Oysters - recipes please

[Bizier]

Mate, I am so jealous. My GF insisted on getting frozen, pre-shucked ones from the most expensive seafood joint in the state. I begged to get live ones and to let me shuck them. I guess you have to know someone who knows someone though.

Anyone in Perth with a hookup... I am all ears.

 

[Mercs Own]

[SIZE=16pt]Oysters Three Ways[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=16pt]from my cook book Mercurio's Menu[/SIZE]​

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[SIZE=medium]Fresh oysters with a beer vinaigrette dressing[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]1 cup of Belgian fruit beer – Kriek, Fromboise, Fruits De La Foret[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]2 tsp sugar[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Chives[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Vegetable oil[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Salt and pepper[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Finger lime roe[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Put a cup of beer and the sugar into a pan over gentle heat and reduce down to about 1/8 of a cup. Put this into a mixing bowl and when cooled whisk in an equal volume of vegetable oil ie – if you have ¼ cup of beer whisk in ¼ of oil, 3 tbls beer to 3 tbls of oil etc Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and chopped chives. Spoon some vinaigrette over a fresh oyster garnish with some finger lime pulp and eat.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Stout battered oysters[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]1 tablespoon Plain Flour[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]3 tablespoons Rice Flour[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Coopers Best Extra Stout, Red Hill Imperial, Mountain Goat Rare Breed Surefoot Stout – you get the point a big yummy craft brewed stout! etc[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Salt[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Make a beer batter by putting the flour into a bowl add a pinch of salt (and any other herbs or spices you want) and then add in some of the stout. I like Coopers Stout because it is a big beer with lots of flavour and bitterness but then Red Hill and Mountain Goat are brilliant too. You could use Guinness if you wanted as that goes great with oysters also. The secret of getting a really good crispy result is to have the batter as cold as possible so make it in a bowl over another bowl filled with ice. Also don’t overwork the batter you don’t need to. Make the batter as thick or thin as you prefer.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Dip the oyster into the batter, let the excess drain off for about half a second and then drop the oyster into some hot vegetable or peanut oil. Fry until golden then remove from the oil drain on some absorbent paper and then put the oyster back into its shell for serving.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Salt and pepper oysters with a Mediterranean salsa[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Rice flour[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Salt and freshly ground black Pepper[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]1 tbls very finely diced red onion[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]1 tbls of very finely chopped kalamata olives[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]1 tbls of finely chopped tomato flesh only – peel the tomato, deseed and reserve some juice[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]In a bowl put a couple of tbls spoons of rice flour and then a generous pinch of salt and pepper and give it all a mix. Dredge oysters in flour and dust off excess flour then fry in veg or peanut oil until coloured and crisp. Remove from the oil drain on some absorbent paper and put oyster back in the shell. Mix all the ingredients for the salsa together and place a tsp full of the salsa on top of each oyster. Spoon a little of the reserved tomato liquid over the salsa.[/SIZE]

 

[DU99]

looks like have to get some oysters and try above recipes :icon_drool2:

 

[Rowy]

Some great suggestions guys! Mants, the pink grapefruit salsa sounds ******* awesome! Will definitely give that a crack!
I'm a big fan of Tassie oysters - nice, clean, cold water. To be fair these are not as good as others he's given us, but they're pretty great still. I read once that the best time for oysters is when the snow is melting (not sure there's a correlation, just an indicator of when they are best) and I've found it great advice.

Time of year makes a huge difference in taste, this has something to do with their spawning cycle.

 

[twizt1d]

when they spawn they go all soft and mushy and taste like **** (well not like **** but nowhere near what they are in their prime)

most of the US oyster farms 'breed' their spat to be sterile, all energy then goes to growing instead of spawning
has the effect of making them grow faster and keep the quality consistent pretty much year round

not sure if thats happening over here yet?

 

[Black Devil Dog]

How can you improve on perfection?

Natural, with a squeeze of lemon if you must.

 

[humulus]

Cornwells Malt vinegar!

 

[Bizier]

How can you improve on perfection?

Natural, with a squeeze of lemon if you must.

That is good for the first couple of dozen... then you naturally get more adventurous.

My ol' boy is similar and used to get dozens and dozens off a friend of a friend of a neighbour's dog or whatever and used to preach about purity until the time he had so many on his hands (I think buying for a mate who fell through) - at which point he investigated smoking on the weber. Did not stop going on about it for weeks.

So that is another suggestion, smoked in shell. Yum.

 

[manticle]

They are a wonderful food and you want the nature of the product to shine but just like other wonderful foods (salmon, crab, truffle, tuna) they still can be a star of a dish paired with ingredients that complement them.

Kilpatrick to me is what pubs do when their oysters are turning - of course they taste good as worcester and bacon could make anything taste good but you don't really need the oyster. Doesn't mean there aren't loads of other complementary additions to make oysters varied and delicious in different ways.

Smoked in shell sounds great.

 

[dago001]

How can you improve on perfection?

Natural, with a squeeze of lemon if you must.

My favourite way is with a small piece of crayfish on top and a squeeze of lemon juice. IMHO, improves perfection.
I have tried them many ways, as living in Tassie we are lucky enough to be able to get our own. Second favourite is to cover with lemon juice and a little wasabi paste. Leave for a few hours so the lemon juice does its work. Excellent.
Third favourite is Oysters Rockefeller, although I dont make this, but a mate of mine does.
We also love them in a shot glass, cover with a good vodka and let sit for a few minutes, then top up with a good virgin mary mix. Oyster shooters.
Cheers
LB

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Full shell placed on bbq untill they open are delish.....

Full shell placed in smoker are awsomely delish.

 

[Foster]

Freshly squeezed lemon & a splash of Tabasco...

 

[DU99]

just got dozen oysters for $9....myself and my daughter had shooters..

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Hope they where not black market...

$9 from a grower is reasonable

 

[DU99]

markdown's from Wollies

 

[of mice and gods]

So when you say Oysters taste like ****, are you surprised? Considering they are pretty much just a giant stomach/bowel full of.. well.. ****.

On another note, do you spit or swallow? I mean, chew or swallow I've only ever been able to get them down if I just chuck 'em in and swallow them whole.. in which case I might as well just have a teaspoon of salt water next time I have a cold and I can save some cash.

Al

edit: spleng

 

[manticle]

I always chew once then swallow.
Innuendos presumably inevitable.

 

[Mercs Own]

[SIZE=medium]Oysters Two Ways[/SIZE]​

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[SIZE=medium]Stout Oyster Mornay[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]1tbls butter[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]1 tbls flour[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]A little splash of milk[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]A bigger splash of stout[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Grated cheddar[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Grated parmesan[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Make a rue by heating the butter in a saucepan and then add the flour to combine – cook but don’t brown the flour. Add a little splash of milk to wet the flour and make it a paste and then add some stout to further loosen and liquefy the mixture. Add about a ¼ cup of both cheeses and continue to cook the mixture until the cheese is melted and combined. The consistency should be of a thick custard.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Spoon mixture over oysters making sure to completely cover the oyster, sealing it in the mixture so that it steams itself inside the mornay mix. Place under a grill and cook until the top is nicely browned.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=medium]Soy and Sake Oysters[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]1 part soy to 2 parts Sake[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]So: 1tbls soy sauce[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]2 tbls good sake[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Zest from one lemon[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Roughly crushed wasabi peas[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Mix soy and sake together and spoon over oysters. Place a generous pinch of lemon zest on each oyster and then a pinch of the crushed wasabi peas. Eat and enjoy.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Note: put the peas on just before eating or else they will soak up the soy and sake dressing and become soft. The wasabi peas offer a textural crunch that complements the softness of the oyster and also a little bit of that Japanese heat that complements the soy.[/SIZE]

 

[Mercs Own]

just to complete the trilogy:

[SIZE=16pt]Oysters one way[/SIZE]​

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[SIZE=16pt]Coffin Bay Smoked Oysters in light Chili Sauce[/SIZE]​

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[SIZE=medium]1 doz large oysters – fresh from the sea (while you are at it you may as well do 2 or 3 doz![/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Smoke box[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Wood chips – I used a mixture of hickory and Jack Daniels flavoured chips[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Cake rack[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]For the Chili Sauce[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]1 ½ tsp palm sugar[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Juice of one lime[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]1 birds eye chili finely chopped[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]1 ½ tsp fish sauce[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]This really simple sauce is all about the balance and harmony between the sweetness – palm sugar, saltiness – fish sauce, sourness – lime juice and heat – chili. As every ones taste buds and heat thresholds are different it may be necessary for you to adjust the amounts I have given according to your own taste buds. The palm sugar adds a lovely delicate and fuller sweetness than white sugar would.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Grate the palm sugar into a bowl and add the other ingredients giving them a good stir. I gently heat my sauce on the BBq so as to make sure the palm sugar is melted and well integrated into the sauce – you don’t need to cook it just make sure the sugar has dissolved completely. Set aside.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]If using a Webber you should have lit it 40 minutes ago!! They are great to cook and especially great to smoke on but you need to think ahead in terms of getting them to the right temp to cook on. Light coals on only one side of the Webber as you do not need too much heat say around 120°[/SIZE] or so.

[SIZE=medium]Shuck your oyster – you can’t get them any fresher than that. Dunk the shucked oysters into a pot of boiling water and let them boil for around 30 seconds – this firms the flesh up a little. Scoop the oysters out and place on a dry clean tea towel and pat completely dry. They must be dry or the smoke will not stick to them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Put the wood chips into the smoke box and place the box directly on top of the coals. Put the BBq rack in and then the cake rack on top of the BBq rack on the other side of the Webber away from the heat. Place oysters onto the cake rack and put the lid down and let the smoke do its thing for about 25 – 35 minutes turning the oysters after about 15 minutes. The oysters should be firm to the touch and not obviously raw or watery in the middle. Tip oysters into the bowl of chili sauce and toss then serve each oyster onto a table cracker and enjoy.[/SIZE]

 

[Yob]

Jesus Foetus

Mix 1 shaker of Bloody Mary,

to a Shot glass add 1 oyster and a dollop of wasabi (size to personal taste)
top up with Bloody Mary
add Worcestershire sauce (Lea and Perrins of course)

sip the top off the shot glass then throw the whole lot back and chew... I assure you it is a taste sensation.. especially when you hit the dollop of Wasabi.

:icon_drool2: