Author Notes: Twenty, twenty, twenty four hours to go…I wanna be sedated. Get me to a clam bar put me on a plane hurry, hurry, hurry before I go insane…
Cocktail sauce? Oh no, Oh no, Oh noooo!
This is a very simple mignonette but potentially lethal for the unsuspecting. I came up with this for a reunion of old college friends where I was blessed to have some expert shuckers on hand. They cranked out dozens of ersters while I worked on the mignonette. One of my friends had never tasted fresh oysters before and was going for a second helping. He was complementing me on the sauce when all of a sudden he experienced the H Bomb effect and his eyes got really, really big. The briny taste of raw shellfish should not be smothered by red glop. And I’ll say no more except that I thought about calling it “Horses on Hatch Covers” in tribute to another food52 recipe I’ve liked.
—pierino
Serves: 4
Ingredients
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12
littleneck clams or the same number of really good oysters, such as quilicene or kumamoto
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1
cup pear vinegar (or substitute good champagne vinegar)
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1
large shallot chopped
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1
heaping tablespoon freshly grated horseradish
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1
teaspoon freshly ground white peppercorns
Directions
- Shuck the oysters and set them out on a tray of crushed ice. They’ll be gone before the ice melts.
- Whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour into a bowl with a small spoon for your guests to top their bivalves with. You might want to warn them about the H Bomb unless you think they might want to relive their bar mitzvah.