Your Go-To Sauce For Fresh Seafood
Enjoying fresh raw oysters while dining out may be a date night ritual, but there’s no reason you can’t have the same luxurious experience at home. All you need are fresh oysters, this homemade mignonette recipe, a couple lemon wedges, and an oyster shucking knife.
The classic mignonette flavor is unmistakably bright and vibrant! It’s made with vinegar, shallots, and black pepper. The hardest part is for sure shucking those oysters! But with the proper knife, a kitchen towel to protect your hand, and a little elbow grease, you’ll be enjoying a dozen oysters on the half shell at home in no time!
My favorite way to enjoy oysters at home is with an ice cold glass of Prosecco or Champagne! 🥂
If you’re enjoying seafood as a starter to a larger meal, consider adding these Old Bay steamed shrimp or baked King crab legs to the menu. A little shellfish platter never fails to impress!
Which Type of Vinegar Is Best?
The short answer is it’s up to you!
A classic mignonette is made with red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar, but I have tested this more times than I can count and it’s been just as delicious with unseasoned rice vinegar as it was with tarragon vinegar.
Quick note on pepper: Some mignonette recipes call for white pepper. Feel free to use this in place of black peppercorn if you already have it on hand, but I wouldn’t go out and buy it specifically for this recipe.
How To Make Classic Mignonette
Combine red wine vinegar, shallots, black pepper, and salt in a small bowl, then give it a little stir to combine. Congratulations, chef, you’re done! 😂 I like to let the mignonette rest at room temperature for at least 2 hours. The flavor will intensify the longer it sits.
As it’s vinegar-based, mignonette sauce can be stored in an airtight container in a refrigerator for up to 3 months.
East Coast vs West Coast Oysters
Raw, fresh oysters are an indulgence on their own. Just like wine, the specific taste of the shellfish is reflective of where the oysters were grown.
So, for instance, oysters from the cold, New England shores off of Maine and the Cape (such as Blue Point, Wellfleet, or Malpeque oysters) will taste a touch brinier than oysters from the West coast, and have a smoother texture.
Oysters harvested from the West Coast and Pacific waters (such as Barron Point, Inlet, or Kumamoto) will taste sweeter, are plump and creamy, and are overall less briny than East coast oysters.
While all raw oysters can be enjoyed naked (straight from the shell), they also benefit from a touch of something extra. A squeeze of lemon juice, a bit of cocktail sauce (or cocktail sauce with gin!), or… a piquant vinegar-based sauce. The latter is my favorite and what I always spoon over oysters on the half shell.
Variations On Mignonette
While most mignonette sauces generally consist of primarily vinegar and shallots, you can absolutely experiment by adding other ingredients:
- Make it spicy: Mince a jalapeño or a Thai chili (aka: birds eye chili)
- Make it sweet: Cube or dice sweet apple
- Go Asian-inspired: Add minced garlic, grated ginger, and fresh cilantro
- Crisp and light: Try adding peeled, minced cucumber.
Just remember to use a light hand: don’t overdo it and mask the flavor of the creamy oysters! They’re expensive and delicate; to completely overpower their natural flavor would be a real shame.
Prefer cooked oysters? Check out these oysters rockefeller or simple grilled oysters–both sound delish!
So grab your oyster shucking knife (yes, you truly need a special knife to crack open their shell!), a tiny spoon or fork for saucing them up, and get to it!
If you give this quick-and-easy Mignonette sauce a try, please let us know by leaving a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review and rating below.
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4-Ingredient Classic Mignonette Recipe For Oysters!
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup (118ml) red wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp shallot minced
- ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
- Make the quick mignonette sauce. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, then whisk to combine. Set aside at room temperature for 2 hours.
Notes
- If you don’t have red wine vinegar, substitute with white wine vinegar or Champagne vinegar.
- While the flavor intensifies while the mignonette sits, you can of course make this and serve immediately without letting it sit for 2 hours.
- Mignonette will keep in an airtight container in a refrigerator for months.
The best dish! I recommend you cook it. I try cooking and I can complete it successfully. I appreciate your recipe. I hope that you can release more recipes. I can become the master if I working hard
amazing
I really enjoyed your article. It was informative and well-written.
Nice recipe! The Maine oysters are the best in my opinion. They are a super food and great for filtering the bay or ocean water.
Oysters are truly the best and so good for filtering our waters! Will happily eat them for the rest of my days! Cheers, Ari