I am lucky to live in a place where I can get wonderful fresh oysters in season. But they aren't in season all of the time and they aren't cheap. So like many people here I have developed some recipes for canned oysters.
At some point I wondered if it would be possibly to fry them. My initial attempts to find a recipe were disappointing... and when you can't find a recipe for something there is usually a reason. I found some people stating they tried and that the oysters were badly overcooked.
Then I found the following tip: freeze them for 30-40 minutes before frying. It worked quite well. I used an 8 oz can of unsmoked whole oysters, from which I probably only got 5-6 ounces because I used only the biggest, intact ones. I made a batter out of 1 part corn meal, 2 parts white rice flour and 1 part potato starch, plus some salt, baking powder and Old Bay seasoning. I didn't dredge them before freezing... instead I did it right after I pulled them out, and just before frying in about 1/3" of coconut oil. Fry 1-2 minutes per side, just until the batter is nice and crispy, which is enough to warm the oysters through.
So the verdict... they were quite good, and I'll be making this again. Certainly not as good as fresh oysters, but they weren't noticeably overcooked or mushy.
For sure it's not the Peat-iest meal ever, but a tasty way to get some oysters. And I consider the starches used to be among the safer ones.
At some point I wondered if it would be possibly to fry them. My initial attempts to find a recipe were disappointing... and when you can't find a recipe for something there is usually a reason. I found some people stating they tried and that the oysters were badly overcooked.
Then I found the following tip: freeze them for 30-40 minutes before frying. It worked quite well. I used an 8 oz can of unsmoked whole oysters, from which I probably only got 5-6 ounces because I used only the biggest, intact ones. I made a batter out of 1 part corn meal, 2 parts white rice flour and 1 part potato starch, plus some salt, baking powder and Old Bay seasoning. I didn't dredge them before freezing... instead I did it right after I pulled them out, and just before frying in about 1/3" of coconut oil. Fry 1-2 minutes per side, just until the batter is nice and crispy, which is enough to warm the oysters through.
So the verdict... they were quite good, and I'll be making this again. Certainly not as good as fresh oysters, but they weren't noticeably overcooked or mushy.
For sure it's not the Peat-iest meal ever, but a tasty way to get some oysters. And I consider the starches used to be among the safer ones.
