Prairie oyster (cocktail)
Encyclopedia
A Prairie Oyster is a drink consisting of a raw egg, Worcestershire sauce
, hot sauce
, salt and ground black pepper. The egg is broken into a glass so as not to break the yolk, which causes the drink to bear a similarity to the texture of an actual oyster
. The drink is typically served the morning after a night of hard drinking as a hangover
cure.
describes his hard-drinking days, temporarily suspended, by noting that, "a month ago there wasn’t a week went by but that on at least one day I couldn’t eat anything for breakfast but a couple of aspirins and a prairie oyster."
In the film version of the Broadway musical Cabaret
, Sally introduces Brian to the prairie oyster when they first meet. A song had been written about the drink as an introduction to another song, "Roommates." Both songs were eventually cut, but can be heard on the demo recording.
In the 1936 Frank Capra
film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
the title character, Longfellow Deeds, is served a prairie oyster by his butler Walter, the morning after being out all night on a bender. Walter states, "It makes the head feel smaller."
In the 1942 Preston Sturges
film "The Palm Beach Story
", Geraldine Jeffers orders a prairie oyster while having breakfast with John D. Hackensacker III. Hackensacker then decides to order one as well, but unfamiliar with prairie oysters he asks that his be served "on the half shell". The confused waiter replies that prairie oysters are served "a la carte".
In the 1959 film The Nun's Story
, Dr. Fortunati serves a prairie oyster to Sister Luke, played by Audrey Hepburn
to improve her health during his treatment of her tuberculosis
.
In P.G. Wodehouse's short story "Jeeves Takes Charge," the butler Jeeves
' first act for his master Bertie Wooster
is to make him a hangover cure very similar to a prairie oyster in description: "It is the Worcestershire sauce that gives it its color. The raw egg makes it nutritious. The red pepper gives it its bite. Gentlemen have told me they have found it extremely invigorating after a late evening." In the television series, Jeeves includes a large cup of brandy, two small tins of clam juice and possibly tomato juice from the red color.
In Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
, Jack Rudolph and Simon Stiles give viola prodigy Kim Tao a prairie oyster made up of brandy, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, tomato, bitters, pepper and a raw egg yolk to help sober her up, only to discover later that the prairie oyster is in fact used as a hangover cure. Consequently it had the reverse effect, causing her to become increasingly inebriated.
In the Japanese animated series Cowboy Bebop
, the main character Spike Spiegel
is seen making a prairie oyster to help with a hangover in the episode Heavy Metal Queen. The ingredients are slightly altered when the bartender pours what appears to be a clear liquid from a bottle, which could be either water or gin.
In the Christopher Isherwood
novel, Goodbye to Berlin
, (on which the musical Cabaret
is based) the character Sally Bowles
is mentioned as consuming them on a number of occasions.
In Back to the Future Part III
, Dr. Emmett L. Brown drinks a single shot of whiskey to celebrate his departure of the old west and passes out. Shortly after, the bartender is seen making a prairie oyster and then force feeds Dr. Brown the drink to wake him.
In Kalifornia
the teenage girl character is seen explaining the recipe before they drive off to go shooting.
In the television show Dallas
, J.R. Ewing
makes himself a prairie oyster after a long night out with Jeb Ames and Willie Joe Garr in the Season One Episode Bypass.
:
Crack the egg into a glass, leaving the yolk unbroken. Douse it with Worcestershire sauce, a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and Tabasco sauce.
Worcestershire sauce
Worcestershire sauce , or Worcester sauce is a fermented liquid condiment; primarily used to flavour meat or fish dishes.First made at 60 Broad Street, Worcester, England, by two dispensing chemists, John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins, the Lea & Perrins brand was commercialised in 1837 and...
, hot sauce
Hot sauce
Hot sauce, chili sauce or pepper sauce refers to any spicy sauce made from chili peppers and other ingredients.-Ingredients:There are many recipes for hot sauces - the common ingredient being any kind of peppers. A group of chemicals called capsaicinoids are responsible for the heat in chili peppers...
, salt and ground black pepper. The egg is broken into a glass so as not to break the yolk, which causes the drink to bear a similarity to the texture of an actual oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
. The drink is typically served the morning after a night of hard drinking as a hangover
Hangover
A hangover describes the sum of unpleasant physiological effects following heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages. The most commonly reported characteristics of a hangover include headache, nausea, sensitivity to light and noise, lethargy, dysphoria, diarrhea and thirst, typically after the...
cure.
In popular culture
In Thunderball, James BondJames Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
describes his hard-drinking days, temporarily suspended, by noting that, "a month ago there wasn’t a week went by but that on at least one day I couldn’t eat anything for breakfast but a couple of aspirins and a prairie oyster."
In the film version of the Broadway musical Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
, Sally introduces Brian to the prairie oyster when they first meet. A song had been written about the drink as an introduction to another song, "Roommates." Both songs were eventually cut, but can be heard on the demo recording.
In the 1936 Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is a 1936 American screwball comedy film directed by Frank Capra, and starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur in her first featured role...
the title character, Longfellow Deeds, is served a prairie oyster by his butler Walter, the morning after being out all night on a bender. Walter states, "It makes the head feel smaller."
In the 1942 Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges , originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated playwright, screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois...
film "The Palm Beach Story
The Palm Beach Story
The Palm Beach Story is a 1942 romantic screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, and starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor and Rudy Vallée. Victor Young contributed the lively musical score, including a fast-paced variation of William Tell Overture for the...
", Geraldine Jeffers orders a prairie oyster while having breakfast with John D. Hackensacker III. Hackensacker then decides to order one as well, but unfamiliar with prairie oysters he asks that his be served "on the half shell". The confused waiter replies that prairie oysters are served "a la carte".
In the 1959 film The Nun's Story
The Nun's Story (film)
The Nun's Story is a 1959 Warner Brothers film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Audrey Hepburn. Based upon the 1956 novel of the same title by Kathryn Hulme, the story tells of the life of Sister Luke , a young Belgian woman who decides to enter a convent and make the many sacrifices...
, Dr. Fortunati serves a prairie oyster to Sister Luke, played by Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
to improve her health during his treatment of her tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
.
In P.G. Wodehouse's short story "Jeeves Takes Charge," the butler Jeeves
Jeeves
Reginald Jeeves is a fictional character in the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse, being the valet of Bertie Wooster . Created in 1915, Jeeves would continue to appear in Wodehouse's works until his final, completed, novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in 1974, making him Wodehouse's most famous...
' first act for his master Bertie Wooster
Bertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of...
is to make him a hangover cure very similar to a prairie oyster in description: "It is the Worcestershire sauce that gives it its color. The raw egg makes it nutritious. The red pepper gives it its bite. Gentlemen have told me they have found it extremely invigorating after a late evening." In the television series, Jeeves includes a large cup of brandy, two small tins of clam juice and possibly tomato juice from the red color.
In Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was an American dramedy television series created and written by Aaron Sorkin. It ran for 22 episodes.The series takes place behind the scenes of a live sketch comedy show on the fictional television network NBS , whose format is similar to that of NBC's...
, Jack Rudolph and Simon Stiles give viola prodigy Kim Tao a prairie oyster made up of brandy, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, tomato, bitters, pepper and a raw egg yolk to help sober her up, only to discover later that the prairie oyster is in fact used as a hangover cure. Consequently it had the reverse effect, causing her to become increasingly inebriated.
In the Japanese animated series Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop
is a critically acclaimed and award-winning 1998 Japanese anime series directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, written by Keiko Nobumoto, and produced by Sunrise. Its 26 episodes comprise a complete storyline: set in 2071, the series follows the adventures, misadventures and tragedies of five bounty...
, the main character Spike Spiegel
Spike Spiegel
is the protagonist of the anime and manga series Cowboy Bebop. He won first place in the male character category of the Anime Grand Prix in 1998 and 1999.-Background:Spike is a fictional bounty hunter who was born on Mars, June 26, 2044...
is seen making a prairie oyster to help with a hangover in the episode Heavy Metal Queen. The ingredients are slightly altered when the bartender pours what appears to be a clear liquid from a bottle, which could be either water or gin.
In the Christopher Isherwood
Christopher Isherwood
Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
novel, Goodbye to Berlin
Goodbye to Berlin
Goodbye to Berlin is a 1939 short novel by Christopher Isherwood set in pre-Nazi Germany. It is often published together with Mr Norris Changes Trains in a collection called The Berlin Stories.-Details:...
, (on which the musical Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
is based) the character Sally Bowles
Sally Bowles
Sally Bowles is a fictional character created by Christopher Isherwood. She originally appeared in Isherwood's 1937 novella Sally Bowles published by Hogarth Press. The story was later republished in the novel Goodbye to Berlin...
is mentioned as consuming them on a number of occasions.
In Back to the Future Part III
Back to the Future Part III
Back to the Future Part III is a 1990 American science fiction comedy Western film. It is the third installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson. The film...
, Dr. Emmett L. Brown drinks a single shot of whiskey to celebrate his departure of the old west and passes out. Shortly after, the bartender is seen making a prairie oyster and then force feeds Dr. Brown the drink to wake him.
In Kalifornia
Kalifornia
Kalifornia is an American thriller/road film, directed by Dominic Sena and starring Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, David Duchovny, and Michelle Forbes. The film focuses on an aspiring writer and his photographer girlfriend who are traveling cross-country to research serial killers...
the teenage girl character is seen explaining the recipe before they drive off to go shooting.
In the television show Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
, J.R. Ewing
J.R. Ewing
John Ross Ewing, Jr., more commonly known as J. R. Ewing, played by Larry Hagman, was a central, nefarious figure on the hit CBS television series Dallas . J. R...
makes himself a prairie oyster after a long night out with Jeb Ames and Willie Joe Garr in the Season One Episode Bypass.
Recipe
Ingredients for Prairie Oyster, per EsquireEsquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
:
- 1 raw egg
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- salt
- pepper
- 2 dashes of Tabasco sauce
Crack the egg into a glass, leaving the yolk unbroken. Douse it with Worcestershire sauce, a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and Tabasco sauce.