smoked oysters

Unknown

Is there anyone out there that tried smoking oysters in the big green egg? If so, how did you do it, in shell? Out? How long? What seasonings?

Nature Boy

smokin berk,
I have done them. Cooked shucked oysters in a grill topper wok. I think I used lemon/wine/butter/garlic, but can't remember.[p]I did them with alder smoke at 250 for a half hour. They wer a bit slimy. I would go 300-325 til slightly browned and firm. They can also be done in the half shell.[p]Gretl, I believe, posted her results a couple weeks ago. Her's turned out great I heard.[p]Good luck.
NB

Unknown

Nature Boy,
Thanks for prompt reply...will try. I like the idea of them still in their shell. I will let you know how they turned out!
smokin berk[p]

Gretl

smokin berk,[p]Yes, I smoked some awesome oysters on New Year's Eve. I tried to find my post in the archives, but no luck. So I'll try relying on my memory. Scary. Here goes: in a nutshell (or, in this case, an oyster shell) I used a container of freshly shucked large (frying-size) oysters, drained and patted dry with paper towels. I slathered them with a generous mixture of olive oil, crushed fresh garlic, and a few drops of very hot pepper sauce. I made the same recipe twice in two days; the first time, I used a wire rack over a drip pan set on a couple of firebricks on the grill. I made a bed of fresh rosemary branches on the wire rack, and laid the oysters in one layer directly on the rosemary, and sprinkled them with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I put some white wine in the pan, and about a couple of tablespoons of soaked alder chips on the hot coals. I kept the heat at about 275-325 (memory's shaky here) and I left them in for a very long time; probably about 2-3 hours. You'd think they'd be rubbery after so long, but no. They were absolutely marvellous...but SMALL. They did shrink a lot.[p]The next day I wanted to repeat the triumph at a potluck; bought more oysters and tried to get fresh rosemary, but the market had run out. I ended up using stalks of fresh lemon grass, smashed with a hammer, and laid them on a grill topper wok. All other directions the same. The results were nearly as good as with the rosemary, but this batch was a little "wetter", I think the result of having less smoke circulation (denser lemon grass, more surface on the grill/wok). In both cases, the flavor was wonderful.[p]Good luck! I'm going to try mussels one of these days. I'll dream up a method and post results.[p]Gretl

Nature Boy

gretl,
I knew you would come thru! Nice job, I look forward to trying your method (although maybe not 3 hours!)[p]Anyway, I too have been thinking about ways to do mussels. What about using a cast iron pan without a lid on the egg. Bring a mixture of liquid to near boiling (maybe butter, wine/sherry/ or beer, water/clam juice, heavy garlic and some herbs, lemon juice.) Throw some wood chips in, then chuck the mussels in the pan. Close up the egg and let them steam in an open pan while taking on smoke. As they begin to open spoon the mixture over them as they finish up.[p]Whaddya think??
NB

Gretl

Nature Boy,
Wow. Yes, indeed. I think this would certainly be worth a try. I have a heavy dutch oven that will work fine; it's not cast iron, but very heavy and large enough to hold at least a sleeve of farm-raised mussels. I'll give it a shot; probably not until the weekend though. Darn! I need to be subsidized to explore all the cooking I'd like to try!
Cheers,
Gretl[p]p.s. Remember, the only reason the oysters were on so long was that I forgot about them! A happy accident.

Nature Boy

Gretl,
Yeah, I do remember well about your 3 hour accident! Those kinds of accidents are great because you really learn a lot about the upper limits. If it is still good after 3 hours, then there must be a pretty wide range of possibilities.[p]I don't know if you have to get subsidized, but you'll have fun trying out all the things on your list!

BluesnBBQ

Nature Boy,[p]Remember my pumpkin seeds? I cooked those with one of those aluminum pizza pans with holes punched through it. I bet that would work with oysters too. You'd probably have to keep the heat down to avoid the pan from frying the oysters. I'll have to try it some time.

Nature Boy

BluesnBBQ,
The wok I have, with holes in it, works great. It has a black porcelain looking coating. I just bought a flat round one today, that is 16 inches in diameter. I just read on the label to set your grill on low. I wonder what that means!![p]I bet oysters (without shells) are good at 375-400. Stir often until browned. Maybe low smoke for a half hour first, then crank it up and brown em. [p]Still wanna try them on the shell too. Cook those bad boys in their own little baths of juicy flavors. Maybe crank the temp on them at the end to, to brown the tops. I guess it depends how you like them. We already know we can cook them for 3 hours!!