ROUSES.COM
31
CHRISTMAS
A
generation ago, New Orleans
nuptials and holidays didn’t
seem right without oyster
patties, sometimes called oysters vol-
au-vent for their puff-pastry shells.
“I think they’re just as New Orleans as New
Orleans can be,” said Ti Adelaide Martin,
co-proprietor at Commander’s Palace,
who recalled a big silver platter of the
delicacies whenever they went to her Aunt
Dottie’s house during the 1970s and 1980s.
“Everybody did it at home. And it was a very
common thing if you were entertaining,”
Martin said. The dish was also on the menu
at Brennan’s, her family’s restaurant, she said.
Just the thought of the delicacy set Martin’s
mind to work. “I haven’t thought about
oyster patties for awhile. I think they kind
of went out of favor. Maybe it’s time to
reinvent them?” she said, noting that the
very popular Commander’s dish Oyster
Absinthe Dome has a pastry dome on the
top and could be easily linked to the oyster-
pattie tradition she recalled from childhood.
For
Louisiana Eat’s
host Poppy Tooker,
oyster vol-au-vent is “the most important
holiday dish,” one that she continues to
make each year, using her grandmother’s
recipe, which calls for four dozen oysters.
They were also a holiday tradition for Shelly
Gunning. Her Chalmette family always
ordered oyster patties fromPatton’sCatering
on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and
then heated them in the oven, she said.
Kiki Reinecke, who grew up near Esplanade
Avenue, not far from the Fair Grounds,
remembers the little shells and how they
seemed “very cool” when they were served
up at special occasions. “It seems everyone
made themwhen I was growing up,”she said.
Martin and Reinecke both remembered
the shells coming from the now-shuttered
McKenzie’s Bakery, which sold a smaller,
cocktail-sized and a larger full-sized shell
that might be served at Thanksgiving or
Christmas. You had to order in advance or
risk not getting your shells, Reinecke said.
No need to preorder these days; Rouses
carries both sizes in the bakery.
The cooking itself was fairly simple.
“It is kind of an easy dish, almost like
oyster soup,” Martin said. “You thicken
it with the oyster itself, garlic, thyme,
New Orleans seasoning, a lot of onion.
You can whip that up pretty quick.”
Because of the era,some oyster-pattie recipes
include Campbell’s mushroom soup, but no
one interviewed for this piece remembers
that shortcut in place of the basic sauce:
butter, flour, onions, garlic and seasoning.
At some point, oyster patties became
almost obligatory at weddings. “Any
time you went to a wedding, they always
passed around finger sandwiches and
oyster patties,” Gunning said. Reinecke
also remembers being with her siblings
at
wedding
receptions,
watching
closely for fresh trays of oyster patties.
A reception without the delicacy? “It
became almost a joke,” Reinecke said. “We’d
say, ‘What kind of wedding was that? There
weren’t any oyster patties.’”
Poppy Tooker’s
Oyster Patties Grandmere
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
12 patty shells,
clean centers and save tops and inside crumbs
¼
pound butter
1
bunch green onions, finely sliced
½
cup chopped onions
1
clove garlic, minced
½
teaspoon thyme
1
cup + 2 tablespoons flour
½
cup oyster liquor
4
dozen oysters
3
cups hot milk
¾
cup finely chopped celery hearts
¼
cup chopped parsley
¼
teaspoon white pepper
⅛
teaspoon cayenne
3
egg yolks, beaten
¾
cup chopped patty shell crumb
(from inside of patty shells)
Rouses salt to taste
HOW TO PREP
Heat butter and add green onions, onion, garlic and
thyme. Sauté well. Stir in flour and cook together
for 5 minutes until raw flour smell is gone.
Stirring continuously, add the oysters and their
liquor. Cook until outside edges of the oysters just
begin to curl. Over a medium heat stir in hot milk.
Heat to just before boiling.
Stir in celery hearts, parsley, salt and peppers. Return
to just under a boil. Reduce heat to low and stir in
the beaten egg yolks. Stir until mixture thickens. Stir
in patty shell crumbs and remove from the heat.
Allow mixture to cool completely then fill patty shells.
Place four oysters in each shell plus sauce. Place tops
on filled patties and bake at 350 degrees for about 20
minutes to heat filling and crisp the filled shells.
The World is Your
Oyster Pattie
by
Katy Reckdahl
RECIPE,
try me!
For Poppy Tooker, oyster vol-au-vent is “the most
important holiday dish,” one that she continues to
make each year, using her grandmother’s recipe, which
calls for four dozen oysters.
