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Oyster Sauce
Set a basin on the fire with half pint oysters, from which all bits of shell have been picked, and one pint boiling water; let boil three minutes, skim well, and then stir in half a cup butter beaten to a cream, with two table-spoons flour; let this come to a boil, and serve with boiled turkey. Or, make drawn butter, add a few drops lemonjuice, a tablespoon of capers, or a few drops vinegar, add oysters drained of the liquor, and let come to boiling point. The sauce is richer if cream instead of water is used in making the drawn butter, but in this case do not add the lemon-juice or vinegar.- Mrs. H. C. M. 4
A Victorian sauce for boiled turkey, given in two versions: oysters poached and thickened, or oysters folded into drawn butter. Both are simple, and both depend on not overcooking the shellfish.
- The hinge: oyster timingThree minutes at a boil will shrink oysters and turn them rubbery. Shucked oysters are done when the edges curl, roughly one to two minutes in barely simmering liquid; the second version, which brings them only to the boiling point, is the better guide.
- Half a pint of oystersOysters were sold by liquid measure, so this is a cup of shucked oysters with their liquor, about 12 to 18 medium oysters. A standard supermarket tub of shucked oysters is close enough.
- Do not discard the liquorThe pint of liquid called for in the first version is water; using strained oyster liquor as part of it gives more flavour. The second version drains the oysters, so their liquor is left out of the sauce.
- Drawn butterNot clarified butter in this period, but a plain white sauce: butter and flour cooked together, then let down with water, stock or cream. Here the ratio is half a cup butter to two tablespoons flour and a pint of liquid, which is a loose, pourable sauce rather than a coating one.
- Basin on the fireA basin here is any heavy saucepan. Use a wide pan so the oysters sit in a single layer and cook evenly.
- Cream and acidThe recipe gives no reason for the warning, but acid can curdle a cream sauce held over direct heat. If you want brightness in the cream version, add it off the heat at the last moment, or not at all.
- Yield and seasoningThe quantities given make something over a pint of sauce. No salt or pepper is specified because the oyster liquor carries salt; taste before adding any, and a little cayenne or mace would not be out of period.
- Buying oystersUse shucked oysters from a reputable fishmonger, refrigerated and within their date. They are cooked here, briefly but genuinely, so the risk is that of any lightly cooked shellfish rather than of raw.
Oyster sauce with boiled turkey was standard American holiday practice through the nineteenth century, when oysters were cheap, abundant and shipped inland by rail and barrel from the Chesapeake and Long Island Sound. Boiled turkey, now nearly extinct as a dish, was then a respectable alternative to roasting, and its pale, mild flesh asked for exactly this kind of rich white sauce; oyster stuffing served the same purpose from the inside. The Dixie Cook-Book (1883) was one of the large compiled household volumes of the era, assembled from contributions signed with initials, which is why this entry ends with "Mrs. H. C. M." rather than an author's name. The oyster's collapse from everyday food to luxury came later, with the overharvesting and pollution of the beds in the early twentieth century.