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Oysters, Jacques
Cut out from stale sandwich bread six quarter-inch slices, trim the crusts off, then cut each slice into four even, oval pieces. Lightly toast, spread a little anchovy butter over each and place on a dish. Broil for two minutes on each side, so as to have very crisp, six very thin slices of lean bacon; cut each slice into six equal pieces, arrange a piece on top of each toast and keep hot.
Roll twenty-four large, fresh-opened oysters in flour, heat two tablespoons of oil in a frying pan, add the oysters and fry for three minutes on each side. Drain on a cloth, then place one oyster over each toast on top of the bacon. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the oysters, place an ounce butter in a frying pan, toss until a light brown, then pour over the oysters and serve.
A hot oyster canapé built in three parts — toast, bacon, fried oyster — finished with browned butter. Everything hinges on assembling fast while each component is still hot and crisp.
- Fry the oysters far lessThree minutes per side will shrink large oysters to rubber. Floured oysters in hot oil need roughly 60 to 90 seconds a side, until the coating is golden and the edges just ruffle.
- Anchovy butterNot a shelf item in most shops. Mash 2 to 3 oil-packed anchovy fillets (or a teaspoon of anchovy paste) into 4 tablespoons of softened butter and let it sit half an hour so the salt distributes.
- YieldTwenty-four pieces, one oyster each — about six servings as a first course, or a platter of hors d'oeuvre for eight to ten.
- BaconModern sliced bacon is thicker and wetter than the "very thin slices of lean bacon" intended here. Ask for it shaved thin, or lay ordinary slices between paper towels and bake at 400F until brittle rather than broiling.
- The oval cutsFour ovals from a quarter-inch slice means small pieces, roughly 1 1/2 inches long. A plain round cutter is easier and wastes less; keep them just larger than a shucked oyster.
- Dry the oystersDrain shucked oysters well and blot before flouring, or the coating slides off in the pan. Flour them at the last moment; standing in flour turns it to paste.
- The finishing butterThis is beurre noisette. An ounce is 2 tablespoons; swirl it over medium heat only until it smells nutty and turns light brown, then pour immediately — it goes from brown to burnt in seconds.
- Order of workToast and butter the bread, crisp the bacon, and have the lemon halved before the oysters go in the pan. Fried oysters lose their crust the moment they sit.
This is a plated variation on the Victorian savoury of oysters and bacon — the same pairing that gives us angels on horseback, where an oyster is wrapped in bacon and grilled. Here the parts are kept separate and stacked on anchovy toast. Alexander Filippini, who compiled The International Cook Book, was associated for many years with Delmonico's, and the recipe has the character of that kind of restaurant cooking: many small components, each cooked separately, assembled at the last moment for a course meant to be eaten in one or two bites. Oysters were cheap and abundant, and shucked in enormous quantities in American cities before the beds were overfished. What the name "Jacques" refers to is not recorded here.