Updated October, 2005
Oyster Stew Recipe
Adapted from Emeril’s New New Orleans Cooking
6 sm. red potatoes diced skins-on
1 tbsp Sea Salt
1 med to large yellow onion finely chopped
32 oz of shucked oysters with liquor
1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1c Heavy Cream
1c Milk
1 bunch of green onions green part only finely sliced
1 bunch of Chives finely chopped
5-6 oz of Maitake Mushrooms
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Unsalted Butter
Sea Salt
¼c Bourbon or Sherry
Pepper to taste.
Boil potatoes in salted water until just tender then drain and keep warm.
In a small frying pan cook Maitake mushrooms in butter and oil until golden and slightly crispy, deglaze pan off the heat with bourbon or sherry. When 90% of liquid has evaporated add salt to taste and remove from heat.
Cook onions over medium heat until golden and slightly brown.
Drain Liquor from Oysters and add the liquid to onions. Cook for about a minute over med. Heat. Add Potatoes and Worcestershire sauce and pepper to taste. After about 2 mins add Milk/Cream and cook until slightly thickend about 3 mins. Fold in reserved oysters and green onions.
Options: Instead of Mushrooms or in addition to them you can fry up some bacon and add to the stew with the oysters in the last step. Also more Chives can be substituted for the Green Onions - they offer a little less flavor but look more elegant. Alternatively you can use any herb to your taste instead of chives. Suggestions: Chopped Parsley, Tarragon, Lemon Thyme, Rosemary...
Note on the Oysters... any size will do. In some places you can buy jars of preshucked oysters - just make sure they are very fresh (I wouldn't recommend this if you live a long way from the oyster's home). Otherwise shuck them yourself. I find it's easier to shuck smaller oysters like small Kumamoto rather than the larger bbq style ones. For the stew pictured here we purchased French Hog (European) oysters and Medium Sweetwaters from Hog Island Oyster Co.
Most of the French Oysters we ate raw but some of them found their way into the stew. If you enjoy raw oysters and intend to hand shuck the oysters for the stew - I suggest that you buy extra oysters. It's hard not to sample them as you work. We bought 3 dozen oysters and probably half of them made it into the stew as a result you'll notice that the potatoes are more prominent in the pictures than I had originally planned. Ideally you do not want the stew to be potato heavy.
The Menu at Hog Island Oyster Co,
