Mignonette Sauce for Oysters

If it’s a month ending in ‘R’ it must be a good time for oysters. For us any time of year is good for eating oysters.

You have likely heard of the old adage to steer clear of oysters during the summer as there is concern for red tide (large blooms of algae) that spread toxins that could be absorbed by shellfish. Since oysters are largely commercially harvested and thus regulated by strict laws, it’s now safe to eat oysters all year long. Thank goodness.

Oysters are one of my dad’s favorite foods. Years ago my dad asked me to get him Mark Kurlansky’s book, The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell, for Father’s Day. It tells the story of the importance of oysters to New York City. If you know my dad, this is not at all a surprising request. This year we decided to have some oysters at home for an early Father’s Day dinner.

Over the last few years Ed has been honing his oyster shucking skills thanks to our friends sharing their techniques and a variety of knives and the all important glove (so he doesn’t hurt himself). While Ed is doing all the hard work, it’s my job to make a sauce to accompany the raw oysters. We like a traditional vinegar-based mignonette. That day I set out to make it with red wine vinegar like usual only to find out that my red wine vinegar had turned. It was brown and very musty – and didn’t taste good at all. Vinegar was one of those things I thought didn’t go bad. Instead I used a white balsamic vinegar and mixed it with finely chopped shallots, black pepper and pinch of salt. It turned out we all enjoyed the white balsamic vinegar version much better. I love it when things work out in the kitchen.

If you don’t have a white balsamic vinegar, champagne vinegar works nicely, too. I like to make this a few hours in advance so the shallots can mellow a bit and also turn the vinegar a pale pink. 

While we like many kinds of oysters our recent favorite has been Beausoleils (or Beau Soleils – French for ‘beautiful sun)’ from New Brunswick, Canada on the Atlantic Ocean. That’s what is pictured (unopened) with the mignonette.

Not sure you want to shuck oysters? Many seafood stores will do them for you. However you get your oysters, I hope you’ll try this simple accompaniment. And, remember you can enjoy oysters all year round.