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Oysters En Brochette
Procure thirty-six very fresh medium oysters and have the same number of thin pieces lean bacon about an inch square. Arrange oysters and bacon alternately on six skewers; pour a tablespoon oil on a plate with a teaspoon salt and half teaspoon paprika. Mix the seasoning well, roll the skewers in the seasoning and then in bread crumbs. Arrange the skewers on a double broiler and broil on a brisk fire for six minutes on each side. Remove, dress on a hot dish with six-freshly prepared toasts. Spread a maitre d'hotel butter over the brochettes and serve.
A straightforward broiled skewer, but the original timing belongs to a coal grate rather than an electric broiler, and it will overcook the oysters if followed literally.
- The hinge: cooking timeTwelve minutes total will shrink the oysters to rubber. Under a preheated broiler they need about 2 to 3 minutes a side, until the bacon has coloured and the crumbs are gold; the oysters should be just firm at the edges and still plump.
- A double broilerThis is the hinged wire grill basket that clamps food between two grids so it can be turned in one motion. A modern flat wire rack over a sheet pan, or simply resting the skewers on the pan rim, does the same job.
- "Brisk fire"High direct heat. Set an oven broiler to high, preheat it fully, and place the skewers 3 to 4 inches below the element.
- The baconThin lean bacon of this period was likely saltier and drier than most supermarket bacon. Cut modern bacon into 1-inch squares and render it briefly in a dry pan until limp but not crisp, or it will still be raw when the oysters are done.
- OystersThirty-six shucked medium oysters is roughly a quart, or about four 8-oz containers of shucked oysters. Drain them well and pat dry, or the crumbs will slide off.
- SkewersSix oysters and six bacon squares per skewer. Soak wooden skewers for 30 minutes so the exposed ends do not char under the broiler; flat metal skewers keep the pieces from spinning when turned.
- Maitre d'hotel butterNot a commercial product. Cream 4 tablespoons softened butter with a tablespoon chopped parsley, a teaspoon lemon juice, salt and pepper; chill it, then let it melt over the hot skewers.
- YieldSix skewers on six pieces of toast, so six servings as a first course, or three as a light main.
En brochette is simply French for "on a skewer," and the phrase is generally traced to American restaurant menus of the late nineteenth century, arriving along with much of the rest of the professional French vocabulary. The pairing of oyster and bacon is older and English in feeling "" the same logic as angels on horseback, where the salt fat seasons a bland, watery shellfish and protects it from the fire. Books of this period treat oysters as an everyday food rather than a luxury: the Chesapeake and Gulf fisheries were still enormous, shucked oysters were shipped inland by rail in ice, and a household cookbook could reasonably tell a reader to "procure thirty-six" without comment on cost. The instruction to finish with maitre d'hotel butter and toast points marks this as a hotel-style savoury, the kind of small hot dish served before dinner or at a late supper.