No. 2231

Cases of Oysters a la Hilton

Caisses d'Huitres a la Hilton

Prepare and line the cases exactly as for Lorenzo (No. 2232); fill them with small oysters after removing the muscle or ligament, cover over fine herbs cooked dry (No. 385), and finish with a bechamel sauce (No. 409), reduced with the oyster liquor, well seasoned; besprinkle with fried breadcrumbs, brown in a hot oven and serve on folded napkins.

← No. 2230 Cases of Larks or Snow Birds Miscellaneous Entrées No. 2232 Cases of Oysters a la Lorenzo →

For the Modern Kitchen

A cross-referenced entry typical of Ranhofer: the case, the herbs and the sauce are all built elsewhere in the book, and this recipe only tells you how to assemble them. The critical point is heat and time — the oysters are already cooked the moment the sauce hits them.

What a "caisse" isNot a casserole dish but an individual case. Ranhofer's caisses are variously small paper cases or shapes cut and hollowed from bread, but the preparation here is given at No. 2232 rather than on this page, so check it there. A small ramekin is the nearest modern stand-in.
The oven, and how longThe recipe says only "a hot oven," and gives no temperature; read it as a hot oven in modern terms and keep the pass short, just until the crumbs colour and the sauce bubbles at the edge. Small oysters held longer shrink and turn rubbery, which is the one failure this dish cannot recover from.
Removing the muscleThe tough adductor muscle at the side of the oyster is what Ranhofer means by "the muscle or ligament." Pinch it off with your fingers or trim it with the point of a knife; leaving it in gives a chewy nub in an otherwise soft filling.
Fines herbes cooked dryNo. 385 is Ranhofer's fine herbs cooked dry, a chopped aromatic mixture sweated in butter until the moisture has gone; consult that entry rather than assuming a fixed list. Cook it until the pan is dry or the liquid will thin the bechamel and flood the case.
The sauceA bechamel reduced with the strained oyster liquor should be distinctly thick — coating the back of a spoon heavily — since the oysters will release more liquid in the oven. Strain the liquor through a fine sieve or cloth to catch shell grit.
Fried breadcrumbsThese are dry crumbs browned in butter in a pan beforehand, not raw crumbs sprinkled on top. They are already coloured, so the oven is only reheating and crisping them; watch that they do not scorch.
Yield and serviceThe recipe gives no quantities; fill each case to suit its size and serve as a first course. The dish is sent out on folded napkins, as the recipe directs.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty years' cooking at Delmonico's in New York, and it is full of dishes named for the restaurant's patrons and public figures of the day — a Gilded Age habit of flattery in French. The name here is generally taken to honour Henry Hilton, the New York judge and businessman entangled with the A. T. Stewart estate, though Ranhofer never explains his dedications and the attribution is traditional rather than documented. The dish itself belongs to a whole family of caisses in the book, small filled cases of bread or oiled paper baked and served in multiples, which suited a restaurant kitchen because the components could be held separately and assembled to order. Oysters were then cheap and everywhere in New York, sold by the barrel from Fulton Market, which is why a book of luxury cookery treats them as a filling rather than the centrepiece.