Take your oysters to the next level with this mignonette sauce recipe. With shallots, vinegar and white pepper, it’s a classic accompaniment to raw oysters.
Do you like raw oysters? My brother Matt lives in Point Reyes, California and has access to wonderful Tomales Bay oysters.
Lately he brings a few dozen when he comes to visit. The oyster eaters among us gather and celebrate when he arrives.
What is mignonette sauce?
My favorite accompaniment to fresh, raw oysters is this mignonette—a savory vinegar and shallot sauce that’s sprinkled over the oyster like a squeeze of lemon juice.
It’s a nice balance with the salty, slightly creamy oysters.
An oyster sauce with French roots
The recipe comes from my French sweetheart who grew up eating oysters in the south of France. This is his favorite mignonette recipe, which he makes every time we get together to enjoy oysters.
Incidentally, in his opinion, “mignonette” means something like “sweet, small and tasty”, and that’s exactly what it is.
Pair your raw oysters with these seafood appetizers
- Fried calamari in tempura
- ceviche
- Corn, Crab, and Old Bay Deviled Eggs
- Mexican shrimp cocktail
- Baked stuffed mussels
Mignonette sauce for oysters
Prepare the mignonette at least 4 hours in advance, preferably a day or two, to allow the flavors to blend and the shallots to soften.
ingredients
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1/2 cup chopped shallots (Above 2 1/2 ounces)
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1/4 Cup white wine vinegar
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1/4 Cup unseasoned rice vinegar (omit sugar and salt if using seasoned rice vinegar)
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1/8 teaspoon sugar
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1/8 teaspoon kosher Salt
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1 1/4 teaspoon finely crushed white peppercorns (do not use pre-ground or powdered white pepper)
method
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Finely chop shallots:
Peel and coarsely chop the shallots. Place in a food processor and pulse a few times until the shallots are finely chopped but not mushy, with chunks no smaller than the tip of a matchstick.
You can also finely chop it by hand if you prefer. The benefit of using a food processor is that the bowl of the food processor will catch all of the liquid released by the shallots as they are minced, enhancing the flavor of the mignonette.
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Stir in the fingers, sugar, and salt:
Place the chopped shallots and the liquid released from them in a non-reactive bowl. Add white vinegar, rice vinegar, sugar and salt. Stir with a fork.
Add the freshly crushed white pepper. Stir with a fork.
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Cool:
Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours. For best results, store at least 2 days before use.
The mignonette flavor blends better the longer it sits. You may find that the crushed white peppercorns can sink to the bottom of the bowl as the mignonette sits. If you see this, just give it a little stir.
The mignonette will keep in the fridge for up to a month.
Serve the mignonette:Shell the oysters to serve. (Here’s an excellent video from Serious Eats on how to shell an oyster.) Make sure the oyster is loose in the shell before serving.
Usually, the mignonette sauce is served in a small bowl with a small spoon next to the oysters on a platter (or as the French say, “plateau de coquillages”). People can put a small amount of the mignonette (about 1/8 teaspoon) on their oyster before eating.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 7 | calories |
| 0g | Fat |
| 1g | carbohydrates |
| 0g | protein |
