In the distant past of my culinary explorations, I had read about
hoya santa. That's a common ingredient in Mexican cookery, used to wrap fish and tamales, my recollection is that imparts an unusual flavor.
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| Galatoire's Restaurant |
Sometimes my readings bring a confluence of ideas and this was one of those revelations. The leaf is the secret ingredient for Oysters Rockefeller.
I will give 4 variations on this dish, below. Each attempts to give a flavor in imitation of the dish. The recipe as we know it originates in New Orleans Louisiana. There is some debate as to whether the dish originated at Galatoire's Restaurant or Antoine's Restaurant. Antoine's is definitely older, but George Leonard Herter, writing in his amusingly self-centered cookbook: Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices, gives the edge to Galatoire's.
A short historical foodway. Servants in the 19th and probably the early 20th century were often fed oysters and in the New England area, lobster as well. So cheap were these two foods, that servants had it in their employment contracts that they would be served oysters and lobsters no more then "three times a week". Who among us would object to that now-a-days? Oyster shells were so numerous that they were used to pave roads. So getting back to the recipe, selling oysters must have been a chore as they were considered food for the poor. Selling oysters as some special dish must have raised eyebrows.
This essay is not only a recipe but a review of how the real recipe gets corrupted. I've written about this before regarding the Pisco Punch (sometimes: Pisco Sour).
So here in chronological order of newest to oldest are four recipes for Oysters Rockefeller, representing about 60 to 90 years of history.
Oysters Rockefeller - What's Cooking America
6 servings
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Preparation Time: 1/2 hour
Category: Appetizers and Soups
Cuisine: Cajun, Creole
Website: http://whatscookingamerica.net/Seafood/OystersRockefeller.htm
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Ingredients
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36 fresh fresh (live) oysters on the half shell
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons finely-minced fresh spinach leaves
3 tablespoons finely-minced onion
3 tablespoons finely-minced parsley
5 tablespoons homemade bread crumbs
Tabasco Sauce to taste
1/2 teaspoon Herbsaint or Pernod
1/2 teaspoon salt
Rock Salt
Lemon wedges for garnish
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Instructions
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* It is best to use small oyster for this recipe. The oysters
themselves (not the shells) should be no more than 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Any variety of oysters will work; just make sure the oysters you choose are as fresh as possible, still alive, and tightly closed.
** Herbsaint and Pernod are an aniseed flavored spirit, available where liquor is sold.
Using an oyster knife, pry open the oyster shells, then remove the oysters. Discard the top shells; scrub and dry the bottom shells. Drain the oysters, reserving the oyster liquor.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter; add spinach, onion, parsley, bread crumbs, Tabasco Sauce, Herbsaint, and salt. Cook, stirring constantly, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Press the spinach mixture through a sieve or food mill; let cool.
NOTE: Mixture may be made ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to use. Preheat oven broiler. Line an ovenproof plate or platter with a layer of rock salt about 1-inch deep (moisten the salt very slightly). Set oysters in the rock salt, making sure they are level. Place a little of the reserved oyster liquor on each oyster. Spoon an equal amount of the prepared spinach mixture over each oyster and spread to the rim of the shell. Broil approximately 5 minutes or until the edges of the oysters have curled and the topping is bubbling. NOTE: Watch carefully.
Garnish the plates or platter with the parsley sprigs and the lemon wedges. Serve immediately.
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Notes
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Oysters Rockefeller is a dish of oysters with a sauce, made up of eighteen ingredients, including absinthe. It is usually served in oyster shells.
1850 - Antoine Alciatore, the original owner of Antoine's Restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana, made a specialty dish of snails called "snails Bourgignon" which was very popular. The restaurant, located on Rue St. Louis in the New Orleans French Quarter, was opened in 1840, and Antoine's is the country's oldest family-run restaurant.
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Title: Oysters Rockefeller - Southern Living
Yield: 4 servings
Cooking Time: 7 minutes
Preparation Time: 1/2 hour
Category: Appetizers and Soups
Cuisine: American - Southern
Source: Southern Living NOVEMBER 2003
Website: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/oysters-rockefeller-10000000549889/print/
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Ingredients
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1 cup unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup fennel bulb, chopped
1 teaspoon chopped fresh chervil or tarragon
2-3 chopped celery leaves
2 cups watercress or baby spinach leaves
1/3 cup fine dry breadcrumbs - prefer Panko
2 tablespoons anise-flavored liqueur
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8-1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
4 pound box rock salt
2 dozen fresh oysters on the half shell
lemon wedges - as garnish
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Instructions
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Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium-high heat; add parsley and next 4 ingredients. Sauté 2 to 3 minutes. Add watercress, and cook 2 to 3 minutes or until wilted. Cool.
Pulse parsley mixture in food processor with the remaining 13 tablespoons butter, breadcrumbs, and liqueur until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides. Add salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Fill pie pans or a large baking sheet with 2 pounds rock salt. Dampen salt slightly, and arrange oysters on the beds of salt. Top each oyster with a spoonful of the parsley mixture. Bake at 450° about 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly. Serve on a bed of rock salt, and garnish, if desired.
Note: For testing purposes, we used Pernod for anise-flavored liqueur.
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| Too Much Breading |
Title: Oysters Rockefeller - Louis P. de Gouy
Yield: 4 servings
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Preparation Time: 1/2 hour
Category: Appetizers and Soups
Cuisine: American - Southern
Source: The Gold Cookbook by de Gouy - p 38
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Ingredients
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24 oysters
4 bunches scallions - tails and tips
4 stalks celery, peeled
1 bunch chervil
1/2 bunch tarragon - leaves only
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 tsp. Cholula hot sauce [original called for Tabasco]
4 ozs. butter - unsalted
1 dash of absinthe (optional)
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Instructions
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Mix all the ingredients in a mortar, except the oysters and absinthe. When the mixture is a paste, add the absinthe. Force the mixture through a fine sieve.
Open the oysters and place on a bed of rock salt in a suitable pie pan or similar container, with the deep side down.
Place of spoon of sauce over each of the oysters to cover completely. Run into the broiler or salamander for 5 minutes until the sauce browns lightly. Serve immediately.
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Notes
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The rock salt is used to keep the oysters hot.
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Title: Oysters Rockefeller - Bull Cook & Historical Recipes
Yield: 4 Servings
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Preparation Time: 1/2 hour
Category: Appetizers and Soups
Cuisine: American - Southern
Source: Bull Cook & Authentic Historical Recipes by George Leonard Herter
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Ingredients
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24 oysters
1/2 cup broccoli cooked
1/2 cup parsley, Italian, leaves only, well packed
1 cup scallions, whites only
1/4 cup spinach, pureed
1/4 cup celery, with leaves, pureed
1/2 cup lettuce leaves, cooked (steamed?)
3 tbs. butter, melted
2 cloves garlic, mush
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne
1 tsp. anise flavoring
1/2 cup bread crumbs
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Instructions
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Dry the oysters and place them in their respective shells and into the pie pan with salt.
Drain all wet ingredients to bring them to as dry a state as possible. Use a mortar to make a sauce of the ingredients, except the oysters and breadcrumbs. Cover each oyster with the sauce and then sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
Run under the boiler or salamander for 5 minutes, until the
breadcrumbs brown lightly. Serve immediately.
Repeatedly, the recipe writers attempt to make a thick coating for the oysters. None of them are able to deduce the hoya santa leaf as the secret ingredient. Consider the amount of work in first cooking all the vegetables, then wringing the liquid from them. The restaurant would be de-flavoring the food before it got to the table. Herter's recipe is particularly egregious here. And restaurants have to pay sous-chefs to prep all this. The hoya santa leaf is both logically and flavorfully the right ingredient. Note that the more liquid you use to make this sauce, the more you have to remove the liquid to make the sauce the correct thickness.
To get a sense of the flavor of the leaf, I bought 2 of them. They are quite large as sold on Sundays at the outdoor market. Measuring about 6"x 8" two are enough for two omelettes. The flavor is mysterious, delicate and sort-of elusive. And that's enough yak yak that sounds like some geek at a wine tasting.
Here's my take on this most celebrated of recipes. The hoya santa would weigh half a pound to make sufficient sauce to cover a dozen oysters. Process in the food processor to make a near paste. Fry some shallots in butter. Lots of butter. When softened, add the shallots and process that into the paste. Spread the paste heavily over each oyster. Run under the broiler for 5 minutes to make a golden crust on top. Serve immediately. The rock salt is used for two reasons. 1-to keep the oysters from tipping and 2-to keep the oysters warm while they are eaten. The excess of salt add nothing of flavor, only charm.
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| Good cooked or raw |
Some modern and some ancient recipes add bacon. Others bacon and cheese. These recipe writers have totally corrupted the original (and better) recipe.
