Today I’m going to show you how to grill oysters. Oysters are really good grilled, and they are easy to make too. I think that the grill gives them such a great flavor even more so than when cooked by other methods.
The key to making great grilled oysters is making sure they are fresh. When you are buying oysters you want to make sure that the shells are closed tightly, or that they close when you tap on them. They should also smell briny, and not fishy. This is what you want to do to make sure you have the freshest oysters. Throw away any that are not.
Let’s get to grilling the oysters. Get yourself 2 dozen large oysters; make sure they are fresh. Scrub the shells with a stiff brush to get off any mud or grit. Set up your gas or charcoal grill for direct grilling over high heat.
Once the grill is heated place the oysters on the grate with the more concave side down. Grill them for about 5 to 8 minutes; the shells will pop open. Once they are done transfer them to a platter with a pair of tongs. If there are some oysters that didn’t pop open, throw them out. Pull of the top shell, and pull the cooked oyster off the top shell and put it on the bottom shell in all the juices.
Now it is time to serve them straight up, or with you favorite toppings. I like mine with a bit of salsa, or some hot sauce. Some Wasabi is always good too. There really isn’t any limit to the possible topping you could put on your oysters, just experiment and find what you like best. This is how to grill oysters that turn out really good, and grill up quick and easy.
A great tool to have if you like oysters is an oyster knife. If you are using other cooking methods than what I showed you here, or you want to take off the top shell before grilling you are going to want to shuck the oysters. Here is the tool I use; it makes shucking oysters quick and easy.
image courtesy of donhomer/flickr