Mignonette Sauce For Oysters

Ingredients

• 2 medium shallots (for 40 g / 6 tbsp diced shallots (see recipe notes))
• 60 mL rice vinegar (¼ cup, unseasoned (see recipe notes))
• 60 mL white wine vinegar (¼ cup (I use champagne vinegar))
• 2 tsp whole black peppercorns (you may not need all of it)
• ¼ tsp white sugar
• Salt (to taste)

Steps

1. 1

   Remove the outer dried skin of the shallots. Remove any partially dried out layers as well.

2. 2

   Trim the top off with a sharp knife, but keep the root end intact.

3. 3

   Place the trimmed shallot on a cutting board, and cut the shallot in half top to bottom.

4. 4

   Now place a shallot half with the cut side down on the cutting board.

5. 5

   With a sharp knife, make 2 - 3 mm cuts along the length of the shallot making sure not to cut through the root end, so that the shallot remains intact. See pictures in the post for reference.

6. 6

   Now slice across to create a small dice of shallots. Place the finely diced shallots in a bowl. See recipe notes below about shallots.

7. 7

   Place the black peppercorns in a small mortar and pestle and grind to form coarsely cracked pepper. A pepper mill set at the coarsest setting can be used as well. If you have neither of these options, place the peppercorns between layers of a cloth napkin and crush them gently with a heavy rolling pin or mallet. Set aside.

8. 8

   In a bowl, combine the white wine vinegar / champagne vinegar, and rice vinegar, and shallots. Add the cracked black peppercorns (I add about 1 tsp, but you can adjust the amount to your liking), about ¼ tsp salt, and sugar, and stir until the salt and sugar dissolve.

9. 9

   Taste and add more salt to taste, and up to another ¼ tsp of sugar (if needed). Keep the salt level low, if you're serving this with particularly briny oysters.

10. 10

    Place the mignonette in a glass bowl and cover tightly. Store in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, but ideally at least overnight, or up to 24 hours before serving.

11. 11

    Serve with freshly shucked oysters with a small spoon so that guests can spoon the sauce over the raw oysters before enjoying them.