Mignonette Sauce For Oysters

A platter of shucked fresh oysters on a bed of ice served with mignonette sauce.

Course: Condiment, Sauces & Dips

Cuisine: European, French

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegetarian

Prep Time: 30

Total Inactive chill time (overnight): 8

Total Time: 30

Servings: servings

Calories: 9kcal

Author: Dini Kodippili

A deliciously piquant mignonette made with white vine vinegar and rice vinegar for a slightly milder, sweeter sauce. A well-balanced flavor profile that pairs perfectly with fresh raw oysters and other seafood.

EASY - Super simple to make. Given how few ingredients this recipe requires, it's important to help the ingredients shine through.

Makes about ¾ cup / 180 mL of mignonette sauce.

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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

Instructions

Remove the outer dried skin of the shallots. Remove any partially dried out layers as well.
2 medium shallots
Trim the top off with a sharp knife, but keep the root end intact.
Place the trimmed shallot on a cutting board, and cut the shallot in half top to bottom.
Now place a shallot half with the cut side down on the cutting board.
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.
Now slice across to create a small dice of shallots. Place the finely diced shallots in a bowl. See recipe notes below about shallots.
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.
2 tsp whole black peppercorns
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.
60 mL rice vinegar, 60 mL white wine vinegar, ¼ tsp white sugar, Salt
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.
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.
Serve with freshly shucked oysters with a small spoon so that guests can spoon the sauce over the raw oysters before enjoying them.

Notes

Note on vinegar

Make sure to use unseasoned rice vinegar if you want to have better control of flavor and seasoning.

If you use seasoned rice vinegar, you may not need to add any salt or sugar to the mignonette sauce. So make sure to taste it before further seasoning.

You can use any type of white wine vinegar. Avoid sherry vinegar, malt vinegar, or balsamic vinegar.

Note on shallots

If you use a sharp knife to dice the shallots, the shallots shouldn’t cause any tears and will taste good.

However, if you use a knife with a blunt edge, crushed shallots may cause you to tear up. This also indicates that the shallots may have sulfur compounds and reduced sweetness.

If this happens, soak the diced shallots in a bowl with ice water for 1 - 2 minutes. Drain the shallots and gently pat dry.

Then continue with the recipe. The soaking will help reduce the sulfur compounds and increase the sweetness.

Nutrition