Essential Mignonette Sauce
- PREP 2hrs 10min
- TOTAL 2hrs 10min
If you love oysters, then you need this essential mignonette sauce in your life. It’s shockingly easy and made with shallots, red wine vinegar, and pepper. We have used red wine vinegar in our photos, but white wine vinegar and champagne vinegar are also excellent choices. Use something you enjoy the taste of. My favorite widely available brand of red wine vinegar is Pompeian, but you can always look in specialty stores and online for more high-end options.
You Will Need
1/4 cup (30g) finely diced shallots, 1 to 2 shallots
1/3 to 1/2 cup (80ml to 120ml) red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, or champagne vinegar; use something you enjoy the taste of
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black or white peppercorns
Small pinch of fine sea salt, optional
Directions
Combine the shallots, vinegar, pepper, and a small pinch of salt in a non-reactive bowl or glass jar. Taste, and adjust with more pepper. Remember that the vinegar will taste its strongest at first but will mellow as it sits with the shallots in the refrigerator. If you find the mignonette sauce too abrasive, stir in a pinch of sugar to balance the vinegar.
Refrigerate the sauce for at least 2 hours before serving with oysters so that the shallots have a chance to pickle and mellow. The mignonette will last up to a month in the refrigerator. It will mellow even more over time, but I enjoy that! If you taste the sauce after some time in the fridge and find it has lost its zestiness, add a splash of fresh vinegar.
To serve, shuck your oysters and serve with the mignonette sauce in a small ramekin. Place a small spoonful of the sauce (I go heavy on the shallots) and add to a raw oyster before eating. Then repeat!
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Mignonette sauce lasts for a month in the fridge! I actually love it after it has sat for a while.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.