Oysters!

Teaching Dave: A taste for oysters late in life

Sophie Brickman

Sunday, August 28, 2011

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Basic oyster protocol

Craig Lee

Fish's Barbecued Oysters. Styling by Sophie Brickman.

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-- Buy oysters with tightly closed shells. If open oysters don't close after a slight tap, toss them out.

-- Wash oysters under cold water before packing them over ice in the refrigerator. This will keep them at about the 45° recommended temperature for oyster storage. Eat them as soon as possible, although they can last for a few days, refrigerated over fresh ice.

-- To shuck an oyster, use an oyster shucker, not a normal kitchen knife or - gasp - a screwdriver.

-- To get a slurpable nugget of meat, cut through two adductor muscles, which keep the top and bottom shells closed. A ligament sits at the hinge. Find the "sweet spot" - where you can slide your knife inside at the hinge - then run the knife along the top shell to detach the top muscle. Wipe the shucker clean against a towel, then cut the bottom muscle by sliding the blade along the bottom shell.

-- If you get shell or dirt inside the oyster, no worries. Just use the knife to clean it up.

Mignonette With a Kick

Makes 1/2 cup

Classic mignonette is a mixture of shallots, cracked pepper and vinegar that brings out the flavor of raw oysters. Here, rice wine vinegar adds sweetness, and jalapeno gives a slight kick. Be sure to mince the jalapeno and shallots as finely as possible - no one wants a mouthful of either.

• 1/8 cup champagne vinegar
• 1/8 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 1 tablespoon seeded, minced jalapeno
• 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Instructions: Combine all ingredients and serve immediately with raw oysters.

Fish's Barbecued Oysters

Makes 2 dozen

This recipe, adapted from Fish in Sausalito, can be prepared partially ahead - the sauce as much as a week in advance and the garlic butter up to three days in advance. You might not use all of the sauce or butter, but both go well on a hunk of sourdough.

• 1 teaspoon neutral-tasting olive oil
• 1/4 pound canned San Marzano tomatoes, drained
• 3 tablespoons minced white onion
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon Asian fish sauce
• 1 squeeze sriracha sauce
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground horseradish
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) organic unsalted butter
• 2 dozen fresh oysters (see note)
• -- Sourdough bread

For the tomato sauce: Combine the olive oil, tomatoes, onion, 1 garlic clove, salt and brown sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until you can smash the garlic clove against the pot with the back of a spoon, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat and pass through fine food mill, or puree in a blender.

Return the sauce to the saucepan; add the vinegar, fish sauce and sriracha, bring to a simmer, and cook for about 30 minutes, or until thickened. You should have about 1 cup of sauce.

Strain out the tomato seeds, then let cool. Stir in grated horseradish; set aside or refrigerate.

For the garlic butter: Mince the remaining four cloves of garlic. Melt the butter, add the garlic, then refrigerate until solid.

For the oysters: Shuck oysters over a bowl, following the accompanying instructions and being sure to preserve all the oyster liquor. Try to keep all the liquor in the shell with the oyster meat; otherwise you can add it back to the shells from the bowl after you put the oysters on the grill.

To finish: Prepare and heat the grill to medium high. Carefully arrange the oysters on the grill to prevent loss of liquor and cook, uncovered, until done, about 2 minutes. If the grill slats are too wide, nestle the oysters into a bed of rock salt layered into a shallow pan, and set that on the grill; cover and cook for about 4 minutes, until done.

Spoon a dollop of garlic butter onto each cooked oyster while still on grill; once the butter melts, add a dime-size "hat" of horseradish sauce. Plate carefully to prevent loss of liquid, over rock salt if need be. Serve with warm sourdough.

Note: Fish recommends using Miyagi oysters, but any medium-size oyster with a deep "bowl" bottom shell will work. You want to prevent the garlic butter and tomato sauce from sloshing out of the shell once they heat.