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?) 

Oyster Stew

American style oyster stew is creamy to the umpteenth degree and if you have more than one serving of this and don't weigh nearly a ton by the next day, don't blame this recipe! hahaha  Understand, if you want to lighten the calorie count and fat, you can use all milk to make this dish, and remember too, you're not supposed to gulp this down by the gallon. My father loved oyster stew and my mother made it a couple of times a year (she used milk, no cream), in the fall and winter, but never during summer. It has long been held that we should not eat oysters in months without an 'r' in the name; thus, May, June, July and August. Oysters were said to be poisonous then, and there is likely at least some truth to that. The warm weather months in the Northern Hemisphere is when algae blooms take place, and some types of algae can be poisonous to humans. The idea was that oysters would sometimes be affected by these large summer algae blooms, ingesting some, or a lot, of the algae, which then could poison humans who ate the oysters. Since these algae blooms tended to match the warm weather months in the Northern Hemisphere, it was easy for people to remember the precaution by the months without an 'r' in the name. 

 

In our times now, I'm not sure how significant an impact these algae blooms have on oysters, because of oyster farming, rather than in the past, when oysters were almost always taken from the wild, but about a year ago when I asked a young fishmonger about the 'r' months and oysters, he told me he'd never heard of that, so either that isn't as prevalent today, or he's the only person on the planet who sells seafood that hasn't heard it. hahaha Another reason talked about in the past was that the warm months are the time for oyster breeding, and that they needed to be left to increase the oyster population. My maternal grandmother believed that oysters eaten with milk in the warm weather months were poison, but she never said why she believed that, and it could just be a variable condition to the algae bloom idea. 

On a comedic note, there is a famous scene, hysterically funny, from one of the Three Stooges' episodes (I believe they repeated it in a later episode or two) from 1941, called "Dutiful But Dumb." The scene involves Curly ordering oyster stew in a little restaurant, but when he drops in some crackers, an oyster pops ups and eats the crackers. Curly tries his best to beat the oyster to the crackers, but the oyster is just too fast, and it squirts some of the stew at Curly. When Curly tries withholding the cracker, the oyster begs like a trained seal for him to drop the cracker into the stew. 

 

Ingredients (3 to 4 servings): 

1 pint shucked oysters (20 to 25 oysters) in their liquid (I always check for bits of shell, just in case)

1 stick butter (1/2 cup), cut into pieces to melt faster

2 cans evaporated milk (not condensed milk!)

1/2 pint heavy cream 

1/4 cup finely chopped white or yellow onion

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/3 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or your favorite hot sauce)

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

tablespoon or two of snipped/chopped chives for garnish 

 

In a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat, melt the butter and add the onion. Saute for just a couple of minutes (do not let the butter brown; remove the pan from the heat if the butter starts to brown, lower the heat if need be; it can always be put back at medium later), and then add the canned milk; cook for another couple of minutes, until the milk heats up, but does not boil. Add the oysters and their liquid and stir well. Add the Worcestershire, cayenne pepper, ground black pepper and salt; stir well to mix everything together. Add the heavy cream and stir well again. Let the oyster stew come up to heat, but do not let it boil! Add some snipped chives to the top of each serving. My father ate oyster stew along with some thick slices of Italian bread; but hey, crackers are fine too, just don't get into a fight with one of the oysters.

The oysters I bought were so good, I just had to put a picture of a couple of the raw ones here, besides the stew ...

WORD HISTORY:

Liquid-This word is closely related to "liquor," a word of Latin derivation and borrowed by English from Latin-based French. "Liquid" goes back to Indo European "wleik," seemingly with the meaning, "to be wet or moist, to make something moist." This gave Latin the verb "liquere," meaning, "to be fluid, to flow like water;" thus also, "to be clear." This gave Latin the adjective "liquidus" meaning, "to be of a fluid state (not of firm, solid or gaseous state);" thus also, "flowing," and this was taken by Latin-based Old French as "liquide," with the same meaning. English borrowed the word in the latter part of the 1300s, initially as "liquide." The use of the word as a noun began in the 1500s, but it was not widespread until circa 1700. 

Oysters Kilpatrick/Kirkpatrick

The dish dates from the latter part of the 1800s, "seemingly" acquiring the name "Oysters Kirkpatrick" during the mid 1890s in San Francisco. The general recipe, and variations thereof, spread to Australia as well as to other areas, but often with the altered name, "Oysters Kilpatrick."

Ingredients:

12 large oysters in the shell, shucked, and retain the liquid in the shell
squirt of ketchup per oyster
2 to 3 drops Worcestershire sauce per oyster
4 strips bacon, cut into 3 pieces each
pinch of grated Parmesan per oyster
aluminum foil, crumpled to make places for the oyster half shells
baking sheet

Put the crumpled aluminum foil on a baking sheet (restaurants often use rock salt for this). Nestle the oyster half shells into the crumpled foil to stabilize them and this will prevent them from spilling their liquid and content. Sprinkle 2 or 3 drops of Worcestershire sauce onto each oyster, then put a squeeze of ketchup onto each. Place a piece of the sliced bacon to cover each oyster. Place the baking sheet under the broiler and broil until the bacon starts to crisp. Remove the baking sheet and put a pinch of Parmesan on top of each oyster. Return the sheet to the broiler for about 30 seconds, but be careful not to burn the cheese.   

WORD HISTORY: 
Cargo-This word is closely related to "car" and to "charge," both words borrowed by English from French, which got them from Latin, but derived from Celtic (see below). It goes back to Indo European "kers," which had the notion of "run, move swiftly." This gave its Old Celtic offspring "karros," which meant "chariot, wagon, wheeled vehicle." This gave Gaulish (a Celtic language) "karros," with the same general meaning. This was then borrowed into Latin as "carrus," seemingly with the main original meaning being "chariot," but later also "wagon, cart." This produced the Latin verb "carricare," which meant, "to load (as in, 'load goods onto a wagon,' " but later, "load a weapon"). This passed to Latin-based Spanish as "cargar," meaning, "to load, to add a tax or burden," which produced the Spanish noun, "cargo," meaning, "a load, a burden;" thus also, "freight on a ship." English borrowed the word in the mid 1600s.

Oysters With Mignonette Sauce

If you like oysters, as I do, this is a tasty way to enjoy them. Super simple, and I've put a couple of ways you can modify the recipe to give you some variety.

The "Billion Oysters Project" is a science endeavor heavily involving students to try to restore the ecosystem of New York Harbor by adding one billion live oysters to the harbor by the year 2030. For more information or to help: https://billionoysterproject.org/#

Ingredients:

12 freshly shucked oysters on the half shell
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped sweet onion (or shallots)
good pinch sea salt

For a "hot" kick, add 1 teaspoon sambal oelek (hot chili paste)
For a sweetened touch, mix 1 teaspoon honey with the white wine vinegar first

Mix and chill before serving sauce with oysters on the half shell

I used shallot in my Mignonette sauce...

WORD HISTORY:
Hull-This word, related to "hell," an original English word from its Germanic roots, and distantly related to "cell" and "cellar," both of Latin derivation and borrowed by English, goes back to Indo European "kel/khel," which meant "cover." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "hallo/hullo," which meant, "covered area," and the root gave Germanic "hul/hel," meaning "cover," and this then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "hulu," which meant, "husk, seed cover, pod cover." This then became "hul," before the modern form, "hull." The verb form, meaning, "to remove the hulls from grains, vegetables or fruit," developed from the noun in the first half of the 1400s, at first as "hullen." This "may" be the same word for "the frame of a ship," but this is uncertain, although the "pod and seed shape" of ships seems to be the connection to the word "hull." Anyway, forms still "alive" in other Germanic languages: German has "Hülse" (husk, shell, pod), "Hülle" (cover, wrapping") and the verb "hüllen" (to wrap, to cover);  Low German Saxon has "Hüls" (pod), Dutch has the verb "hullen" (to wrap, to envelop).

Avocado Soup

This is an absolutely INCREDIBLE cold soup!

Ingredients (4 to 6 servings):

4 avocados, flesh scooped out
4 tablespoons lime juice
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 or 1 jalapeño or serrano chili pepper
3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup cilantro
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons adobo seasoned salt/seasoning
1 can of smoked oysters
sour cream

Put all ingredients, except the oysters and sour cream, into a blender or processor and blend until smooth. Refrigerate for several hours. Serve garnished with a spoonful of sour cream (low fat type is fine), topped with a few smoked oysters.

 WORD HISTORY: 
Oyster-This word is related to the first part of "osteoporosis." It goes back to Indo European "oest," which had the notion, "hardened substance;" thus, "bone, stone." This gave Ancient Greek the transliterated "ostéon," meaning "bone," which produced "óstreon," meaning, "oyster." This was borrowed by Latin as "ostrea," which passed to Old French, a Latin-based language, as "oistre." In the meantime, Old English had "ostre," borrowed from Latin "ostrea." The Normans brought the French form to England, which reinforced, but by the 1300s, altered the English form to "oyster."