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Steamed Oysters
Lay some oysters in the shell in some air-tight vessel, placing the upper shell downward so the liquor will not run out when they open. Set them over a pot of boiling water (where they will get the steam), and boil hard for twenty minutes; if the oysters are open they are done; if not, steam till they do open. Serve at once and eat hot, with salt and a bit of butter. Or, wash and drain one quart select oysters, put in pan and place in steamer over boiling water, cover and steam till oysters are plump with edges ruffled; place in heated dish with butter, pepper and salt, and serve.
Two methods in one entry: oysters steamed in the shell, and shucked oysters steamed in a pan. The first needs its timing cut hard, the second is close to how it is still done.
- Twenty minutes is far too longOysters in the shell begin gaping in 3-5 minutes over hard-boiling water and are done within a minute or two of that. Twenty minutes leaves them shrunken and rubbery; pull them as they open rather than cooking to the clock.
- Which shell downThe recipe as printed says to place "the upper shell downward", though keeping the liquor in requires the deep cupped shell underneath and the flat lid on top. Arrange them in a single layer so they are not tipping against each other.
- "Air-tight vessel"This means a pot or steamer basket with a well-fitting lid, not a sealed container. A pasta pot with an insert, or a wide pan with a rack set above an inch of water, works exactly as intended.
- Scrub firstThe recipe assumes it. Shells carry grit and mud that will end up in the liquor once they gape, so scrub under cold running water with a stiff brush and discard any that are already open and will not close when tapped.
- A quart of select oysters"Select" is a shucked-oyster grade, medium size, sold in liquor by volume. A quart weighs roughly 2 lb including the liquor; the number of oysters in it varies with grade and packer.
- Ruffled edges are the signalFor the shucked method, the mantle frill curling up is the doneness cue and it arrives in about two to three minutes. Past that the oysters weep and toughen.
- YieldA quart of shucked oysters serves four as a first course. Reckon six to twelve oysters in the shell per person.
- Save the liquorWhatever collects in the bottom shells or the steaming pan is worth pouring over the oysters in the hot dish, or keeping for a stew. It is the seasoning the recipe is trying to protect.
Steaming oysters in their own shells is among the simplest ways to cook them and needs no equipment beyond a fire and a lid, which may be why it turns up in nineteenth-century American cookbooks with almost no elaboration. The Dixie Cook-Book was compiled in the 1880s for Southern households at a time when oysters were cheap, abundant and shipped inland by rail in barrels and cans. The grading language survives: "select" still denotes a mid-sized shucked oyster sold by the quart, a trade term rather than a mark of quality. The generous twenty minutes here may reflect caution about oysters that had travelled, and about the coal ranges of the period, where "boiling hard" was less reliably achieved than on a modern burner.