Oyster Sauce

This New Orleans-style oyster sauce is the kind of rich, briny cream sauce that makes everything it touches taste like a special occasion. Fresh oysters simmer gently with their own liquor, green onions, garlic, and a trio of herbs before getting thickened with a butter-flour roux and finished with heavy cream.

The roux gets made separately and stirred into the oyster mixture. This is the Cajun way of building body in a sauce without losing the delicate texture of the oysters. Five minutes of simmering after the roux goes in is all you need to cook out the raw flour taste.

The cream goes in off the heat. Adding it to a boiling sauce risks breaking it, and you want this to be smooth, velvety, and glossy. Keep it warm but don’t let it boil after the cream is in.

Chef Tips

• Use the oyster water (liquor) from the jar or shell. It’s concentrated ocean flavor and forms the base of the entire sauce.
• Stir gently once the oysters are in. Aggressive stirring breaks them apart and turns the sauce gritty.
• This sauce is incredible over grilled fish, pan-seared steaks, or tossed with fettuccine.

Variations

• Oysters Rockefeller sauce: Add a handful of fresh spinach and a splash of Pernod for a Rockefeller-inspired version.
• Spicy Cajun twist: Add a pinch of cayenne and a dash of hot sauce for more heat in the New Orleans tradition.