James Beard's New Fish Cookery (46 page)

It was the man of the house who always cooked these oysters. He would never trust the women or the cook to do the job properly. Such perfection of cookery I have seldom encountered since, and the smell of those early morning oyster fries has stayed in my memory and enchanted me for years.

Here, so far as I can remember, is Mr. Hamblet’s oyster recipe:

Butter

3 eggs

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1 quart oysters (not too big)

Freshly rolled cracker crumbs, preferably saltines

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Melt plenty of butter in your skillet — it should be about 1/2 inch deep. (I usually use part oil so the butter will not burn.) Beat the eggs lightly and combine with the cream. Dip the oysters in the egg mixture, then in the crumbs, and arrange on wax paper (far enough apart so they do not touch) and let them stand for a few minutes before cooking. They should be cooked just long enough to brown delicately and get a little crisp. Salt and pepper to taste and serve with lemon wedges or with tartar sauce (pages 35–36).

OYSTER SAUTÉ

Oysters may be dipped in flour and sautéed in butter very quickly. You may season them with chopped herbs or a little white wine, or simply with salt and freshly ground black pepper. They are particularly good with tarragon and a little white wine, or with equal amounts of chives and parsley and a little white wine. They will cook in 3 or 4 minutes — be careful not to overcook them.

VARIATIONS

1. Sauté oysters in butter and serve on fried toast with a sauce made as follows: To the juices in the pan add 4 tablespoons butter, 1 clove garlic finely minced, and 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley. Pour this over the oysters on the toast. Six or 7 oysters fixed in this manner will make a good serving for a first course at dinner or a main course at luncheon.

2. Sauté 24 oysters and arrange them on thin slices of frizzled ham. Garnish with sautéed mushroom caps and chopped parsley.

3. Sauté a chicken in butter with a little parsley and some white wine. Sauté 24 oysters in butter and combine with the chicken. This is an excellent combination of flavors.

4. Combine sautéed oysters with broiled fillets of any white-meated fish, such as sole. Grill the fillets or sauté them in butter and smother them with the oysters. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and chopped parsley.

FRENCH-FRIED OYSTERS

Fat for frying (
or
oil)

2 eggs

3 tablespoons of cream

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Bread
or
cracker crumbs
or
corn meal

1 quart oysters

Flour

Heat fat to 380°. Beat the eggs with the cream; add the seasonings. Roll the crumbs very fine. Dip the oysters in flour, then in the egg mixture, and then in the crumbs. Fry for about 2 minutes or until delicately browned. Drain on absorbent paper. Salt and pepper.

VARIATION

Add 1 tablespoon curry powder to the egg mixture or to the crumbs.

HANGTOWN FRY

This mixture of eggs and oysters is made in several ways. Here are three popular methods.

1. Beat eggs with cream and seasonings, using 2 eggs for 4 large oysters. Sauté oysters in a skillet and pour the egg mixture over them. Continue cooking until the eggs are set. Turn out on a platter.

2. This is an Italian version, similar to a frittata. Fry the oysters until just delicately browned. Mix 2 eggs and 1 tablespoon cream for each 4 oysters and combine with 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese. Pour over the oysters and place under the broiler until the eggs are set.

3. Fold fried oysters into scrambled eggs just before they are ready to serve.

Scallops

The scallop is a mollusk that is so named because of its beautifully fluted and scalloped shell. There are two types found along most American shores. The tiny bay scallop is tenderer and more delicately flavored, and is so popular that the supply has been greatly depleted. Then there is the larger deep sea scallop, which is more generally available.

In Europe, where they are called by the French term Coquilles St. Jacques, scallops are eaten whole. In this country, only the muscle that controls the shell movement is used — no one seems to know why — and the rest of the meat is used for bait or fertilizer. One pound will supply 3 average or 2 large servings.

SCALLOPS AS AN APPETIZER

Raw scallops are delicious, although few people eat them this way — possibly the idea has never been suggested to them. Serve with a sauce rémoulade (page 35), a sauce gribiche (pages 36–37), or perhaps a sauce Béarnaise (page 26). The bay scallops, tiny and tender, served like oysters with lemon, salt, and pepper, have delightful and unusual flavor.

BROILED SCALLOPS

Place the scallops on a flat tin — a baking sheet or pie tin. Dot them with butter and sprinkle lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place under the broiler, about 3 inches from the flame. They will take from 5 to 6 minutes to broil and become delicately browned. Serve with lemon juice.

SAUTÉED SCALLOPS

11/2 pounds scallops

Flour

6 tablespoons butter

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Wash the scallops and pick out any bits of shell. Dry and dust lightly with flour. Melt the butter in a skillet, and add the scallops. Let them cook quickly and not too long or they will get tough and lose their delicious flavor. They should just heat through and brown lightly. Salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve with lemon wedges. Serves 4.

SCALLOPS SAUTÉ PROVENÇALE

11/2 pounds bay scallops

Flour

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 or 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup chopped parsley

Wash and dry the scallops and roll them in flour. Heat the olive oil, add the scallops and cook them very quickly, tossing them lightly in the hot oil. While they are cooking add the chopped garlic and mix it in well. Then salt and pepper to taste, and just before taking the pan from the stove, add the parsley and toss it around so that the scallops are nicely coated with it. Serve with lemon wedges. Scallops Provençale are often served in shells — a very attractive dish.

VARIATION

Peel, seed, and chop 3 medium tomatoes. Sauté them in butter until soft and thick. Serve with the scallops.

SCALLOPS SAUTÉ FINES HERBES

Follow the same procedure as for scallops Provençale, omitting the garlic and adding 1 teaspoon chopped tarragon and 1 teaspoon chopped chives with the parsley.

SCALLOP QUICHE

White wine
or
dry vermouth

1/2 pound scallops

9 to 12 small mushroom caps

1 cup light cream

1/2 cup heavy cream

Cayenne pepper

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 eggs

1 9-inch pastry shell

Partially pre-bake the pastry shell for 10 to 12 minutes in a 400° oven, and brush the inside lightly with an egg yolk. Return the shell to the oven for an additional 2 minutes. Poach scallops and mushroom caps in enough white wine to barely cover, until scallops and mushrooms are just cooked through. Drain scallops and mushrooms and pat dry. Arrange in a starburst pattern, starting from the center and moving to the outer edge of the pastry shell alternating scallops with mushroom caps, or lining rows of scallops next to rows of mushroom caps. Combine the light cream, heavy cream, salt, pepper, a dash of cayenne, and the eggs. Beat together until thoroughly blended. Carefully pour custard into the pie shell. Bake in a 375° oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the quiche is well puffed and brown and tests done.

SCALLOP STEW

See oyster stew, page 433.

FRIED SCALLOPS

2 pounds scallops

Beer batter (page 99)

Fat
or
oil

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Wash, drain, and dry scallops on a dry cloth. Prepare the beer batter. Heat fat or oil for deep frying to 370°. Dip the scallops into the beer batter and drop by spoonfuls into the hot fat. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or just long enough for them to brown nicely. Drain on absorbent paper. Season to taste and serve with tartar sauce (pages 35–36).

SCALLOPS MORNAY

2 pounds scallops

White wine to cover

Bouquet garni (onion, parsley, thyme)

Sauce Mornay (page 22)

Buttered crumbs

Grated Parmesan cheese

Poach the scallops in white wine with the bouquet garni for 3 to 5 minutes — until they are just cooked through. Drain them and use some of the white wine to prepare the sauce Mornay. Arrange the scallops in shells or small ramekins and cover with the sauce. Sprinkle with buttered crumbs and a little grated Parmesan cheese. Heat under the broiler for a few minutes to glaze the tops.

There is usually enough seasoning in the sauce; however, it is wise to taste for seasoning before you fill the ramekins.

VARIATIONS

1. Line individual casseroles with thin slices of frizzled smoked ham. Place scallops on top. With the aid of a pastry tube squeeze a ruffle of Duchess potatoes around the edge. Cover the scallops with sauce Mornay and sprinkle liberally with buttered crumbs. Bake in a 450° oven for 10 or 15 minutes to give a pleasant glaze to the sauce and brown the potatoes.

2. Poach the scallops in white wine. Prepare the sauce Mornay. Line a shallow oval baking dish with a border of Duchess potatoes piped through a pastry tube. Alternate scallops and mushroom caps that have been sautéed in butter for 6 minutes. Correct the seasoning and cover the scallops and mushrooms with the sauce Mornay. Sprinkle with crumbs and grated Parmesan and Gruyère. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes or until nicely browned.

SCALLOPS DUXELLES

2 pounds scallops

2 cups white wine

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 onion, finely chopped

1 pound mushrooms, finely chopped

9 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1 cup bouillon from the scallops

Buttered crumbs

Poach the scallops for 6 minutes in white wine to cover. Salt and pepper to taste. Drain and save the bouillon. Sauté the onion and half the mushrooms in 6 tablespoons of the butter until they cook down thoroughly and are almost a paste. Add a little of the wine bouillon if necessary. Spread the bottom of shells or ramekins with this mixture.

Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter in a small skillet and add the rest of the mushrooms. Cook for 3 minutes, add the flour, and mix well. Add the tomato sauce and bouillon and stir until the sauce is well blended and thickened. If it does not thicken enough add a little beurre manié (page 475). Correct the seasoning. Cover the mushroom paste in the ramekins with scallops and top with the sauce. Sprinkle with crumbs and brown quickly in a very hot oven — 500° — or under the broiler.

VARIATION

Use part scallops and part shrimp, mussels, or clams. I like this dish made with a third scallops, a third shrimp, and a third oysters for a change. Poach the shrimp and scallops in white wine and add the oysters to the sauce at the last minute.

COQUILLES ST. JACQUES MONTEIL

11/2 pounds bay scallops

7 tablespoons butter

6 shallots
or
green onions, chopped

Bouquet garni (parsley, onion, celery leaves, thyme, bay leaf)

11/2 cups white wine

12 mushrooms, finely chopped

1/3 cup water

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 teaspon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 or 3 tablespoons flour

4 egg yolks

1 cup heavy cream

Grated Parmesan cheese

Bread crumbs

Wash the scallops and place in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of the butter, the shallots, and the bouquet garni. Barely cover with white wine and simmer for about 4 to 6 minutes until the scallops are done. Drain and save the cooking liquid. When the scallops are cool enough to handle, cut them into small pieces.

Melt 2 more tablespoons of butter and add the mushrooms. Add the water, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Let this cook for about 5 or 6 minutes over low heat. Drain the mushrooms and save the liquid.

Prepare a beurre manié with the remaining 3 tablespoons butter and the flour. Add the combined cooking liquids from the scallops and mushrooms and stir over a medium flame until thickened. Correct the seasoning. Add the scallops and let them heat in the sauce. Cool slightly. Combine the egg yolks and cream and stir into the mixture. Continue stirring over a low flame until it is well thickened, but take care that the mixture does not boil. Add the mushrooms. The sauce will be quite thick — stiff enough to be heaped into shells or individual casseroles. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese and glaze under the broiler.

VARIATION

You may use half scallops and half some other seafood.

SCALLOPS AND BACON EN BROCHETTE

Intertwine scallops and rashers of bacon on skewers. Put the bacon on first, then a scallop, then bacon, then a scallop, and so on. Brush the scallops well with butter, salt and pepper them, and broil until they are delicately browned and the bacon is cooked. Serve with lemon wedges.

Cold Cooked Scallops

SCALLOPS IN MAYONNAISE

2 pounds scallops

White wine

Bouquet garni (onion, parsley, thyme)

Lettuce

Potato salad

Mayonnaise

Capers

Poach the scallops in white wine with the bouquet garni. Drain and let them cool. Arrange a bed of finely shredded lettuce. Cover it with a layer of sliced potato salad. Top with the scallops and mask with mayonnaise. Decorate with capers.

SCALLOP SALAD

Poach the scallops in white wine with the bouquet garni (see recipe above). Drain and let them cool. Pour over them a sauce vinaigrette and let them stand for 2 hours. Arrange Boston lettuce and romaine in a bowl, add thinly sliced onion rings and quartered tomatoes and hard-cooked eggs. Put the scallops in the center. Decorate with capers and sliced cucumbers and serve with additional vinaigrette sauce (page 36).