Huîtres à la Mornay

Huîtres à la Mornay (oysters glazed with cheese-enriched Béchamel) teaches one hard, useful truth: the sauce must be finished before the oysters feel heat. The shellfish can wait briefly in the cold; once poached, they cannot wait while you chase lumps around a saucepan. Make the Mornay smooth, glossy, and thick enough to cloak a spoon, then everything moves quickly.

The book's kitchen assumed a saucier with finished sauce, stock never off the fire, and a salamander waiting to glaze each order. This entry doesn't need that stock, but it does rely on ready sauce and fierce top heat. At home, make one small saucepan of Mornay and use a fully heated broiler over a salt-cradled tray. Holding gallons of sauce is brigade scaffolding and can go. Brief poaching, two oysters per cleaned deep shell, sauce below and above, grated cheese, melted butter, and a fast glaze are the dish itself, so they stay.

The finished shells should reach the table bubbling at their edges, butter-gold on top and tender within. One cook, one stove, one evening. Before you touch the oyster knife, finish the Mornay.