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Oyster Ravigote
Drain thirty-six fresh opened oysters on a cloth, lightly roll in flour, then dip in beaten eggs, and lastly roll in bread crumbs. Arrange in a frying basket and fry in boiling fat for five minutes. Drain thoroughly on a cloth, dredge a teaspoon salt over them, dress on a dish with a folded napkin, decorate with six quarters lemon and parsley greens, and serve with a cold ravigote sauce separately.
A straightforward fried oyster, but the frying time is the one number worth ignoring. Everything else is technique the original assumes you already have.
- Five minutes is far too longBreaded oysters at 365-375F are done in 60-90 seconds, two minutes at the outside, once the crumbs are deep gold. Five minutes leaves the crumb burnt and the oyster shrunk to a rubbery bead. Work in small batches so the fat does not drop below 350F.
- "Boiling fat"Fat does not boil; the phrase is period shorthand for fat hot enough to bubble furiously around whatever is dropped in. Read it as 365-375F on a thermometer.
- Dry the oysters properlyDraining on a cloth is not fussiness. Wet oysters shed their coating in the fat, and the water spits. Pat them until the surface looks matte before the flour goes on.
- Let the breading setFlour, egg, crumbs, then ten to fifteen minutes on a rack before frying gives a shell that holds together. The recipe calls for a frying basket, though breaded food can stick to it; a spider or slotted spoon is easier.
- Salt after, not beforeThe recipe dredges a teaspoon of salt over the drained oysters at the end. That is correct and worth keeping: oysters carry their own brine, and salting before breading draws out liquid that ruins the crust.
- Cold ravigoteThe classic cold version is a sharp vinaigrette with capers, chopped shallot or onion, and a good quantity of chervil, tarragon, chives and parsley, sometimes sharpened with mustard. Some American kitchens, New Orleans especially, build a mayonnaise-based ravigote instead; either suits fried oysters, but make it ahead so the herbs infuse.
- YieldThirty-six oysters and six lemon quarters point at six servings as a first course. As a main dish it feeds three or four.
- The napkinThe folded napkin on the platter is a period serving convention that also absorbs residual fat. A rack or a paper-lined dish does the job if you would rather not launder it.
Ravigote takes its name from the French ravigoter, to perk up or invigorate, and the sauce is exactly that: a herb-and-vinegar lift for things that are rich, bland or plainly fried. Cooks distinguish a hot ravigote, a velout he ccold one called for here, essentially a vinaigrette loud with capers, shallot and the fines herbes. A separate American line, strongest in New Orleans, treats ravigote as a mayonnaise sauce and serves it with cold crab and shrimp as often as with oysters. That this book pairs it with three dozen deep-fried oysters is telling: oysters were cheap and plentiful enough to be counted out by the dozen, and a sharp cold sauce did the balancing.