Canned Oysters don't hold a candle to fresh ones, but sometimes you take what you can get, when you don't live near the coast. The local grocery store had canned oysters on sale and I bought them planning to make salmon stew but at the last minute I went another direction with it and tried frying them. I love fried oysters but had never tried frying them myself before. This is something Ill do again. Hopefully with fresh oysters next time but the canned oysters fried up pretty good too.
Ill include my oysters stew recipe at the end of this post also just for anyone interested in that. It is a simple 4 ingredient recipe easy peasy.
But first let me tell you how to fry canned oysters.
canned oysters are precooked before they are canned and so Frying to cooked oysters can be a bit tricky, They tend to want to fall apart. So my tip for frying canned oysters is to freeze them for about 30 minutes before breading and frying them.
How to fry canned oysters
1 cup flour
1 cup corn starch
salt to taste
pepper to taste
2 tbsp old bay seasoning
1 tbsp lemon pepper seasoning
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
oil or grease ( I used a mix of about 3 tbsp bacon grease with about 1 1/2 veggie oil)
****straight from the can the oysters are VERY salty, its important to rinse as much of that salt off as possible before seasoning or you will have way too much salt at the end of cooking, but don't handle them too much because they are very tender and prone to fall apart if handled too much, I put mine in a colander and run cold water over them tossing them in the colander as i rinsed****
Drain and rinse oysters, then spread in a flat layer with no oysters touching on a cookie sheet and place in freezer for 30 minutes.
In the mean time mix your 2 eggs and half cup of milk in a medium bowl making sure everything is mixed well
In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients well
start oil heating in a frying pan, preferably cast iron but any frying pan will do.
***Oil amounts will vary according to the size of the pan you are using but you want enough oil to cover you pan at least 1 1/2 inches deep. veggie, canola, or peanut oil will work great, i don't recommend coconut oil or olive oil because it doesn't take the heat of deep frying very well. ***
When oysters have frozen for 30 minutes remove from freezer and dredge in flour mixture, then in egg mixture, and then in flour mixture again.
You can tell when your oil is heated enough because a pinch of flour dropped into hot oil sizzles immediately.
drop floured oysters into heated oil just a few at the time, I added about 5 each time and cook until golden brown. This should not take more than 3 or 4 minutes, flipping half way through.
Drain on a rack placed over a paper towel lined dish draining this way will keep them from sitting in their grease and will make them crispier.
and that's it.
I squirted some lemon juice over mine, and honey poured a little hot sauce on his, but ways were yummy and ill probably make them again.
I served them with cheese covered hash browns and green beans
Now for that simple but delicious oyster stew recipe
Oyster stew
2 cans bumble bee oysters
3 cups milk
1/2 stick butter
salt and pepper to taste ( i usually salt and pepper mine in the bowl after cooking)
oyster crackers or saltines to taste
mix all ingredients except oyster crackers in a pot and simmer on medium heat until butter has melted (do not bring to a boil as milk will curdle)
In a soup bowl add oyster crackers or crushed saltines to taste and spoon stew over crackers (this is where I add salt and pepper) and enjoy.
My dad likes to add lots of crackers and ketchup to his (in the bowl) , so you might try that if it appeals to you, but I don't do that.
If you try either of these recipes I would love to hear your results. If you have ideas or suggestions for this blog I am open to those as well. Tell me what you think.
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Thank you for the awesome recipe! Just tried it for the first time and it was DELICIOUS!
ReplyDeleteI’m gonna dig this recipe. I bought a few cans of boiled oysters and I am always looking for quick tasty food I can cook at home, since it’s just me. Thank you
ReplyDeleteWhy does it say 1/4 cup milk in the ingrediants but then the directions say 1/2 a cup of milk?
ReplyDeleteThis was a typo 1/3 cup.. actually I just eyeball it depending I'd I want it chunkier or supper. It's not an exact science
DeleteWhy does it say 1/4 cup of milk but then it says 1/2 cup of milk?
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. Where can I find the recipe for the salmon stew?
ReplyDeleteSalmon stew recipe is same as oyster stew sometimes I add cream of potato soup as well. The ingredients are meant to be tweeked to taste. I prefer more milk, hubby prefers more salmon or oysters so just use this as a guide line
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