Recipe and Tutorial
Who doesn't love oysters? They are some of the most delicious things, and having your own oyster roast is such an exciting venture! It isn’t easy though, and we know that. Here’s some tips on how to have your very own backyard oyster roast.
Let’s start with the most important part, getting your oysters. Between fresh seafood markets and delivery methods, it can be hard to choose which one you want to buy from. If you’re looking for freshly caught, a good place to start looking is Island Creek Oysters online. They catch them fresh from Island Creek, and can send to you in shipments of 50 or 100. As far as freshly caught oysters go, their prices are reasonable and it takes all the leg work out of trying to find the best quality in a seafood market.
If you are looking to buy from a fresh seafood market instead of having them delivered, places like Barnacle Bill’s and South End Seafood in Hilton Head both have fresh seafood that the public loves. Going to a fresh seafood market means you conduct your own quality control, and you also have say in how much you want to take home.
For cooking and preparation methods, how you want to roast them is really up to you. you can do them in a conventional oven by heating your oven to 475 degrees. Start working in batches and arrange your oysters in a single layer in a 12-by-16-inch roasting pan fitted with a flat rack. Pour ⅓. inch of hot tap water into the pan, and bake the oysters for around 7 minutes, or until the oyster shells have started to open. The full recipe is from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/7871-oven-roasted-oysters
If you’re looking to pan roast and fry them, you start by battering them and then you add ½ inch of oil or butter in a frying pan and turn it to medium high. Make sure your pan is hot before placing your oysters in it. Cook them for 45 to 60 seconds per side or until breading is golden brown. After cooking them, place the oyster on a paper towels to drain any excess oil. You can find this full recipe with battering instructions on https://www.pacificseafood.com/recipes/fried-oysters/
If you want to roast them on the grill, start by heating your grill to medium high. Place your cleaned oysters on the grill, larger bowl side down. Close the lid and roast for approximately 6-8 minutes until shells begin to open. Remove your oysters from the grill. Using a shucking or paring knife & gloves, gently pry open the shells. Run your knife around shell carefully, loosening the meat, leaving the oyster in the shell, being careful not to spill any juices. You can find this full recipe here, https://www.asouthernsoul.com/roasted-oysters/
Now that your oysters are cooked to your liking, plating them doesn’t need to be extravagant or fancy in any way. You’ve done the hard part, now the easy part is serving. Grab some amazing Islands cocktail sauce sold here at Binya, and serve a heaping tablespoon right next to your oysters for guests to enjoy. If you want to make it even easier, have a self serve station and multiple bottles of cocktail sauce around for everyone to grab their own serving of!
Oyster roasts are a lot of fun, and pretty tasty too! With these cooking methods and delectable sauce, your guests will be raving about this amazing experience for ages to come! Their mouths will definitely be watering until the nest oyster roast.
