Home › Outdoor and Camping Recipes › Oysters on the Half Shell
Oysters on the Half Shell
Keep on ice till serving time. Have small soup-plates half full fine ice and lay oysters in deep half of shell on plates as fast as opened. Salt, pepper and cut lemon should be served at side, and true oyster lovers will use no other sauce. Small oysters are preferred, and four to six are enough to each plate.
Barely a recipe at all — the whole thing is handling. Everything depends on cold, on shucking to order, and on the oysters being good enough to eat plain.
- The hinge: shuck to order, keep the liquorOpen the oysters as the plates go out, not in advance, and work over the shell so none of the liquor spills. That liquor is the seasoning; an oyster drained and left sitting for twenty minutes is a different, duller thing.
- Cold means 40F or belowCold throughout -- The recipe gives no temperature; modern guidance is to hold live oysters at about 40F or below, cup-side down on a tray, covered with a damp cloth, and never in an airtight container or submerged in fresh water, both of which kill them. Here the ice does double duty: the book holds the oysters on ice until serving, and the bed of fine ice under the plate keeps them cold at the table.
- "Small soup-plates" — use what you haveA shallow soup or pasta bowl works, as does a rimmed dinner plate. The point is a shallow well that holds crushed ice deep enough to seat the shells level so no liquor runs out.
- Fine ice, not cubesCrush or shave the ice. Cubes let the shells tip and the liquor drain, and they chill unevenly. A food processor or a mallet and a clean towel will do it.
- Buying and checkingBuy from a dealer who can show the shellfish tag with the harvest date and waters. Shells should be tightly closed, or should close when tapped; discard any that stay gaping, are cracked, or smell of anything but clean sea.
- Who should not eat them rawRaw oysters carry a real risk of Vibrio and norovirus. People who are pregnant, immunocompromised, or have liver disease or a history of heavy alcohol use should eat oysters cooked through instead. Hot sauce, lemon and spirits do not reduce the risk.
- Seasoning as writtenSalt, pepper and lemon at the side remains a common raw-bar service, alongside the now-familiar mignonette of shallot in wine vinegar. Add lemon at the last moment -- its acid firms the flesh and mutes the brine if it sits.
- YieldFour to six per person as an opener, as stated; a dozen makes a light meal. Allow a few extra oysters for the ones that shatter or turn out muddy when opened.