Oysters – 3 ways

Whilst the weather is not quite so friendly during this time of year, I always get excited in the colder months because the oysters are back in season and are spot on the money at this time. During the summer months, oysters spawn and can become a bit too soft and fatty. During the colder months, they lean up and firm up too. If you are a beginner with eating oysters, now is the right time to try them.

So often, seafood recipes appear to be solely the domain of the top TV chefs like Rick Stein and Charlie Trotter or even less fancy but just as accomplished authors like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. However, cooking great seafood dishes doesn’t need to be difficult. In fact its easy to do and in this article I’m giving you 3 simple oyster recipes that you can do either all as one dish or separately on different occasions.

I get my Oysters from Steve on Field Street just off of Gouger St near the Adelaide central market. The reason being that when my father was in the restaurant game, he always bought his Oysters from Steve although he was a bit younger. He is a lovely guy and runs the business with his family. If you want to find Steve, turn on to Field St from Gouger and opposite Angelakis Bros (another fantastic Adelaide fish supplier) you will see a small garage door. Usually there is a sign outside saying that there are Oysters for sale. Go in to the garage and there will be a man opening bags and bags of oysters. This is likely to be Steve or his son. Go and say Hello. They are lovely people!

Needless to say, if you are buying Oysters, like all seafood, you want them as fresh as possible! That means that the smell of the sea and nothing else. The best bet is that they are from a supplier who supplies them to restaurants and always has a fresh supply. The best ones will be opened for you when you buy them.

Ever thought to yourself, ‘How do I shuck an Oyster?’
If you need to shuck them yourself, it is a little hard to explain. Here is a demonstration of Oyster Shucking that I found on You Tube.

This dish is something that whilst the recipes are constructed myself, is derived from either well established recipes (e.g. Oysters Kilpatrick) and some by well known chefs where I have guessed the recipe after tasting at their given establishment. Anyway, it has been on my dinner party menu this year and I really like it and the feedback from my guests has been very positive. As the name suggest, Oysters 3 ways is a dish with oysters treated in 3 different ways. This style of dish name is somewhat synonymous with Australian chefs. I remember reading an article about a dish at a particular popular restaurant at the time where the dish was ‘Duck – 3 ways’ and the commentator speculated whether the chef was indeed an Aussie. I have seen this convention at a number of restaurants both here in Australia and overseas but it is not always clear as to the origination of the dish’s creator.

So in my case, this dish must obviously be served in multiples of 3 so that each diner gets at least one of each type of oyster. In the following recipe however, I have accounted for 2 oysters per diner giving a total of two of each variety.

The oysters with Ponzu, cucumber and shallots was inspired by a meal at Luke Mangan’s Glass at the Sydney Hilton. My version is not quite as sophisticated as Mangan’s however it still manages to capture the essence of what I tasted on that night. It is quite possibly my favourite of the three. Ponzu sauce is essentially a soya based with added citrus, traditionally with Yuzu but store bought varieties are also sometimes flavoured with lemon and even mandarin. For my version, I have used store bought but a simple Ponzu sauce recipe is listed at the bottom of this article.

The Tempura Oysters with Seaweed Salad was inspired this time by something I had at Regatta’s restaurant in Adelaide which is headed up by Tze Khaw who is a lovely guy and gives a lot to the Adelaide foodie scene.

Finally Oysters Kilpatrick a la ‘The Foodologist’ is a recipe which I have been constantly working on for years. I use my own recipe BBQ sauce for this and I suggest you use either bought or homemade BBQ sauce for this. I have included a BBQ sauce recipe at the bottom which will work wonderfully with this dish. Most recipes I find use some sort of combination of Balsamic Vinegar, Worcestershire Sauce and sometimes Soya sauce which on their own or even combined is too thin and when cooked in with the juice from the oysters ends up tasy but somewhat insipid. Using a thicker sauce means that the liquid released from the oysters when mixed with the sauce gives a heady aroma which when mixed with the sauce and salty influence of the bacon is difficult to fault.

Oysters 3 Ways
Recipe

Total recipe is for 6 people and includes 2 of each variety.

Ingredients:
3 dozen fresh raw oysters shucked
1 half cucumber
3 decent sized shallots
Sesame Oil1 teaspoon
Mirin 1 teaspoon
Ponzu sauce approximately 1/4 cup (can be bought from Japanese supermarket)
3 slices bacon
BBQ sauce (bought or home made) approximately 12 tablespoons – see recipe below
Tempura batter mix (can be bought from Japanese Supermarket)
Japanese Seaweed salad (bought or home made) – see recipe below
Coarse Rocksalt to cover the plates for serving oysters

Oysters with Ponzu dressing, Cucumber and Shallot
Method
Use around half a cucumber. Wash and split the cucumber down the middle and using a spoon, scoop out the seeds. Then using a mandolin with the julienne cutter on the smallest setting, carefully slice the cucumber into long thin strand resembling spaghetti. Then align the strands on a cutting board into one long block of cucumber strands and cut with a sharp knife into fine dice. Place the cucumber into a bowl. Then finely chop the shallots and place into the bowl with the cucumber and mix well. Then pour over the ponzu sauce until almost covered and add a teaspoon of sesame oil and a teaspoon of mirin. Mix well. When serving, place an oyster on the place which has already been covered with coarse rock salt and spoon the dressing over the oyster just before serving.

Oysters with Ponzu dressing, Cucumber and Shallot inspired by Luke Mangan of Glass

Tempura Oysters with Seaweed Salad
Method
Mix the batter according the directions on the packet. You can use a deep fryer if you have but if not I use a wok and fill with enough vegetable oil that you will be able to shallow fry the oysters or if you feel game enough you can add enough oil to cover the oysters. I cannot stress enough the need to be careful when deep frying. With this dish especially, the liquid that is released with the oysters when it hits the hot oil means that it WILL spit. The second time I made this, I received a drop of very hot oil on my eyelid and it hurt A LOT. So in other words, BE CAREFUL!!!

That said now, add some seaweed salad to the oyster shells and place on the plate ready for serving. Then heat the oil until hot, not smoking hot but hot enought to brown a small cube of bread in around twenty seconds. Carefully add the oysters to the oil (dont drop them in) and using a slotted spoon, fry them until golden brown. Turning after a minute or so if required. When done, carefully remove the oysters from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on a plate with kitchen towel in a warm place to soak up any excess oil. It is highly important not to cook the oysters too long as then will become rubbery and disgusting. Around 1.5-2 minutes in total is the most you should need. Turn the heat off and let the oil cool down before disposing of the oil. Place one oyster on top of each shell with the salad and serve

Tempura Oysters with Seaweed Salad inspired by Tze Khaw of Regatta’s, Adelaide

Oysters Kilpatrick
Method
Using a knife, remove the rind from the bacon and place each slice on top of eachother. Then cut the bacon into long thin strips lengthways and then cut again across the bacon to make fine dice. This is an important step. Too many times in restaurants I have had Kilpatrick Oysters with huge pieces of bacon which dont brown nicely when grilled. Finer dice give more surface area to allow the bacon the brown nicely. Trust me, it’s worth the extra effort.

Then place the oysters onto a baking tray and set your griller to high. Then put approximately 1 tablespoon of BBQ sauce into each oyster and 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of diced bacon on top of the sauce. I also usually put some rocksalt on the baking tray to keep the Oysters still during cooking so none of the sauce pours out as they tend to roll around the tray if not treated carefully. Grill the oysters until the bacon is just starting to brown. Remove the oysters and serve immediately.

Oysters Kilpatrick, originator unknown, inspired by pubs and restaurants all over the world!

Japanese Ponzu Sauce

Ingredients:
Soya Sauce 1/2 Cup
Juice from 1/2 a Lime or 3 Tablespoons fresh Yuzu juice
Mirin 1 Tablespoon
1/4 cup dried Bonito flakes

Method
In a small saucepan, bring the soya sauce to the boil and then reduce to a slow simmer and add the bonito flakes. Turn off the heat and allow to cool. Strain the bonito flakes from the sauce and add the citrus juice and mirin. Refridgerate until ready to use.

Japanese Seaweed Salad

You can buy this and a lot of it is pretty good. In Adelaide, you can get it from Angelakis in the Adelaide Central market. I buy mine in little frozen containers from a shop just near the Adelaide Central Market called Little Tokyo. It is however pretty simple to make and only uses a few ingredients. You can also buy the seaweed from most Japanese shops and supermarkets. It is also delicious served with fish and as a side dish to sushi or sashimi.

Ingredients:
Goma Wakame Seaweed 1 packet
Soya Sauce 2 Tablespoons
Mirin 1 Tablespoon
Vinegar 1 Tablespoon
Sugar 1 teaspoon
Sesame Seeds 1 teaspoon

Method
Prepare the seaweed as stated on the packet. In a separate bown, mix the Soya sauce, Mirin, Vinegar, Sugar and Sesame seeds. Pour over the seaweed and serve.

Here are a whole heap of great seafood books from Amazon!

The Foodologist’s Spicy Cola BBQ Sauce

This makes a pretty basic BBQ sauce. It is NOT my secret sauce. I am not letting that out of the bag at this point in time as I may have further plans for it. However this one is pretty darn tasty. Really what we are doing here is ‘fancying’ up some basic tomato ketchup or ‘sauce’ as we call it in Australia. The addition of smoke powder is what makes it BBQ sauce. Americans like to have what are called ‘wild card’ ingredients. In this case, Cola makes a wonderful addition to the sauce. I also like to add spice in the form of Tabasco sauce and chilli powder which give a little kick. My secret sauce has two ‘wild cards’ which are uniquely Australian and in some cases South Australian.

Ingredients:
Tomato Ketchup 600ml
Cola 450ml
Cider Vineger 150ml
Smoke powder 2 teaspoon
Onion Powder 1 Tablespoon
Garlic Powder 1 Tablespoon

*Optional:
Hot Chilli Powder 1 teaspoon (or more to taste)
Tabasco Sauce 1/2 teaspoon

Method:
Add the Sauce, Cola and vinegar to a saucepan, then stir in the smoke powder, onion and garlic powder and if using chilli and Tabasco. Bring to the boil and then reduce heat. Simmer for 15 minutes and stir until all ingredients are well amalgamated and reaches a sauce consistency.

Store in sterilized glass jar.

Keeps for a couple of weeks at least!