Grilled Oysters

As some folks know, I have been obsessed with oysters lately, especially raw ones. I have always like deep fried oysters, but figured doing some on the grill would be good sometime. Yesterday i was out @ Polancics butche shop getting some cut to order bone in chops I was making for dinner to accompany some bb ribs, and spied some Atlantic Ocean Canadaina oysters frozen on the halfshell in their seafood case. Decided to go for it. $1.50/each for these oysters, I only got 4 since it was an experiment. Thawed the oysters in the fridge all afternoon, and whipped up a garlic butter with lemon, garlic(of course), serrano pepper, Tony C's, and some white wine. nice mix. Refrigerated the butter to get it firm again. once the oysters were thawed I squirted them with lemon juice, and topped each with some of the garlic butter. tossed them on the kettle, and let them go, took about 5-7 minutes for the butter to bubble, I then topped the oyster with some homemade pineapple bbq sauce I made last week, covered the kettle and let it go another couple of minutes.

Results... nothing short of brilliant. Those 4 oysters were gone in a second, and had me kicking myself that I didnt get a dozen, great oyster flavor, tender meat, and the butter and pineapple bbq sauce made the dish. Next time i will plan in advance and get some fresh oysters and shuck them myself. My 1", brined pork chops snuck into a few pics.

oysters:




on the grill:





finished:



thanks for looking

WOW! I may have to pick up some oysters today and give that a whirl! Great idea, Jim.

Jim,

Those look real good! The real surprise for me is the price tag for frozen oysters. $1.50 each? That comes out to $18/dozen. That's not a typo?

I've always worried that the freezing process will mess up the texture, but your pretty bivalves *look* just right--what would you say about the texture? (Maybe next time you can try one of the defrosted guys raw—take one for the team!—and then tell us what *that* was like. : )

AWfully nice chops, btw!!

Geo

stevez wrote:Those look real good! The real surprise for me is the price tag for frozen oysters. $1.50 each? That comes out to $18/dozen. That's not a typo?

Look delicious, but $1.50 per for frozen oysters does seem high.

stevez wrote:Jim,

Those look real good! The real surprise for me is the price tag for frozen oysters. $1.50 each? That comes out to $18/dozen. That's not a typo?

Yep $1.50 each(those 4 oysters cost more than the cut to order chops..), Ottawa, Illinois definitely isnt the 1st, best, or cheapest choice for oyster buying , but these worked.

Next time fresh and then shucked by me for sure...

Geo wrote:I've always worried that the freezing process will mess up the texture, but your pretty bivalves *look* just right--what would you say about the texture? (Maybe next time you can try one of the defrosted guys raw—take one for the team!—and then tell us what *that* was like. : )

AWfully nice chops, btw!!

Geo

they did turn out good nice texture, plump, and just right, i am a raw oyster newbie, but i bet after a couple cocktails i would down one of these. I just need to plan better & grab some when I am closer to Chicago.

The chops were really good, I brined them for about 2 hours, and grilled them with just some veg. oil to keep them from sticking. No other seasoning needed, the brine was all they needed.

A number of years ago, I took a driving trip from San Francisco to Seattle. On the Northnern California coast, just north of SF, there is an area where just about every bar on the coastal road road advertises grilled oysters. The ones we had were made just like yours, on the half shell with butter and garlic on top.

Jonah

Jonah wrote:A number of years ago, I took a driving trip from San Francisco to Seattle. On the Northnern California coast, just north of SF, there is an area where just about every bar on the coastal road road advertises grilled oysters. The ones we had were made just like yours, on the half shell with butter and garlic on top.

Jonah

I bet those were great. I looked at a few recipes for different garlic butters, and kind of came up with my own by adding the serrano pepper, Tony Chacheries, and some white wine to the food processor as I was putting together the garlic butter mixture.

I was debating what bbq sauce I should top them with, I always have Open Pit on hand(that and The Jug are the only ones I buy mostly for nostalgia reasons, homemade bbq sauce is so easy to make, and you can control the hfcs, and other things) But I made some pineapple bbq sauce last week, and I made some raspberry chopotle bbq sauce this week, figured since the raspberry chipotle sauce was going on the bb ribs, I could use up the week old pineapple sauce. It worked.

Here's a report on your Original Source for those North of San Francisco grilled oysters.

Geo

Geo wrote:Here's a report on your Original Source for those North of San Francisco grilled oysters.

Geo

great link, made me hungry.

these are what I am doing this week(planned ahead), blue points:




my garlic butter, log form, in the fridge setting up.




gonna grill them until the shells open then toss a chunk of the butter in and finish.

Place oyster deeper cup down on grill, cover. Once they pop, they're done and should be taken off the heat immediately or they'll overcook and get tough. I'd have the butter melted and just sauce w/that as you take them off. Used to grill ones the size of my head like that. Some lemon beurre blanc, maybe some chives or caviar as garni=good eating.

Jazzfood wrote:Place oyster deeper cup down on grill, cover. Once they pop, they're done and should be taken off the heat immediately or they'll overcook and get tough. I'd have the butter melted and just sauce w/that as you take them off. Used to grill ones the size of my head like that. Some lemon beurre blanc, maybe some chives or caviar as garni=good eating.

thanks for the tips alan,

caviar garnish.. mentall note for next time.

about to get the Weber kettle going

I used to use a dollop of Carolyn Collins American paddlefish wasabi caviar (she's from Chicago so it shouldn't be that hard to find, it's featured on Tru's caviar staircase) or just a sm knife tip of some yuzu kosho.

the oysters were a hit for sure, they were consumed standing around the kitchen in about a minute.

on the grill:



opened, and my garlic butter & korean bbq sauce applied:



next time, more oysters, a dozen wasnt enough.

Jim, would you be interested in adopting me?

Katie wrote:Jim, would you be interested in adopting me?

lol... we just recently got rid of our last houseguest of almost a year(my wifes cousin), so respectfully, Id have to say no...

thanks though.

Funny thing my wife wasnt a big fan of oysters, so I was surprised this week when she volunteered to hit Whole Foods Friday to pick up more for this upcoming weekend.

Much of my family lives in BC, where it is pretty common for people to throw freshly gathered oysters directly onto a bed of hot driftwood embers for a few minutes. The oysters steam in their own liquor, and taste wonderful. However, the smoke given off by the burning shells is somewhat less than wonderful. In fact, it smells like burning sea-hag hair. I don't know if grilling oysters gets the shells hot enough to emit those noxious fumes, but I would be careful about contaminating the rest of my food with that ultra-fishy odor.

d4v3 wrote:Much of my family lives in BC, where it is pretty common for people to throw freshly gathered oysters directly onto a bed of hot driftwood embers for a few minutes. The oysters steam in their own liquor, and taste wonderful. However, the smoke given off by the burning shells is somewhat less than wonderful. In fact, it smells like burning sea-hag hair. I don't know if grilling oysters gets the shells hot enough to emit those noxious fumes, but I would be careful about contaminating the rest of my food with that ultra-fishy odor.

havent noticed any fishy odor, the brined pork chops they shared the grill with didnt take on any odd taste.

jimswside wrote:havent noticed any fishy odor, the brined pork chops they shared the grill with didnt take on any odd taste.

I guess that placing the oysters on a grill doesn't burn the shells like throwing them directly onto coals, and maybe the fresh ones smell worse. It is more than a fishy odor, it is truly noxious. Standing downwind will make your nose hairs curl, like the smell of burning hair.

At any rate, I think grilling oysters will definitely make it into my summertime repertoire. Thanks for the suggestion. Has anyone tried smoking them?

d4v3 wrote:

jimswside wrote:

At any rate, I think grilling oysters will definitely make it into my summertime repertoire. Thanks for the suggestion. Has anyone tried smoking them?

I know I am hooked, this week perhaps 2 dozen...

probably going for a dozen raw oysters tonight w/ supper @ Pappadeux.

However @ home tomorrow I am going to grill some more(at least a dozen), this time with more of a Mexican theme to match the grilled skirt steak I am doing for some carne asada tacos.

Thinking of a light salsa like topping once they are done and off the grill, chopped tomato, lime juice, tequila, serrano pepper(or perhaps a chipotle and some adobo), garlic, cilantro.. etc

snagged a dozne Blue Points last night @ Whole Foods(afer eating a dozen raw ones @ Pappadeux), debating on tghe method, either the basic pico-d gallo like topping I listed above, or perhaps a Bobby Flay recipe for a mango Pico-De Gallo(if I can find a fresh mango today).

Gonna pair these with some tequila marinated London Broil that I will slice and toss on some flour tortillas. Price for the London Broil @ WF wasnt bad $6.99/lb.

Funniest thing I have seen in a long time was the bottles of Liquid Smoke on the shelves of WF. To me that nasty additive seemed out of place.

jimswside wrote:

d4v3 wrote:

jimswside wrote:

At any rate, I think grilling oysters will definitely make it into my summertime repertoire. Thanks for the suggestion. Has anyone tried smoking them?

I know I am hooked, this week perhaps 2 dozen...

I'm with you d4v3, (and I assume there are plenty of others) I have a new kettle that I have yet to set up, and I can't wait to try some oysters. I also plan on my first brisket trials this year.

jimswside - I'm sure you already know this, but you're an inspiration to many. I'm thinking that I need a new bbq outfit. Seems a sox jersey or hat, and a High Life is the way to go.

seebee wrote:
jimswside - I'm sure you already know this, but you're an inspiration to many. I'm thinking that I need a new bbq outfit. Seems a sox jersey or hat, and a High Life is the way to go.

thanks, I appreciate that,

I like the sounds of your wardrobe choice, it works for me. Same with livin' the High Life.

nice batch last night, different, but nice. I think i prefer the garlic butter, topped with bbq sauce version better, but these had alot of flavor.

Made up a pico de gallo based on a Bobb Flay recipe: olive oil, chopped jalapeno, chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, lemon juice, honey, black pepper, kosher salt, and mango. Really nice, sweet and hot.

Grilled the oysters over lump until they opened, took them off the grill popped them open, and topped with a tsp of the pico de gallo, and a little horseradish.

pico:



ready to eat:

close up of one of those oysters from Saturday, just a colorful picture I wanted to share. Mango Pico almost overtook the oyster but was a nice change



probably take a break from oysters this weekend

seebee wrote:jimswside - I'm sure you already know this, but you're an inspiration to many. I'm thinking that I need a new bbq outfit. Seems a sox jersey or hat, and a High Life is the way to go.

Agreed completely!
My Sunday dinner starter of 1/2 dozen grilled oysters can be directly credited to jimswside.

My kids thank you (they flipped for the oysters)!

zoid wrote:

seebee wrote:jimswside - I'm sure you already know this, but you're an inspiration to many. I'm thinking that I need a new bbq outfit. Seems a sox jersey or hat, and a High Life is the way to go.

Agreed completely!
My Sunday dinner starter of 1/2 dozen grilled oysters can be directly credited to jimswside.

My kids thank you (they flipped for the oysters)!

glad you and your family liked them. I grill all year round, but it sure is a heck of a lot more fun lately