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Fried Oysters
Clean, and dry between towels, selected oysters. Season with salt and pepper, dip in flour, egg, and cracker or stale bread crumbs, and fry in deep fat. Drain on brown paper and serve on a folded napkin. Garnish with parsley and serve with or without Sauce Tyrolienne.
Fannie Farmer assumes you know her standing rules for deep fat and for crumbing, so the whole method fits in three lines. The two things that decide whether these are crisp or soggy are drying the oysters and getting the fat hot enough.
- Dry them properlyShucked oysters carry a great deal of liquor, and any moisture left on the surface will steam the coating off from the inside. Blot them well, then let them sit a few minutes on a dry towel before flouring.
- "Selected oysters"Probably the trade grade "selects," larger shucked oysters as distinct from the smaller "standards"; the grades were reckoned by the number of oysters to the gallon. Ask for large shucked oysters; allow about 6 per person as a course, 12 as a main dish.
- Fat temperatureFarmer's rule for uncooked mixtures is that a cube of bread should brown in 40 seconds, usually reckoned at somewhere around 375F. Much below 350F the crumbs absorb fat; much above 400F the coating colors before the oyster is heated through.
- TimingOne to two minutes, until the crumbs are deep gold. Oysters are done the moment their edges ruffle and firm; longer and they shrink and turn rubbery. Fry in small batches so the fat does not drop below temperature.
- The crumbing orderFlour, then beaten egg, then crumbs. The flour is what makes the egg adhere to a slippery oyster, so do not skip it. Egg thinned with a tablespoon of water or milk coats more evenly than egg alone.
- Cracker crumbsPeriod cracker crumbs meant rolled soda or common crackers, coarser and drier than modern fine breadcrumbs. Crushed saltines or panko both give a closer result than fine dry crumbs.
- Brown paper and napkinGrocers' paper was the usual drainer; a rack over a sheet pan is better, as paper on a plate traps steam. The folded napkin was a serving convention of the period, and would have caught any last fat at the table.
- Sauce TyrolienneGenerally a cold mayonnaise-based sauce flavored with tomato, sometimes with tarragon or onion; see the book's own recipe for its version. Tartar sauce or a plain remoulade stands in for it.
Fried oysters belong to the period when oysters were cheap, ubiquitous protein in American cities rather than a luxury: Chesapeake and Long Island Sound beds supplied barrels of shucked "counts" and "selects" to inland markets by rail and ice, and oyster saloons and church suppers served them fried by the plateful. That abundance is why The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book gives a whole section to shellfish and treats an oyster as an everyday item to be crumbed and fried like a cutlet. The instruction to drain on brown paper and serve on a folded napkin is a small snapshot of a kitchen with no paper towels and a dining room that still cared about the formalities; the French sauce name reflects the era's habit of dressing plain American food in restaurant French.