No. 1064

Steamed Oysters and on Toast

Huitres a la Vapeur et Sur Croutes Grillees

Wash very carefully some medium sized unopened oysters: lay them on a wire grater provided with a handle so that they can easily be removed when done; set this grater into a steamer, cover it as hermetically as possible, and when the oysters are opened, lift them out, take off the flat shell, and serve them in the deep ones. Each guest seasons his oysters according to his individual taste, with salt, black or red pepper or tomato catsup. Serve some melted butter separately.

Steamed Oysters on Toast.—They must be steamed as for the above; open and put them into a sautoire with their own juice; season with salt, pepper and add a little fine butter, and serve them in a deep dish over slices of toasted bread.

← No. 1063 Oysters, Philadelphia Style Oysters No. 1065 Oysters, Bechamel with Truffles →

For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

Two versions of the same idea from Ranhofer's oyster chapter: whole oysters steamed in the shell, then either served on the half shell or shucked into their own liquor over toast. The method still works exactly as written, and the only real skill is knowing when to pull them.

The hinge: stop the moment they gapeThe hinge: watch for the gape -- The recipe says "when the oysters are opened, lift them out," and that is the whole instruction; no timing is given. Medium oysters generally gape somewhere in the five-to-ten-minute range over hard-boiling water, and they toughen quickly after that, so take them out as they open rather than waiting for the last stragglers.
Wire graterRanhofer means a wire rack or basket with a handle, not a rasp. Any steamer insert or a cake rack that fits your pot will do; the handle only matters so you can lift the whole batch clear of the steam at once.
SautoireA straight-sided shallow saute pan. For the toast version you are only warming the shucked oysters through in their liquor with a knob of butter, off a low flame, not cooking them a second time.
Cover as hermetically as possibleHeat is what makes the oyster's muscle release so the shell gapes, and a lid that seats badly loses steam, which means a longer cook and tougher oysters; weight it or close the gap with foil under the lid.
Lay them cupped side downNot stated in the original but it matters: the deep shell holds the liquor, and if it faces up the juice runs out into the steamer. That liquor is the seasoning for the toast version.
Discard any that stay shutAn oyster that will not open after the others have gone is best discarded rather than pried; a closed shell is the usual signal to leave it alone.
YieldThe recipe gives no quantities; six to eight oysters a head as a first course, or a dozen over two thick slices of toast, is a workable modern portion. The melted butter goes in a separate dish, warm but not browned.
CatsupThe tomato catsup of the 1890s was thinner, sharper and less sweet than the modern bottle. A cocktail sauce or a plain mignonette gets closer to what Ranhofer's guests were reaching for.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer spent some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York and published The Epicurean in 1894 as a near-encyclopedic record of what that kitchen did; the oyster section alone runs to dozens of numbered preparations, which tells you how central the oyster was to American dining in that decade. New York harbor and the Chesapeake were still producing them by the millions, cheap enough to be street food and refined enough for a French menu, and Ranhofer's habit of giving each dish a French title over an American ingredient is the whole book in miniature. Steaming in the shell is the plainest treatment he offers: it keeps the liquor, needs no shucking knife, and leaves the seasoning to the diner, which is why he simply lists salt, black or red pepper and catsup and lets each guest sort himself out.