I doubt I can convince many people to read a book about oysters published in 1941. But what if I told you it’s a very short book? MFK Fisher’s Consider the Oyster may be the most beautiful prose ever written about a mollusk.
Fisher muses over a lifetime of oyster-eating with complementary recipes. If you ever decide to read it, be sure it’s a time and a place you can obtain oysters, maybe a month with an ‘r’ in it if you go by that rule. (Here are food safety tips and FWC restrictions on harvesting oysters.)
The water is finally cool enough to indulge in a bushel of them. There’s nothing like shucking them and eating them on the half-shell (at your own risk, of course). But then you may move on, placing a few on a hot grill for a minute and dousing them with melted butter. After that appetizer, shuck a couple dozen and get the fryer ready for more oyster decadence. Consider the oyster, cornmeal-fried with remoulade…
Cornmeal Fried Oysters
Ingredients:
- High-heat oil of choice, for frying
- 2 dozen shucked oysters
- 3/4 cup buttermilk (or substitute 1/4 cup yogurt mixed with 1/2 cup milk)
- dash or two of Crystal hot sauce
- 2/3 cup cornmeal
- 2/3 cup flour
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper (to taste)
- 2 tablespoons sliced green onions, for garnish
Directions:
Heat the oil in a fryer or Dutch oven to 350.
In a shallow dish or pie plate, mix the buttermilk and hot sauce. Add the oysters and allow them to soak.
In another shallow dish or pie plate, mix the cornmeal, flour, garlic powder and salt and pepper.
Line the two dishes up next to the fryer. Pick up an oyster with chopsticks, allow the buttermilk to drip off, then dredge in the cornmeal mixture. Drop into the fryer. Continue with the remaining oysters, frying in batches, about 2 minutes per batch, or until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and allow them to drain on paper towels. Garnish with green onions and serve with remoulade or your favorite sauce.
Spicy Remoulade
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Creole mustard
- 1 tablespoon green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- dash of worcestershire sauce
- salt and pepper, to taste
- hot sauce, to taste
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and chill until ready to serve.
