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Oysters "Roast" in Their Own Liquor
Put the oysters in a saucepan and bring to a quick boil. As soon as they get plump they are cooked enough for most connoisseurs, but some like them cooked until the gills are well curled or crimped. As soon as done season with salt, pepper, butter, and a squeeze of lemon juice. This is a "plain roast." Served on buttered toast, with the liquor poured over, it is a "fancy roast."
A one-pan method that stands or falls on timing: shucked oysters cook in the liquor that comes out of them, and the whole thing takes under three minutes.
- The hinge: stop at plumpShucked oysters are done the moment they firm up and the edges ruffle, roughly 1-2 minutes at a bare simmer. Cooking until the frills are "well curled or crimped" pushes them toward rubbery; the original acknowledges this is a matter of taste, but modern practice sides with the shorter time.
- "Roast" does not mean the ovenIn oyster-house usage the word covered several quick methods, oysters heated in the shell or cooked down in a pan in their own liquor. Nothing here goes into an oven.
- Bring to a quick boil, then back offA hard rolling boil toughens the muscle and clouds the liquor. Take the pan to the first break of bubbles and lower the heat immediately.
- Quantity and liquorThe original gives no quantity. A pint of shucked oysters with their liquor is usually reckoned enough for two or three as a starter; scale up for a supper dish. If the oysters were drained at the fish counter, add a couple of tablespoons of water or a splash of cream so they do not scorch before they release their own juice.
- GritPick the oysters over for shell fragments before they go in the pan, and pour the liquor through a fine sieve if it looks sandy. There is no straining step later.
- Butter timingThe original says to season as soon as the oysters are done but does not say whether the pan is off the heat. Add the butter off the heat: butter dropped into boiling liquor breaks and goes greasy, while butter swirled in after the pan comes off thickens the liquor slightly.
- The toast mattersFor the "fancy roast," use bread toasted dry and firm, then buttered. Soft or thin toast dissolves the moment the liquor hits it.
- Raw-oyster caveatThis recipe does cook the oysters through, which is the safer treatment. If you are serving people who are pregnant, elderly, or immunocompromised, hold to the longer end of the cooking time rather than the plump-and-stop version.