How to prepare smoked chargrilled oysters on the half shell with crazy delicious compound butter.
In essence, this post is about pairing the quintessential East Coast Blue Point oysters with a Pacific Northwest craft beer that pretty much captures what Oregon stands for. For lovers of the great outdoors like us, Oregon is all about mountain biking on buttery packed trails, sand dunes exploration and crabbing, waterfall hiking and Columbia kite surfing, fly-fishing and Deschutes rafting, Mt. Bachelor skiing and Crater lake meditations. And don’t forget the pinot noirs of the Willamette and the winding country roads between the wineries. And never, not even for a minute, disrespect the craft beer. Especially the craft beer and breweries of Bend.
Our smoked chargrilled oysters found a perfect partner in the Deschutes Brewery Pacific Wonderland Lager (IBU 40, ABV 5.5%). Unlike the lagers I typically favor (Pilsners, Helles, Vienna lager) this pilsner malt lager is dry-hopped and bottle conditioned. The dry-hopping (adding hops to the secondary fermentation to impart hop aroma) was done with a very fragrant hop variety, Tettnag Mandarin, which gives the lager vibrant citrusy aromas. The bottle conditioning (adding live yeast to each bottle) enhances the aging process and helps it stay fresher longer. Chris liked it well enough, but for me it was almost like a beer love affair.
Chris has been wanting to smoke oysters ever since I gave him a copy of Project Smoke by Steven Raichlen. He used a compound butter and a medley of apple wood and mesquite chips (we have a smoking firebox box attached to our gas/charcoal combo grill).
The smoked chargrilled oysters and the crisp lager make a great appetizer pairing. We grilled and enjoyed our beers after a hike here in Colorado, but with very fond memories of the Pacific wonderland that Oregon is. It will not be long before we find ourselves there again, I am sure of it. And to think of all the new beers we’ll get to taste once we go!
PS. While shucking the oysters, Chris found this little guy:
Smoked Chargrilled Oysters
How to prepare smoked oysters over charcoal grill.
Ingredients
- 12 large East Coast oysters, such as Blue Point, shucked
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 2 tsp minced shallots
- 2 tsp minced red chile
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tbsp finely chopped Italian flat leaf parsley + more for garnish
- 2 tbsp grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 lemon sliced, to char and juice over cooked oysters
- 2 quarts of apple wood and /or mesquite chips
Instructions
- Start by soaking the chips in water (they need to soak for 15-20 min).
- Light charcoals in a chimney starter and once they are very hot and ambered spread them over the charcoal grill bed.
- Strain the water off the soaking chips and place them directly over the ambered charcoals.
- Wait for the initial heavy and bitter smoke to clear before placing the oysters on the grill. You are after a delicate smoking.
- Place the lemon wedges on the grill at the time you put the oysters.
- Place a small cast iron skillet on the grill with the butter, cheese, garlic, chile, salt, parsley, lemon zest, shallot and wait until the butter melts and begins to bubble.
- Spoon butter compound over each oyster.
- Once the cheese begins to crisp up, remove the oysters (about 8 minutes).
- Arrange oysters and marked lemon wedges on a platter, garnish with parsley and open a cold craft beer. Enjoy!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 163Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 291mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 2gSugar: 11gProtein: 7g
CraftBeering says
Thank you Miz Helen!
CraftBeering says
Such good news, thank you so much Kathryn!
[email protected] says
Chargrilled oysters are one of our favorites. The only time we have them is at GW Fins in New Orleans. This is on my preparation bucket list.
CraftBeering says
Thank you Carol! Hope you like them, we also typically just buy oysters when we travel, being from Colorado:)
Dawn - Girl Heart Food says
I’m not a huge oyster eater, but, boy, you make them look good! I do love other forms of smoked seafood, so I’m thinking I need to give this a try! Plus, I mean, cheese, butter, shallots and beer…what’s not to love?? OMG – that little guys is SO lost, lol.
CraftBeering says
I know what you mean – I also didn’t get into oysters easily. But once I did… These ended up lightly smoked and reminded me of mussels a lot because of the ingredients in the compound butter.
Mary says
I saw your Instagram post today and had to pop over to read this post. I love char-grilled oysters and beer with oysters are the perfect pairing. This dish looks like Oregon, I bet it tastes like Oregon also. You oyster butter is out of this world, shallots garlic, parsley, wow!
CraftBeering says
Thank you, Mary:) We definitely had a blast cooking these oysters and sipping on the lager. Grateful to Brittany for the butter compound idea.
Kelsie | the itsy-bitsy kitchen says
Awwwww this post is making me homesick in the best way! I’m from Oregon and am a PNW girl through and through :). (I’d just rather deal with ridiculous heat than 10 months of gray skies. . .) I’m loving the sound of these oysters. They sound like the perfect way to start a summer meal! Have a great week, Milena!
CraftBeering says
That is great, Kelsie! We so love Oregon. And are so lucky every time we go. I am yet to see the beautiful coast veiled in fog. It has always been sunny and the natural beauty is just unbelievable. One of my favorite places on Earth.