No. 2520

Garnishing of Oysters with Jelly

Garniture d'Huitres a la Gelee

Open some large oysters, poach, remove the muscle and split them in two through their thickness; cover both sides with a layer of jellied mayonnaise (No. 613) and reshape them as before; then lay them slightly apart on a baking sheet; brush the surfaces several times with half-set jelly, and keep them for a few moments on ice; afterward remove by cutting away the jelly all around with a plain pastry cutter dipped in hot water; detach the oysters from the sheet, heating this underneath, then dress.

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For the Modern Kitchen

This is a garnish, not a dish: cold poached oysters masked in aspic-set mayonnaise, meant to ring a platter of cold fish or a mousse. The whole thing stands or falls on temperature control at every stage.

The hinge: barely poachRanhofer says only "poach" and specifies neither liquid nor time. Modern practice is to slip the shucked oysters into their own strained liquor held just below a simmer and lift them out the moment the edges ruffle, about 30 seconds; anything longer and they shrink, weep and turn to rubber, and no amount of jelly will disguise it. Cool them at once in their liquor.
"Remove the muscle"The tough adductor muscle, the pale hard nub that anchored the oyster to its shell, is trimmed off with the point of a knife. What remains is the soft body, which is then split horizontally through its thickness into two thin discs.
Jellied mayonnaiseNo. 613 is mayonnaise collee: ordinary mayonnaise slackened with an equal-ish part of melted, nearly cool aspic and whisked until it thickens to a coating consistency. It sets firm when cold and is what allows a sauce to be spread on both faces of an oyster and hold its shape.
"Half-set jelly"Aspic at the point where it coats a chilled spoon in a shining layer but still flows. Warmer and it runs off; colder and it goes cloudy and streaked. Work in several thin brushed coats, chilling the tray between each, rather than one thick one.
The pastry cutter and the warm sheetThe oysters are glazed on the tray, so the surplus jelly sets into a sheet around them. A plain round cutter dipped in hot water cuts a clean collar of jelly with each oyster inside it; a brief pass of the tray over a warm burner releases the base without melting the glaze. Have the serving platter chilled and ready before you start lifting.
Aspic and gelatineNineteenth-century aspic was built from calf's foot and veal knuckle stock, clarified with egg white. Powdered or leaf gelatine in a well-flavoured, thoroughly clarified fish or chicken stock will substitute; start at about 2 teaspoons (7 g) per 2 cups and increase if the set is not firm enough to cut cleanly.
Keep it coldCooked shellfish in a mayonnaise-based coating is a classic buffet risk. Assemble in a cold room, hold refrigerated until service, and do not let the finished garnish sit out more than two hours in total.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York for over thirty years, published The Epicurean in 1894 as an encyclopedia of the restaurant's repertoire, and the long section on garnishings for cold dishes belongs to the world of the buffet froid and the piece montee, where a cold salmon or a galantine arrived under a mirror of aspic surrounded by decorated trifles. Mayonnaise collee and clear aspic were the two workhorses of that style, one to mask and one to glaze, and both depended on the kitchen having ice in quantity, which by the 1890s a first-class American house did. Oysters were then an everyday abundance in New York rather than a luxury, cheap enough to be split in half and used as ornament. The technique of setting decorations on a tray and cutting them free with a warmed pastry cutter is a garde-manger commonplace of the period, and it survives largely unchanged in competition cold buffet work today.