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Fried Oysters (To fry oysters take two dozen)
To fry oysters, take two dozen large oysters (they are sold under different names and brands in different markets), drain off liquor; have prepared cracker dust (bought of any grocer, or made by crushing with rolling pin), mix well one tea-spoon salt, take one oyster at a time, roll in cracker dust, and lay on a meat board or platter by itself until all are so encased, and laid in rows; let remain fifteen minutes, now take the oyster first rolled in cracker dust and dip in beaten eggs (yolk and white beaten together), then the second oyster, and so on until all are dipped, then roll in cracker dust, following same order as before. Let them remain from half to three-quarters of an hour. It is important to follow the same order in each operation, to give the liquor of the oyster time to drain out and be absorbed by the cracker dust; now heat in a frying-pan one pound of clarified fat or lard; when the blue smoke arises (which indicates a heat of 375°, the proper cooking point), drop into it a peeled potato or piece of hard bread, which has the effect of preventing the fat growing hotter, drop in the oysters very lightly, and when a light brown turn to brown the other side; and then remove to a colander to drain a moment, or lay upon a piece of brown paper, which will absorb the superfluous grease. The time for cooking is about three minutes. Serve while hot on a hot platter. Fried oysters, to be at their best, must be eaten as soon as cooked; and when a second supply is likely to be needed, it should be cooked while the first is being served and eaten. It is better not to touch the oysters with the hand, as it tends to make them tough; all the rolling and dipping may be done with a fork, without mangling the oyster.
The method is sound and the temperature given is correct; what needs updating is how you judge that temperature and how long the breaded oysters sit out.
- The hinge: double-breading in strict orderThe whole point of rolling all the oysters, then egging them in the same sequence, then rolling again, is that each one gets the same resting time for its liquor to be absorbed. Skip the rest and the coating slides off in the fat. Keep the order.
- Rest them in the refrigeratorHalf to three-quarters of an hour at room temperature is longer than shucked oysters should sit warm. Lay them on a tray and rest them chilled, then fry straight from the cold.
- Cracker dustThis is cracker meal — plain soda crackers crushed fine. Store-bought cracker meal is the direct equivalent; fine dry breadcrumbs work, panko less well because the flakes are too coarse to seal the oyster.
- Ignore the blue smoke, use a thermometerBlue smoke means fat at or near its smoke point, which for lard falls somewhere around 370–390F depending on how it is rendered and refined — not a reliable marker of 375F. Clip on a thermometer and hold 365-375F. Lard, refined peanut oil or a neutral high-smoke oil all serve.
- The potato and the breadDropping in a potato or crust cools the fat briefly but gives no useful ongoing control of its temperature. Controlling the burner and frying in small batches does the work.
- One pound of fatAbout two cups rendered — enough for roughly a third of an inch in a 10-inch pan. Fry six or eight oysters at a time so the temperature does not crash.
- TimingThree minutes is the outside limit for large oysters at full heat; most shucked oysters are done in 90 seconds to two minutes, golden on both sides. Past that the flesh contracts and turns rubbery.
- SaltA teaspoon of salt in the cracker dust is right for two dozen. Oyster liquor is already saline, so do not salt again at table until you have tasted one.
- YieldTwo dozen large oysters serves three or four as a course, two as a supper. The instruction to fry a second batch while the first is eaten is worth honoring — fried oysters go soft within minutes.
Buckeye Cookery came out of Marysville, Ohio, in 1877, several hundred miles from salt water, and the recipe's aside that oysters "are sold under different names and brands in different markets" is the tell: by the 1870s Chesapeake and Long Island Sound oysters travelled inland by rail in kegs, cans and sealed tins, each packer with its own grade and label. Oysters were then a cheap, ubiquitous American food rather than a luxury, and the mid-century "oyster saloon" and church oyster supper reached deep into the interior. The care taken here over double-breading, drained liquor and a stated frying temperature of 375F reflects a period when shipped oysters arrived watery and the cook's problem was keeping the coating on. The warning not to handle them with the hand, on the grounds that it toughens the flesh, is traditional kitchen lore rather than anything demonstrable — but working with a fork does keep the oyster whole, which is reason enough.