Fried Oysters

When I was a kid in the 1950s and 1960s, Friday fish fries at bars and restaurants was a very common tradition, and a religious practice for Catholics, but even many non-Catholics ate fish or other seafood on Fridays. Even bars that did not sell freshly prepared food other days, set up deep fryers and stocked up on fish for their weekly ritual on Fridays (some even continued the fish fry on Saturdays). Besides offering fish on Fridays, a few other places offered baskets of shrimp, or ... FRIED OYSTERS!       

 

Serve with remoulade,* or cocktail sauce (easily made with ketchup, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and a pinch of cayenne pepper), or tartar sauce,** and lemon wedges, french fries, coleslaw.

 

Ingredients:

 

about 25 medium to large shucked oysters

1/2 cup buttermilk (or more) to soak

2/3 cup flour

1/3 cup breadcrumbs (fine, not panko)

1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or other ground red pepper)

2/3 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

olive oil 

parsley for plate garnish 

In a bowl, soak the oysters in 1/2 cup buttermilk (or a little more, if needed) for about 15 to 20 minutes. Add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a skillet with about a quarter of an inch of the oil. Heat the oil over medium heat until it is hot, but NOT smoking (if you have a thermometer, 350 to 360 degrees F). Meanwhile, I then use a large food storage container with a lid, but you can just use a bowl. Add the flour, breadcrumbs, ground red pepper, black pepper and salt. Mix the dry ingredients together (if you use a container with a lid, just shake it until mixed). Remove the oysters to a sieve temporarily to allow the buttermilk to drip off of the oysters. Put the oysters into the coating ingredients and shake or mix to coat them. Shake the oysters of excess coating and add the oysters to the hot oil (you might want to up the temperature one notch to keep the oil hot), and you're likely to need to add the oysters in a couple of batches, as you don't want too many oysters in the skillet at any one time. Fry the oysters until they are nicely browned all over, which should be 'about' 2 minutes per side. Remove the oysters to a plate covered with paper towels or napkins to remove excess oil. If you'd like, add a little sprinkle of salt. You may need to add a little more oil to the skillet to fry all of the oysters, and if you do, add the oil first and let it heat up, then add the oysters.    

* For Louisiana Remoulade Sauce, here is the link to the recipe: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2020/08/louisiana-remoulade-sauce.html

 

** To make your own tartar sauce, here is the recipe: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/09/homemade-tartar-sauce.html

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Cardigan-The use of this word for a garment dates to circa 1860 and to British General James Brudenell, the 7th Earl of Cardigan, who wore a waistcoat in combat (he served in the Crimean War of the mid 1850s). "Cardigan," the word itself, is the anglicized form of Welsh "Ceredigion," a place name in Wales meaning, "Ceredig's land." Ceredig was a Celtic chieftan in the 400s A.D. and he helped to fend off Irish invaders in what was to become a part of Wales named for him. As for the "cardigan," the waistcoat was originally knitted of wool and fitted with buttons in the front. Later the term "sweater" became common for its description (perhaps for marketing purposes? Or perhaps because they tended to make them much more loose fitting than the typical waistcoat?)