Oysters Rockefeller Period BOrigin theory BVerified

Oysters Rockefeller were created in 1899 at Antoine's, the old New Orleans restaurant, by Jules Alciatore, the founder's son. French escargot had grown hard to obtain, and Alciatore turned instead to the oysters that the Gulf of Mexico yielded in abundance. Both the oysters and the leafy greens for the sauce were already at hand in the city.

The dish is defined by its preparation: oysters on the half shell, heaped with a rich green sauce and baked until fragrant. The name honors John D. Rockefeller, reputed at the time to be the wealthiest man in the world; the richness of the sauce was likened to his fortune. The restaurant and the man who devised the dish have been named consistently ever since, and the account is settled.

Look at the deep green of Oysters Rockefeller and most people think of spinach. Because the majority of published recipes color the sauce with spinach, the original was widely assumed to have contained it too. Antoine's, however, has insisted from the start that spinach was never used.

The restaurant's claim was borne out from an unexpected quarter: the laboratory. In 1986, in his book Bigger Secrets, William Poundstone had the sauce analyzed. The components identified were parsley, celery, scallions, capers, and olive oil. Spinach was not among them. The green had never been spinach at all.

Even so, Antoine's original recipe has never been published. One part of the green's identity has been settled by analysis, but the full formula, passed down in secret, remains held within the restaurant.