The Kitchen · Sauces & Staples · Any
Mignonette Sauce for Oysters
Drink: a Chablis or dry sparkling, or a splash of lemonade for the non-drinkers if you lean sweet.
Three ingredients and a rest. A proper mignonette is barely a recipe, but the difference between a rough chop and a fine, patient dice is the difference between eating shallot and eating oysters.
Make it before you shuck a single shell. It gets better while it waits.
Method
- Dice the shallot as small as your knife allows. Take your time; the pieces should be small enough to sit on an oyster without falling off.
- Stir the shallot into the vinegar with the cracked pepper.
- Rest at room temperature for 30 minutes so the shallot mellows into the vinegar.
- Serve cold with the oysters, a small spoon in the bowl.
Make it yours
- Champagne vinegar for something paler and softer.
- A teaspoon of finely diced cucumber folded in on very hot days.
- Add a little of the oyster liquor to the bowl at the table. It rounds everything out.
Between us
This keeps a week in the fridge, and it is very good spooned over tomatoes when the oysters are gone.
The pour matters: half a small spoon per oyster, not a bath.
Enjoy your thyme.
While you cook
pull up a chair
When the season turns, I write you a letter.
One short note when the menu changes: what’s ripe, what I’m cooking, and a few things worth gathering people around. Nothing else.