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Panned Oysters
Mrs. J. B. Lyon.
Drain the oysters from the liquor; put them in a hot pan or spider; as soon as they begin to curl, add butter, pepper and salt. Serve on toast, or without, if preferred.
A three-line recipe that depends entirely on heat and timing. The whole method is: dry pan, hot pan, out before they shrink.
- The hinge: pull them the moment they curlOysters are done when the edges ruffle and the flesh firms, which takes roughly a minute or two over high heat. Left longer they tighten into rubber and weep out their liquor.
- A spiderA cast-iron frying pan, originally one with legs meant to stand over coals. A modern cast-iron or heavy stainless skillet is the same tool; get it properly hot before the oysters go in.
- Butter goes in after, not beforeThe order in the original is deliberate. Adding butter at the start drops the pan temperature and the oysters stew in liquid instead of searing.
- Drain them wellTip the shucked oysters into a sieve and let them sit a minute, then blot with paper towel. Any clinging liquor turns the pan into a poaching bath. Save the liquor for a chowder or a sauce.
- Quantity and yieldNo amount is given. Reckon on roughly 6 to 8 shucked oysters per person as a starter, which makes a pint of shucked oysters about two servings on toast.
- Work in batchesCrowding the pan is the usual failure. Two dozen oysters in one skillet will release enough moisture to drop it below searing heat, so cook in a single uncrowded layer.
- Buy the oysters rightShucked oysters sold refrigerated in their liquor are the readiest modern equivalent of what the recipe calls for. Use them within a day or two and go by the sell-by date.
- The toastThick-cut toast, cut to hold the oysters and their pan juices. Pour the buttery pan liquid over rather than discarding it.
Panned oysters belong to the era when oysters were cheap urban food rather than a luxury: through the second half of the nineteenth century the beds of Chesapeake Bay and Long Island Sound supplied American cities in volumes that made oyster saloons and street-corner oyster stands ordinary fixtures, and shucked oysters were shipped inland by rail and barrel. Cookbooks of the period accordingly often carry a run of oyster recipes together — stewed, scalloped, fried, broiled, pickled, and panned. "Panned" is the plainest of them, a dry sear with butter added at the end. The Home Cook Book, compiled from contributions by named Chicago women and sold for charity, is typical in printing such recipes much as a cook would have dictated them: no quantities and no times.