That looks like a wonderful way to enjoy oysters.

I was invited recently to a dinner in a Chinese restaurant in NJ. One of the dishes was steamed large oyster on the half shell. Very large oyster.

Amazingly delicious. The oyster was buttery tender. Obviously I did not ask for a recipe. Essentially it was garlic, ginger and black bean sauce and sesame oil and some other unknown seasoning.

Must be a different kind of oyster. I did not notice any beneficial side-effects afterwards that night. :-)

dcarch

Just cracker crumbed and fried in a bit of butter....dressed with a squeeze of lemon....
And you could cut them up and do Angels on Horseback...or scalloped oysters!!

If you are only allowed protein and vegetables, that lets out most of my oyster recipes, my favourite being charbroiled oysters a la Drago's in New Orleans, but here it is for after your diet. We often do them on the barbeque, just heat until they open, then a dab of butter, a splash of hot sauce and a sprinkle of vodka. We also like them on a bed of spinach, covered in mornay and baked.

CHARBROILED OYSTERS
For over 100 years, some of the best oyster fishermen in Louisiana have been of Croatian origin. Many Croatians came to Louisiana and have been at the forefront of the oyster business; it's gotten to the point where if someone's serving you oysters and their surname ends with "-vich", you know you're in good hands.
Drago Cvitanovich has had an excellent restasurant in Metairie for years. Drago is famous for his Charbroiled Oysters. The recipe is simple -- there's almost nothing to it -- but the key to it is getting the prettiest, fattest oysters you can find. Louisiana oysters are, or course, preferable, but Pacific oysters will also do very well. Shuck 'em yourself, too.
� 32 oysters, on the half shell
� 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
� 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
� 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
� 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (use Parmagiano Reggiano)
� 1/4 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese
� 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
Heat the grill over medium-high heat.
Melt the butter with the garlic and pepper in a large skillet. Mix the Parmagiano and Romano cheeses in a small bowl.
Spoon some of the melted butter mixture onto each oyster. Add a pinch of the combined cheeses to each oyster, add a pinch of parsley, then place on the grill. Grill the oysters until they are hot,bubbly and puffed, about 8 minutes.
YIELD: 8 servings.

Oh, that recipe is more than fine!

Thanks, and what is your second favorite? And your third?

To be clearer, I'm eschewing bread, pasta, rice, bagels, cookies, cake, or any other grains, and going light on the dairy, sugar, sweet fruits and juices. A 1/2 cup of cheese over 32 oysters is just fine. Actually, don't worry about my diet, as I'd like to learn about cooking oysters for all seasons - when I fit in my clothes and when I don't.

Ignore the goofy symbols - the measurements are correct as you seem them.
Since you asked, here is another favourite, Oysters al la Creme, which came from an oyster purveyor at some point and one for Oyster Fritters that a friend made - they were scrumptious, although I very seldom deep fry, and another with Asian flavours that is on my to try list:

Oysters al la Creme
12 oysters 1/2 shelled
15g butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 teaspoon chopped parsley
1/2 cup cream
Salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated gruyere cheese
1 tablespoon dried bread crumbs
Parsley sprig & lemon wedges to garnish

Melt butter in small pan, add shallots and saute until soft. Stir in cream and pepper & salt to taste and gently bring to boil. Remove from heat and stir in cheese.
Cover each oyster with the sauce and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
Place under a preheated moderate grill for 2 minutes until golden brown.
Garnish with parsley and lemon wedges and serve.

Oyster Fritters (from Saveur)
3/4 cup flour
Salt
1 egg
3/4 cup beer
1 1/2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
Peanut oil
2 dozen oysters, shucked, oyster liquor
(juices) reserved
1. Mix flour and a pinch of salt together in a medium mixing bowl and set aside. Put egg into another medium bowl and lightly whisk, then add beer, olive oil, and lemon zest and whisk until well combined. Add egg�beer mixture to flour and whisk until batter is smooth. Cover and set aside at room temperature to let rest for 1 hour.
2. Pour peanut oil into a medium heavy-bottomed pot to a depth of 2" and heat over medium heat until temperature reaches 370� on a candy thermometer. Meanwhile, rinse oysters in cold water, put them into another medium pot, and add enough of the reserved oyster juices that they reach about halfway up oysters, adding a little water if necessary. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook just until oysters contract and plump up, about 3 minutes. Drain oysters.
3. Give batter a quick stir. Working in 2 batches, use your fingers to dip one oyster at a time into batter, then carefully drop oyster into the hot oil. Fry oysters, gently stirring and turning them with a slotted spoon occasionally, until batter is crisp and golden, 1 1⁄2�2 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to let drain. Season to taste with salt while still hot.
4. Serve oysters in clean, dry oyster shells with a squeeze of fresh lemon, if you like. Serve immediately.
SERVES 4

Oysters Japanese Style

1/3cup mirin (sweet rice wine)
2 table/sp rice vinegar
2 tea/sp lemon juice
1/2 tea/sp wasabi paste
2 red /thai red chilles, seeded and chopped finely
30 OYSTERS in half shells
Sea salt for serving.

Comb mirin, vinegar, juice, wasabi and chilies in a small jug.
Remove Oysters from shells; reserve shells.
Drain oysters on paper towel; wash and dry shells.
Return oysters to shells; sit shells on a bed of sea salt on a serving plate.
Spoon dressing evenly over oysters.
Cover and refrigerate until required.
Serve cold.

Oysters are very high on my DH's list of favourite foods and living in the Pacific Northwest, they are plentiful. A cousin of mine had an oyster farm for years.
J

Ditto on Drago's charbroiled oysters. I've never cooked them, but every time I'm in the area I pig out on them. Make sure you serve lots of good hot French bread to sop up the juices left in the shell. Absolute heaven.

Another classic oyster preparation is Oysters Rockefeller. It's oysters on the half shell topped with a sauce containing greens( usually spinach, parsley, sometimes with watercress mixed in), some anise-ish stuff (usually Pernod), butter, shallots, and bread crumbs, then baked. There are variations; Antoine's originated it, and others copied. I've had it at Antoine's, and it's certainly memorable; I've had it elsewhere and it's excellent as well. Start with good plump oysters, and I'm sure it'll do just fine. Do a Google search for 'oysters rockefeller recipe' and you'll come up with lots of choices.

Here is a link that might be useful: oysters rockefeller

Sounds great, thank you.

Any oyster stew or chowder recipes?

Polished off a dozen smalls raw just now. Yum. But the smalls are just not filling, I can eat endless numbers of them. To really make a meal, rather than an appetizer or a treat, I think I need to use the mondo ones.

My mother use to chop potatoes into cubes,add can oysters,salt,pepper,cook till potatoes are soft,pour potatoes,oysters and juice in 9x13,make a busquick dough cover the casserole bake till dough is done she use to drink the juice that was in there,I didnt like it as a child but will eat it occasionally now.

Another ditto on Drago's charbroiled oysters. Drago's is only 35 miles "down the road" from where I live. Truly one of the finest ways to have oysters.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

A tip: in a lot of recipes you can cut the amount of butter in half and sub a neutral flavored EVOO for that half - the calorie count doesn't change, but it's a little healthier for you and there's little loss of flavor. I do this all the time in my cooking.

One of the restaurants in the SF Bay Area is famous for its roasted oysters. I've never seen an actual recipe, but they add pimenton butter (this is where a sub of 1/2 EVOO wouldn't hurt) and a drop or two of aged sherry vinegar.

We're always on the lookout for recipes using pimenton as we love the stuff (ah...and I bought an overlarge tin of it the last time, LOL). We use either the La Chinata or Artisan brands, but there are several good ones available at gourmet shops and by mail order. I'd use the bittersweet if I were doing oysters.

Oyster stew is as simple as it gets. Saute some onions in butter till very soft but not brown, roast your dozen small oysters and filter the juices, microwave-steam two diced Yukon Gold medium-sized potatoes, and combine it all with a quart of fat-free half and half.

Crumbled bacon bits are good, but not essential if you're dieting. Black pepper to taste, and I always like to add a little bit of chopped parsley to wilt with the onions, although that's probably heretical. NO other thickening - clam or oyster chowder is so much better unthickened!

jkom, for just a minute I read pimenton butter as peanut butter and thought "oh no, not possible". LOL Pimenton sounds so much better

I've always been a fan of oyster stew, but until a few years ago only ate the "stew" and left the oysters in the bowl. I had fried oysters in Texas with Elery but wasn't crazy for them and there is absolutely no way I can eat a raw oyster.

Good thing, they're crazy expensie here in Michigan. However, I do intend to make some stuffing using Seagrass' suggestion of the addition of oysters, which I think would give me flavor without the offensive texture issue.

So, I'll be watching this thread to see what else comes up, you never know when something might just really strike me, like that bacon added to oyster stew, now THAT sounds like a good addition.

Annie

IMO, there is no cooking technique or garnish which can improve an oyster, They are at their best just slurped from the shell. However, I do sometimes enjoy cooked oysters such as Oysters Rockefeller, which are very good.

Another classic, and classy, oyster dish is Oyster Pan Roast, served at the Grand Central Oyster Bar in NYC. I think it would be suited to your diet, too. Possibly you would omit the toast points. You can read all about it at the link below.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Oyster Pan Roast

I adore this recipe. My notes in ( )

*** Brennans Oyster Stuffing (fills 13# hen turkey)
Can also turn an ordinary chicken into a masterpiece.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup onion, chopped (1 small)
1/2 cup celery, sliced (1 stalk)
1/2 cup shallots, chopped (or sub. onions)
1/2 cup ham, chopped (or bacon)

1 1/2 dozen oysters, light chop (save juice if using canned)

2 eggs
4 cups cubed bread
1 tsp. thyme
2 bay leaves
salt & pepper
2 Tbsp. parsley

Saute onion, celery, shallots & ham in butter until onions wilt.
Mix in oysters & heat, about 1 min,; remove from heat.

Beat eggs with oyster water. Mix in bread, herbs & lastly oyster mixture.

(To bake separately 325 degrees, 30-40 min.)

Woah - stuff a chicken w/ oysters - I bow down to you! I'm going to try that.

John, I thought this was supposed to be a reducing diet! LOL!

Actually, I thought you were getting into dangerous territory with oysters. There is a yummy non-dietetic concoction which used to be served as an appetizer at Corrine Dunbar's in New Orleans when they were still in business. It is an oyster-artichoke casserole and I am lucky enough to have had it back in the day. It's recommended if you aren't counting calories.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Oyster-Artichoke Casserole

I thought this was supposed to be a reducing diet!

Well, that is my problem with diets - I get interested in different dishes and gradually go off the tracks.

Still, over the past few years I've changed my eating habits so that I alternate between losing weight and staying the same, which is better than what I used to do, which was alternate between gaining weight and staying the same.

Breakfast this morning - 8 oz raw salmon and not a bagel in sight. Yum!

Have some folks coming for lunch two weekends from now, and am planning a seafood feed - one or more oyster concoctions, a finfish, maybe ceviche and sangria if the weather is good. Diet rules will be suspended.

"IMO, there is no cooking technique or garnish which can improve an oyster, They are at their best just slurped from the shell."

How very VERY true!
Any time I buy oyssters for a cooked dish,
I have to buy twice as many as the recipe calls for.
For some strange reason,
About half always mysteriously disappear
During preperation. ;>)

Here's our favorite Oyster Stew recipe,
Adapted from a recipe by Paul Prudhomme.

Oyster Stew
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
3 dozen small to medium oysters in their liquor, about 18 ounces
1 1/4 cups cold water
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper (preferably cayenne) *
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
2 cups heavy cream **

* I prefer Tony Cachere's Seasoning, to taste
** Light cream, Half & Half, milk, even 1% or 2% milk can be substituted here. Won't be as rich, but will still be very good.

Preparation:
Add the water to the oysters and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Strain and reserve the oysters and oyster water; refrigerate until ready to use.
In a large skillet combine the butter, celery, peppers, salt and 3/4 cup of the oyster water; cook over high heat 3 minutes, shaking pan (versus stirring) almost constantly. Add the remaining 1/2 cup oyster water and continue cooking and shaking the pan 1 minute. Stir in the green onions.
Gradually add the cream, whisking constantly. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking almost constantly. Add the oysters and cook just until oysters curl, about 2 to 4 minutes, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and serve immediately, stirring well as you ladle out the portions.
For a main course, ladle 9 oysters, a little of the vegetables and 1 cup of the liquid into each serving bowl; for an appetizer, serve half that amount.
Serve with lots of fresh crusty bread and butter.

Native New Orleanian here. I always keep prepared oyster stuffing in my freezer for a festive touch to everyday roast turkey thighs or when serving Cornish hen. Our family prefers ground beef instead of ham and we do not add eggs, but our dressing is similar to the Brennan's recipe with the addition of more spices and cayenne as as many oysters as the budget will bear. Of course, oyster dressing is the highlight of Thanksgiving turkey dinner.

Other favorite oyster preparations are lightly pan fried in fine cornmeal and EVOO with a touch of butter (though coconut oil is healthier than OO for frying), oysters added at the last minute to gumbo, and an oyster pasta I made up which is angel hair topped by a basic good garlicky white clam sauce, with or w/o pancetta, sausage or tasso, and oysters added at the last minute and warmed just until the edges curl. Yum!

Agreed, Drago's is the best! Oyster cream soup is deliciously simple. Osyter-artichoke soup is more complex and equally delicious. Fried oyster poorboys, fried oysters accompanying eggs benedict, and creamy oysters served in puff pastry shells are other favorites.

The trick with oysters is to not overcook them. Although gulf oysters are usually avoided in warm weather, since moving away decades ago I've used wonderful NW Pacific oysters just about year round and really find their wonderful briny flavor akin to some cold water European oysters. When I visit New Orleans, Drago's is nearly always on my agenda, though I usually order at least an appetizer portion of oysters in most restaurants. Guess you can tell I enjoy oysters probably as much as johnliu.

OK John, I made fried oysters. :-) (WFD)

dcarch

We had a kind of impromptu oyster dinner last night. I'd picked up a dozen jumbo oysters at the market - oof, that's heavy - and realized I'd never finish them myself, so we called some friends.

As usual, opening these is the hardest part. I used heat.

Dinner was:

Caesar salad - romaine lettuce from our garden, which is always satisfying even if it is indistinguishable from any other romaine.

Deep fried oyster strips - a mix of panko crumbs, salt, cayenne, garlic and paprika, with an egg wash. I had to cut the oysters into strips, as they are otherwise too large to be finger food. SWMBO is not a big oyster fan, but she wolfed these down. I do think you could deep fry an old shoe in panko and cayenne with tasty results.

Roast chicken with oyster stuffing - the Brennan's oyster stuffing recipe posted by iris_gal. I also larded the chicken with bacon and basted with butter during roasting. This dish worked very well, I should have toasted the bread cubes.

Wild rice risotto with oyster liquor - the wild rice was courtesy of teresa, thank you! I've been saving it for a special project. The risotto started out with chicken stock in the pressure cooker, then moved to doses of white wine, and was finished off with a couple rounds of oyster liquor, and a little heavy cream. This turned out great. I suppose the crunchy bacon lardon topping didn't hurt.

Blueberry galette - our friend brought this, freshly made. So non-dietetic!

That was fun. Next week I'm going to try some more of these oyster recipes. I'll get some smalls as well as the jumbos for stew.

"---I do think you could deep fry an old shoe in panko and cayenne with tasty results. ---"

LOL! I agree with you.

Those are huge oysters. When I make oysters that big, I alway cut out those round scallop looking muscles. They are as tough as old shoes.

I like your wild rice treatment.

dcarch

Good point on the muscles - I should have done that.

Tonight I'm making an old standby soup, but will try sub'ing oyster for the chicken breast.

Mama Leone's Chicken (Oyster) Soup

Ingredients (Makes 8 servings)
1/2 lb chicken breast
15 oz diced tomato
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup half and half
1 onion
3 stalk celery
1 tbsp garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp tarragon
2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp butter
6 cups chicken stock
2 cups spinach
Directions
1. Lightly salt and pepper chicken breasts, bake 20 minutes at 375F, the dice meat and set aside.
2. In large pot over medium heat, heat oil, melt butter, and cook onions and celery (both diced) until onions translucent (about 7-10 minutes).
3. Add garlic (minced or crushed), tarragon and oregano (dry or fresh), paprika, black pepper, and 1 tsp salt. Stir and cook a few more minutes.
4. Add flour, stir until absorbed.
5. Add chicken broth, stirring and scraping bottom of pot. Bring to boil.
6. Add tomato (canned with sauce is preferred), half and half, stir, reduce heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes.
7. Add diced chicken and simmer for at least another 10 minutes.
8. Adjust seasoning, adding rest of salt if desired.
9. Finely slice or shred spinach, add shortly before serving.
10. Note:
11. Chicken may be dark meat.
12. Cream may substituted for half and half.

Well, after various substitutions it turned into more of a tomato-basil-oyster soup. Pretty good too. The lesson I learned is that oyster meat is sufficiently mild-flavored to be used in various recipes that specify chicken in a diced or shredded form.

John - your wild rice risotto sounds delicious!

It's hard to believe ricing season is just around the corner. I hope the weather cools down. If it continues to be hot with high dewpoints - I may be tempted to leave my portion of the rice in the marsh!

Noooo Therese! I'll come harvest with you. I have some First Americans blood...lol..

John, I agree with DCArch to remove that abductor muscle. After all, it's what opens and closes the oyster so it's done a lot of work. But, I'm cheap and use those parts to make a little broth, just by themselves with water to cover or with a few aromatics, then just strain and use in whatever dish I'm making or freeze for other seafood dishes. Funny thing is I don't really eat oysters, but I cook for others. Smiles. I'm one of those who eat the stew but only some of the oysters in it.

For the tomato-basil-oyster soup, I cut out the abductor muscle, minced it fine, and tossed it into the soup at the start of cooking. It softened up nicely and satisfied my cheap gene.

Teresa, I would come help you too, if I were nearer. I don't have any American Indian in me, but I am told my people know something about rice . . .

"---Teresa, I would come help you too, if I were nearer. I don't have any American Indian in me, but I am told my people know something about rice . . . "

Not only that John, in one of the wild rice dish I posted, I discovered a connection between the Chinese and Indian wild rice experience.

Wild rice is consumed here in many ways, but wild rice is not used much by the Chinese, in stead, the Chinese eat the wild rice stems (Jiao Bai) as vegetables.

You may be able to find frozen Jiao Bai in a Chinese store in your area. It is sometimes mis-labeld as bamboo shoots. Jiao Bai tastes better than asparagus, IMHO.

dcarch

Interesting. I don't know that I've ever seen that in the local markets.

Random story time. My great-grandparents are buried under a rice paddy in a small town in rural southern China. They were the local village - I'm not sure how you'd say it - masters? gentry? landowners? Anyway, they must have been well liked all the same. They had a fancy family tomb. Then came the Cultural Revolution, and the Red Guards went through the country, digging up and scattering the bones of the evil gentry families. The villagers concealed my great-grandparents' tomb by flooding and planting rice over it. By then, my family had long since left China, migrating to Taiwan, and then to New York. When my grandparents returned to China in the mid-1970s, they went to pay their respects to their ancestors. They waded into the rice paddy and placed bundles of ceremonial money in little paper boats, lit them on fire and set the boats drifting. That's the custom. Last time I went to my grandfather's grave, it was pouring rain and we stood over the metal bowl and burned ''money'' (its not really) under an umbrella. Of course, it may simply be that the villagers wanted more space to grow rice. There are many sides to a story.

Anyway, rice is important in Chinese culture. But I don't really care for the standard white steamed long grain rice that much. It is a bit like Wonder Bread. I like short grain vinegared sushi rice, fragrant Indian saffron rice, crusty Spanish paella rice, wild rice with and without oyster liquor, congee (rice soup), sticky black rice, etc. As we grow up, we forge our own tastes and leave the old things behind. But not forever. As my grandparents aged, they gradually reverted to their original habits, forgot their English, ate only Chinese food. I suppose that when I'm 90, if I live that long, my favorite kind of rice may again be the plain steamed white rice of my childhood. It's easy on the dentures, you know.

No one in their right mind volunteers to help with ricing. It is grueling work!

Maybe I should pull a "Dcarch" and video tape some of the process this year!

Posted by teresa_mn "----No one in their right mind volunteers to help with ricing. -----"

No one in the right mind?

You are talking about the entire population here in this Forum! :-)

dcarch