FOOD & BEVERAGE吃: OYSTERS ROCKEFELLER

Few of my friends asked me before, "Cal, do u know how to make other cuisine besides Chinese / Asian ?"

I can proudly reply, besides Chinese food (which were passed down from my beloved mum) and yes, Cal can cook other cuisine as well.

There is no ending in learning. I love to eat, i love to try, i love to taste, i love to cook and basically everything involves with the big letter F (Food, of course) u will see me there. As i was born in an island, my passion for seafood is always there in my heart. Few months ago, I have successfully adjust, modified and make a dish from the history, Oysters Rockefeller.

Similar to many recipes and dishes, Oysters Rockefeller has an interesting story behind. It were created at the famous Antoine's restaurant, owned by Jules Antoine Alciatore in New Orleans in the late 1890s'. Alciatore's father, Antoine, had founded the restaurant in 1840 after unsuccessful attempts to do so in New York. Most accounts of the dish's history state that Jules Alciatore loved to serve escargot (French snails) but then there was shortage at the time and no snails were available. He decided the local and plentiful fresh oysters would be good substitute. The sauce he created for the oyster dish was green and appeared to be made of pureed vegetables. The recipe called for the fresh oysters to be served on the half-shell, topped with various other ingredients, butter sauce and breadcrumbs, then baked at a high temperature or broiled.

Alciatore supposedly named the dish Oysters Rockefeller after John D. Rockefeller, the richest American alive at the time. Based on the richness of the sauce which had a butter base. Oysters Rockefeller became an instant hit with diners and soon most New Orleans restaurants tried to duplicate it. Antoine’s maintains that no chef can ever copy the recipe with precision because its creator, Jules Alciatore, reportedly passed it on to his children upon his death. He is rumoured to have told them never to reveal it to anyone but family members, who have kept the secret for more than a century.

The biggest mystery of the ingredients of Oysters Rockefeller centers on the green sauce. Current and past chefs at Antoine’s insist the sauce has no spinach in it, but refuse to divulge what gives the sauce its bright green color. A laboratory analysis of the sauce in the mid 1980s revealed it contained parsley, celery that had been pureed and strained, olive oil, capers and either chives or scallions, which cannot be told apart through laboratory testing. Another theory about the green tint of the sauce purports it may have been obtained through the addition of Pernod, a liquor similar to absinthe.

The original recipe for this renowned baked oyster dish is still a secret.

Today there are many versions of this classic, the most common being oysters on the half shell topped with mixture of chopped spinach, butter, breadcrumbs and seasoning baked.The original Oysters Rockefeller is said to have been made with watercress, not spinach. Cooking it is not as hard as I imagined at the beginning. In fact, its so easy and although the preparations is a bit long but towards the end, its worth on every minute spends.

Methods :-

One dozen of fresh oysters.

It can be difficult to open an oyster instead of one's hand. The basic technique involved to open an oyster is very simple, and with a bit of practice, very easy. It is also important to use an oyster knife, a knife specifically designed for opening oysters, to open an oyster, rather than a generic knife, which could slip (I cut my fingers and hands before, so I got myself a proper knife specially for oyster only).

Before the oyster opening process begins, it is important to choose good oysters. Oysters should be purchased alive and they should be stored on ice or in a cool region of the fridge. If an oyster opens on its own, it is dead, and it should be discarded.

The oyster should be wrapped in a coarse kitchen cloth. This will make it easier to hold onto the shell, ensuring that the oyster does not slide out while it is being opened. Next, the oyster knife should be inserted between the halves of the shell, right next to the hinge, with the oyster in a horizontal position so that none of the liquid inside will escape when the oyster is opened. Once opened, the oyster should be held horizontally to avoid losing the juices.

Get ready 2 pots of boiling water, and put the opened shell into one and the oysters in another. Boiling the shells are to get rid of the dirt and sands which might be sticking on it. Scrubbing might works but with boiling, it will definitely kill any bacteria which might hide inside it. For the other pot of boiling oysters, do not boil for too long or else the oysters will be way too overcook and shrink. Just less then 5 seconds will do. Put the oysters in a bowl of cold water to prevent it to cook from the heat. Make it medium well as towards the end, the oysters will be bake in the oven.

Preparing the Spinach Mixture:-

In a saucepan, melt 5 tablespoon of butter. Be careful of not burning to black. Add in 2 pieces of chopped shallots. Fried it for an additional minute or two at very low heat.

At the same time get a pot of boiling water ready. Put fresh spinach (not those packet salad type selling in supermarket !), add a few dash of salt and let it boil in less then 5 minutes. Drain out the water,squeeze the spinach completely dry. Roll in in a bundle and chopped it to pieces. The smaller the better.

Add in the spinach in the butter saucepan and cook it, stirring constantly. Mix in breadcrumbs. Stir to mixing well. Add in dash of salt, sugar, mix herbs and nutmeg / cinnamon powder to taste. If it gets too dry off from the breadcrumbs, add a little more of butter to loosen up the mixture and make it more moist. Finally, my own personal favourite, whisky. Be generous on it as it will really bring up the aroma and exotic taste.

Baking :-