Oyster Stew
1 pint oysters 4 tablespoons butter Salt, pepper, paprika 1 quart rich milk Put cleaned oysters, strained oyster liquor, butter, and seasoning into a saucepan and simmer gently until oysters curl at the edges. Add the milk and bring quickly to the simmering-point. Serve very hot.
A two-stage stew: the oysters are barely cooked in their own liquor and butter, then the hot milk goes in at the last moment. Nothing here should reach a rolling boil.
- The hinge: curled edgesOysters are done the moment the ruffled edge draws up, which at a bare simmer takes about two to three minutes. Held longer they shrink and turn rubbery, so pull the pan the instant they curl.
- Quantity of oystersA pint of shucked oysters is roughly 16 to 24 medium ones, sold in tubs in the seafood case. Buy them in their liquor rather than drained, since the liquor is half the flavour of the stew.
- Straining the liquorPour the liquor through a fine sieve or a coffee filter to catch shell grit and bits of mantle. Grit is the usual fault in an oyster stew and it cannot be fixed later.
- "Rich milk"In older usage this meant milk that had not been skimmed, closer to today's whole milk with cream stirred in. Whole milk works; a mix of three parts whole milk to one part half-and-half is nearer the intent.
- Keeping the milk from breakingThe recipe adds the milk to the oysters and brings it just to the simmering-point; if you prefer, warm the milk separately to just steaming before adding it. Either way, avoid a hard boil, which can curdle the milk in the salty oyster liquor.
- Season at the endSalting -- The recipe seasons at the start, with the liquor already in the pan. Salt cautiously, since the liquor itself is briny and varies a good deal from batch to batch. The paprika is for colour on the surface as much as for taste.
- YieldServes four as a first course, or two or three as a supper. It does not reheat well; make only what will be eaten.