One small onion, or half a medium one, sliced, is in keeping with the quantities here. The thyme, parsley and bayleaf are best tied together so the strainer has less work to do.
- ConsistencyTwo ounces of butter and one and a half of flour to roughly 35 fl oz of liquid gives a distinctly thin roux for the volume. The twenty minutes of cooking is as much about reduction as about flavour, so let it simmer uncovered and expect to lose a fair amount before the cream goes in.
- Salt lastOyster liquor is seawater and varies enormously in saltiness from one batch to another. Season only after the sauce has reduced and the cream is in, or you will overshoot.
- Tammy-clothA tammy was a fine worsted cloth through which sauces were forced, often by two people twisting the ends. A fine conical strainer lined with damp muslin does the same job; press the solids firmly to extract everything, then discard the beards and herbs.
- YieldPerhaps a pint of finished sauce once reduced and strained, enough for four to six as an accompaniment. Serve it hot; if held, keep it below a simmer so the cream does not split, and give it a whisk before it goes to the table.
Oyster cutlets belong to the elaborate fish course of late-Victorian and Edwardian dining, where oysters were shucked in quantity, the bodies bound with sauce and crumbed into small shaped croquettes, and the beards — the tough gill fringe — set aside. This recipe is what a kitchen did with the trimmings: simmer them into the sauce that would be served with the cutlets, so nothing of the oyster was wasted and the accompanying sauce tasted of the thing it accompanied. The method follows classical French practice: a butter-and-flour roux, two stocks, an aromatic bundle of thyme, bay and parsley, enrichment with cream at the end, and a final passage through the tammy to guarantee a sauce with no texture at all but its own.