Home › Shell-Fish › Broiled Oysters with Pork
Broiled Oysters with Pork
String a hair-pin shaped wire, first with an oyster, then with a thin slice of pork, and so on until the wire is filled; fasten ends of wire into a long wooden handle, and broil before the fire. Serve, with the pork, if you like, seasoning slightly with pepper.
A fireside skewer recipe that predates the broiler pan: oysters and thin pork alternated on a bent wire and held before an open fire. It works on a grill or under a broiler with almost no adjustment, but the two ingredients cook at very different rates, which is the whole problem to solve.
- The hinge: pork first, oysters secondThe hinge: the pork needs far longer than the oysters — Salt pork needs several minutes to render and brown; a shucked oyster is done in two to three, as soon as the edges ruffle and it firms. (The recipe itself threads oyster first, then pork, alternating.) Slice the pork very thin and part-cook it in a skillet before threading, or the oysters will be shrunken and rubbery by the time the pork is safe and palatable. Modern guidance puts pork at 145F.
- "Pork" means salt pork"Pork" here is most likely salt pork or fat side pork rather than fresh loin, which is the usual sense in recipes of this kind. Thick-cut bacon is the closest supermarket substitute; if it is heavily smoked or sugar-cured the flavour will read differently from the original.
- The hair-pin wireA single length of stiff plain steel wire bent double into a long U, threaded, with its ends fastened into a long wooden handle. Two parallel metal skewers do the same job better, since a single skewer lets the oysters spin when you turn them. Avoid galvanized or coated wire from a hardware store.
- "Broil before the fire"Radiant heat from the side, close to glowing coals. Under a modern broiler set high with the rack 3-4 inches from the element, or over a hot charcoal fire; total time is usually 4 to 6 minutes with one turn.
- Dry the oystersDrain shucked oysters well and blot them, or the liquor steams instead of browning and the skewer drips into the fire. Use large oysters; small ones fall apart on the wire.
- SaltThe recipe seasons with pepper only. Between the salt pork and the oyster liquor there is plenty of salt already; taste before adding any.
- YieldFigure 6 to 8 oysters per skewer and two skewers per person as an appetizer. Serve immediately, on toast or plain, while the pork fat is still hot.
Oysters were cheap, abundant and shipped inland by rail in barrels and cans through the 1870s and 80s, which is why an Ohio community cookbook like Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping (1877) can give them substantial attention hundreds of miles from salt water. Pairing them with salt pork was one common way of handling a lean, watery ingredient: the fat both bastes and seasons, the same logic behind the fried oyster and the oyster fritter. The improvised hair-pin wire and long wooden handle also suggest the era of the open hearth and the wood range, where cooking "before the fire" rather than in an oven was still routine.