20 minutes · no cook
Pickled King Oyster with Chilled Prawns and Caviar
Chilled prawns, caviar pearls, and our King Oyster in glass cups.
- Time
- 20 minutes
- Serves
- 2
- The jar
- Pickled King Oyster
- Ferment
- 32 days
Ingredients
- 1 jar Pickled King Oyster
- 6 large prawns, poached and chilled
- 30g salmon roe
- 10g black caviar
- Lemon zest
- Fresh dill, chives
Method
- Cool four small glass cups in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Layer two prawns in each, then a spoon of King Oyster slices.
- Add salmon roe and a small mound of caviar on top.
- Zest lemon over the cups and scatter dill and chives.
- Serve with cold champagne or a clean white Burgundy.
Why this jar
King oyster is the only variety we sell that behaves like seafood. The stems are dense and close-grained — nearer a scallop than a mushroom — and we cut them into coins by hand before they go in the jar, which is the only way to get an even result out of something that thick. In a glass cup beside a poached prawn they read as part of the same dish.
Thirty-two days is the longest ferment in our range and it is a question of density: that is simply how long brine takes to reach the middle of a coin rather than sitting on the outside of it. The truffle oil goes in last, poured by hand after the ferment is finished, so it is still aromatic when it meets the caviar rather than having spent a month fading.
Getting the temperature right
Everything on this plate should be cold and the cups should be colder. Ten minutes in the fridge is the minimum and the freezer for three is better. Roe loses its pop as it warms and the mushroom coins go slack — both faults are temperature, not technique.
Swapping the jar
There is no good substitute here, which is unusual. The other four are all too soft or too small to hold their own against a prawn. If you do not have king oyster, this is a dish to wait for rather than approximate — or make the toast instead and keep the caviar for another night.
What to do with the rest of the jar
King oyster coins are substantial enough to be the thing on the plate rather than a garnish on it. Warmed briefly in a pan they take on a scallop-like quality — the one exception to our usual rule about not cooking these, because the stem is dense enough to survive heat that would ruin the lighter jars.
On a board, give them their own corner and something mild beside them so the truffle has room. They also want a bigger drink than the other four: weight rather than a crisp white.