Your favorite Oyster Stew recipe?

[Rabrrrrrr]

My family makes a very simple stew - a few gallons of milk, a couple pounds of butter, and a gallon of oysters with their juices. No herbs or spices. Let it cook until hot, etc., and then eat it up with some oyster crackers in it (my uncle and I love to add some more butter to our bowls, and douse it generously with pepper).

YUM YUM! I look forward to it again this year. So wnoderful!

So I was thinking about oyster stew today, in preparation for my holiday with family, and wondering how others might make this? If I were making it, I think I'd reduce the milk by half a gallon and use cream.

But I was also wondering about adding spices and/or herbs to the mix. As it is, the flavor of the oysters comes through nicely and it's a nice and pure soup of oysters, so I wonder if adding anything would be beneficial or hurtful? Part of the "less is more" mantra, and letting those wonderful, blissful oysters speak for themselves.

But on the other hand, there are some good herbs and spices that go well with seafood.

So, all that said - How do you make your oyster stew?

[Lisa]

1. I'm in the "less is more" school too ...

Milk, oysters, and black pepper. (I've cut out the butter because of my mom's worries about too much fat ... and it hasn't affected the taste, in my opinion!)

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. Pepper makes is so awesome!

Sadly, I'm from WI farmer family, so the use of "spicy" things, like simple black pepper, is frowned upon as being too "strong", so we can't put it actually IN the vat of stew, whcih is too bad, becuase it's nice to let the pepper brew in the pot and let it's flavor get into everything. :-)

Go to WI and order yourself a coffee - you can see right through the pot, it's so weak. So it's no surprise that pepper is considered living on the edge. They wouldn't even eat the kim chee I served them, except my one uncle, who loves hot spicy food.

[Liberal Christian]

24. Use white pepper

Rabrrrrrr,

Sneak in white pepper instead of black pepper. There's still pepper flavor to it, but they'll never guess it's there. Nefarious, don't you know.

[Rabrrrrrr]

25. And you think any of my family will have whte pepper?

Or have even heard of it?

That possibility is soooooooo NOT.

Otherwise, a good idea, though!

[Liberal Christian]

26. White pepper

Rabrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Ask me for some when you come over next week. :)

[Charlls]

2. my mouth watered at reading that recipe

:9 slurp


but yes, milk and butter sounds too simple to be true

[Charlls]

4. there are other cream based alternatives

quiche filling is prepared usually on a frying pan of vegetables (usually peppers, onions, etc), when the vegetables are really soft ie; onion is translucent, you can fat the salted vegetables slowly adding small cycles of beer and flour, stirring it so the flour doesnt do annoying balls. after a while you have a thick sauce at which point you can add milk to soften it


probably you can pre-fry the oysters with some vegetables and fat it the same way with beer and flour and then milk :9

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. That sounds good! But I'm looking for soup ideas

Thanks, though! It really does sound yummy, and something I might like to try sometime.

[Lisa]

6. this one has onions ...

I'm not big on onions with seafood, but some people like it. Perhaps shallots might be better?

http://www.wsg.washington.edu/oysterstew/news/recipes.html


I suppose one could also put in finely chopped celery or even carrots. But as you say, one wouldn't want to overdo and lose that oyster taste.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Thanks! That suonds good

I like onions. :-) Though as you say, the shallots might be better.

Also - that oytser saute looks WONDERFUL!

[PinkTiger]

8. Mama K's Oyster Stew

Here 'tis:

Ingredients:

2 cans oysters (regular size), drained (reserve juice)

one small onion, diced
six slices of bacon (lean), diced
half cup butter
one quart milk
one cup half and half

tobasco sauce
worchestershire sauce
dash cayenne or paprika (depending on how hot you like it)
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Open oysters and drain juice in separate container.

In heavy 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, saute bacon until it starts to curl. Add onion and saute until onion is transparent.
Add butter until melted.
When the mixture is hot but not burned (!) mix in the oysters, and saute them in the butter/onion mix for one minute. Make sure heat is not too high.
Add milk and cream, oyster juice, tobasco and worchestershire sauce. Heat just until bubbles start to form around the edges. Do not overheat, or milk will scorch.

Season to taste.

Yum!

Makes 5 1-cup servings, about enough for two or three of us.

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. ooh - looks tasty

Never thought of paprika, but I bet it work beautifully. Better than cayenne, I'd think.

Yum!

[Charlls]

11. nice! just an observation...

worschestershire (or any other vinegar-based sauces) should go a bit earlier than milk-based, since vinegar severely interacts with the milk taste, so probably you want to lie it alone before adding milk/cream

[PinkTiger]

14. Well

I've never had a problem with it -- but then I truly just use a splash. Too much is not good, anyway.

Besides, its not around long enough to curdle (ha)

[mlawson]

9. I would put okra and tomatoes in it.

And lots of hot sauce, need I say.

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. I coulodn't imagine adding okra to oysters

Or antyhing, actually. :-) Not an okra fan, I'm not.

Thanks for the suggestion, though!

[mlawson]

13. Oh, well. The sliminess of the okra

eliminates the need for thickening the stew. :D

No, really. It's a West African thing. And you can't go wrong with tomatoes.

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. Let's meet in the middle with the tomatoes

And you can have some Okra in your own bowl. :-)

[mitchum]

16. Pardon my threadjacking...

but "The Sliminess of the Okra" sounds like the title of some lost Tennessee Williams play from his most purple period. I really do like the way the phrase sounds. Thanks. Carry on.

[kayleybeth]

17. My favorite oyster stew recipe

has no oysters in it. Actually, it's not stew, but oyster-artichoke soup and the recipe comes from the late, great, N.O. chef Warren LeRuth. His secret ingredient was actually a missing ingredient--- oysters. I can't find the recipe but I've made it before and, damn, it was goooooooood. You'd never know it didn't have oysters (or as we say in New Orleans, "ERSTAHS") in it.

[SOteric]

18. Honestly, I prefer my oysters uncooked, on the half-shell

But if I'm gonna make stew, I take about a half-pound of European butter such as Plugra(yes, there is a specific reason), mince some shallots, some celery and some red sweet pepper and saute them in the butter just until translucent. Then I add a pinch of white pepper, - just a pinch, - it blooms.

Next I pour in a half-gallon of heavy cream, whatever is available from the shucking of the fresh oysters in the way of liquor and 8 fluid oz. of dry champagne. I let the mixture reduce by 3/4. So, it's 1 quarter of it's original volume, or about a pint.

I remove about 1/2 the liquid to a non-reactive sauce-pan, add 1 pint of whole milk and heat to just under boiling.

I pan-sear the oysters in butter until they're almost done. Pat them with a paper towel to remove excess butter and plop them in the milk and cream reduction, remove it from heat and let the carry-over cooking finish the dish.

I season it with a pinch of cayenne, some Sriracha, and real sea salts.

The remaining cream reduction is great in Linguine with clam sauce, and will hold refrigerated for about 5 days.

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. Amazing!

More work than my family will be willing to go through, but I'm saving the the recipe! Lordy, that made me hungry.

I love the idea of adding champagne!

[SOteric]

20. If you're going to make Linguine and clam sauce from the

remaining reduction, it will need a fuckload of garlic, a handful of fresh-grated Parmesano-Reggiano, and I like some minced parsley and lemon zest in small amounts as well. - Use fresh clams.

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. Just a fuckload?

or a metric fuckload? :p

I can never use enough garlic.

[SOteric]

22. I do recommend the metric.

:7

[oneighty]

23. Quickly saute

oysters in smoking hot butter. Add sauteed oysters and butter to scalded whole milk, black peppered to taste, simmer.

180 Oysterman!