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Oyster Short Cake
1 qt. oysters 1 tablespoon flour 3 tablespoons shortening Salt pepper 3 tablespoons cream Drain and clean one quart oysters, scald and strain the liquor, cook oysters in liquor until plump and edges curl. Cook flour with shortening. When the mixture is light and creamy, gradually turn upon it boiling liquor and season. After boiling up once, stir in cream, also oysters. Stir over fire one--half minute. Serve immediately. Have shortcake ready to fill. Serves 6 to 8.
A creamed-oyster filling for split savory shortcake, built on the oysters' own liquor. The whole thing takes about ten minutes once the oysters are shucked, and the timing is the only difficult part.
- Do not overcook the oystersOysters are done the moment the edges ruffle and they plump, roughly one to two minutes in barely simmering liquor. Held longer they shrink and turn rubbery, and the final half-minute over the fire at the end is all the extra heat they can take.
- A quart of oystersThis means shucked oysters with their liquor, roughly 30 to 40 medium ones; a quart including liquor runs to about 2 lb, so rather less once drained. Buying them in a tub from a fish counter is the practical route; the liquor in the container is the liquor the recipe wants.
- Scalding and straining the liquorHeat the liquor just to a shiver and pour it through a fine sieve or a doubled square of cheesecloth. This catches shell grit and the bits of coagulated protein that cloud the sauce.
- ShorteningThe word could cover butter, lard, or a solid vegetable fat depending on the kitchen; butter works well here. Three tablespoons fat to one of flour is fat-heavy for a roux, so expect a light, pourable sauce rather than a thick one.
- Boiling liquor into the rouxAdding it hot and gradually, whisking, is what keeps the sauce smooth. The mixture wants one full boil to lose the raw-flour taste before the cream and oysters go in.
- The shortcakeThe recipe assumes one is already made and says nothing about it; a plain savory (unsweetened) baking-powder shortcake, baked in a round or as individual cakes and split while warm, is the obvious fit. Whatever you use, have it out of the oven before the oysters go into the liquor.
- SeasoningOyster liquor is already salty, so season after the liquor has gone in, not before, as the recipe directs. It asks only for salt and pepper; a squeeze of lemon at the table is not out of place.
- YieldSix to eight as a luncheon dish, as stated. It does not hold or reheat well, which is why the original insists on serving immediately.