Oysters with Citrus Pink Peppercorn Mignonette

If one is not specific in their research, then it could lead to unintended places. Take, for example, a search for the history of the mignonette sauce served alongside oysters. I entered those terms in an online search, but I ended up with the history of a vessel called "Mignonette." As I read that history, I was treatred to the story of sailors taking the vessel from England to Austrailia around the Cape of Good Hope. They never made it ... running into trouble off the coast of Africa. The story gets worse from there, ending in cannabalism as the desperate and hungry sailors ended up eating one of their own. 

(This is not my first encounter with a voyage gone wrong during my research. I previously posted about Captain Crockett's last breakfast, the meal he ate aboard his vessel before being killed by the cook.)

Nevertheless, the desperation and horror aboard a vessel was hardly the story I expected to find as I searched for the history of the mignonette sauce. I honed my research terms and was able to engage in more palatable reading: the history and oritgin of a sauce about which little thought is probably given by those who eat oysters.

With all of that said, the history of the mignonette sauce is a little less clear than what happened to the crew of the vessel. While the term mignonette is obviously French, there are some who believe the sauce originated in England. Regardless of its origin, a mignonette began as something completely different that its present day form. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the term referred to a small cloth satchel of crushed peppercorns and spices that would be added to broths, sauces, soups and stocks. The satchel would flavor the liquid while preventing the cracked spices from making their presence known in the final dish. 

Eventually, the sauce evolved into a mixture of vinegar with minced shallots and cracked black pepper. That evolution took place at some point during the nineteenth century. The sauce eventually became a popular condiment served alongside oysters in the late 1800s, especially among the upscale dining establishments in the United States and across Western Europe. The term, mignonette, means "small and sweet," which is an obvious reference to the oyster given the sauce consists of bitter and acidic ingredients. The combination of bitter and sweet helps to round out the experience of eating oysters.

That is pretty much the history of a mignonette sauce, small and sweet. 

This particular recipe takes a twist on the standard mignonette recipe. It uses rice wine vinegar, which is milder and sweeter than white wine vinegar or regular vinegar. It adds back in some acidity through the use of lemon juice and lime juice. It also provides a subtle pepper note through the use of cracked pink peppercorn, as opposed to the traditional tellicherry black peppercorn. This sauce is perhaps my favorite mignonette recipe because it tracks the traditional recipe but in creative ways. 

OYSTERS WITH CITRUS PINK PEPPERCORN MIGNONETTE

Recipe from Hama Hama Oysters

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup rice wine viengar
• 1 lemon, juice & zest
• 1 lime, juice & zest
• 1/4 cup finely minced shallots (or substitute red onion)
• 1 teaspoon pink pepper corns, coarsely ground

Directions:

Stir all ingredients together and chill for an hour to infuse.

PEACE.

Oysters with Beer Mignonette

A mignonette is, by definition (assuming that one could define a mignonette), is a sauce consisting of three ingredients.  Those three ingredients are shallots, cracked black pepper and vinegar.  This definition is very basic; and, it is good.  Not excellent.  Not even very memorable.  Just good.  

The goodness of a mignonette may be the reason why many exercise their creativity to add ingredients to those three basic flavors.  I've done my part in the past.  I've made a Balsamic Mignonette, a Peach-Champagne Mignonette, and even a Mango-Habanero Mignonette.  Each effort was an attempt to add a couple of ingredients to the sauce.  The goal was to create flavors that would make a mignonette something memorable.  Sometimes, I succeeded.  Many times, I failed.  

My latest effort was to try something completely different.  If one were to add a liquid to a mignonette, it is usually a sparkling wine, like Champage, Cava or Prosecco.  If one could use wine in a mignonette, why could not someone use a beer.  I had a relatively light and tasty beer in the fridge -- New Belgium's Shift Pale Lager -- that could work.  As for the vinegar, I went with a sherry vinegar.  It was a tip of the hat to the fact that beers are often aged in barrels, including sherry casks.  The end result was a good effort at trying something new.  It could use a little refinement, but definitely a good start.

I can't end a mignonette recipe without talking about the oysters.  I used Choptank Oysters for this recipe.  Choptank Oysters are cultivated and harvested from the Choptank river, a Maryland river on the Eastern Shore that flows into the Chesapeake Bay.  The farming of these oysters represent one of many efforts to use sustainable methods of aqua-farming to restore this iconic shellfish to the Bay.  That is one reason why I bought them for this dish.

The other reason is the flavor of these oysters.  Choptank Oysters are sweet oysters.  The sweetness is most likely due to the fact that the Choptank river has only a moderate salinity.  A lower salinity means a oyster that is not very briny or salty. When it comes to a mignonette, the sweetness provides a great tableau for a mignonette.  The challenge is not to overwhelm that sweetness with other flavors.  While Choptank Oysters worked well with this recipe, any oyster will work as long as it is fresh.  

OYSTERS WITH BEER MIGNONETTE

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 2

Ingredients:

12 dozen Choptank oysters, shucked

1/2 cup of beer (preferably pilsner or lager)

1 teaspoon of pink peppercorns

1/2 shallot, minced

Sherry vinegar

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Pour the beer in a cup and let sit for 20 minutes to reduce carbonation.  Combine the shallots and peppercorns in a small bowl.  Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Add the beer and let the shallots sit in the beer for about 20 minutes.  Add a few dashes of sherry vinegar.  Stir well and pour into a ramekin.  Serve alongside the oysters.

ENJOY!

Oysters with Champagne, Anjou Pear and Pink Peppercorns

This recipe is still a work in progress.  It was a last minute recipe that I thought of while staring at a bin full of ice ... and Chincoteague oysters.  I have previously posted recipes for mignonettes, which are generally a "sauce" of vinegar and shallots with additional ingredients.  In the place of vinegar, I used Champagne.  Rather than shallots, I thought of pairing an Anjou pear and a little spice kick with pink peppercorns.

Champagne and pepper pair well with oysters.  Pears are a little more of a stretch.  However, it was still worth the experiment.  As it turns out, the pear gets a little lost in the taste of the oysters. The Champagne and peppercorns work well, providing some tartness and spice to the briny flavor of the oysters. A little experimentation with flavors that worked well, but not as well as some of the mignonettes that I have done in the past.

Even though the recipe was not a complete success, I decided to still post it so that I can go back and work on it a little more.

OYSTERS WITH CHAMPAGNE, ANJOU PEAR

AND PINK PEPPERCORNS

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 2

Ingredients:
12 oysters, shucked
1/2 Anjou pear, skinned, de-seeded and diced
1/2 cup of Champagne
Reunion Pink Peppercorns

Directions:

1.  Prepare the mignonette.  Add the pear and the champagne to a bowl.  Let the pear sit in the champagne for about ten or fifteen minutes.  

2.  Plate the dish.  Spoon a little of the pear and champagne over the oysters.  Add a couple pink peppercorns.  Serve immediately.

ENJOY!