[Sca-cooks] Oyster stew

[Philippa Alderton]

--- Stefan li Rous <stefan at texas.net> wrote:
> Gunthar said:
> > For a Christmas feast I made a nice oyster stew...
>
> What was your recipe for this? Around this time of
> the year I often
> see more containers of oysters show up in the
> grocery store. I imagine
> most of these are for making oyster dressing, which
> I tried for the
> first time last year. It might be nice to try this
> oyster stew
> before they disappear from the stores again.

Well, Stefan, I'm certainly not Gunthar, but I do make
a good oyster stew. The only problem I see for you, is
that the oysters down there may not be quite as fresh-
I had the same problem when I was in Ohio- now I'm in
Connecticutt, I'll be feeding my serious Jones for
loverly fresh seafood....

Basicly, the oyster stew I usually make is a very rich
potato soup, but the potatoes can be done without, if
you prefer (and all the rest of the ingredients, and
the cooking, if the oysters are fresh enough ;-)

Potatoes
Onions
Half-and half
Heavy cream
Butter
Black pepper (white can be subbed- I just like the
black specks)

Dice the taters and onions, and cook in a little
lightly salted until tender, trying to get the water
content down to its minimum without burning the
taters. I usually dice the taters with skins on, but
you may prefer less texture, or have really rough
skinned taters, so do it to your preference.

Pour in lotsa half-and-half and heavy cream, and a
good dollop of butter, w/pepper to taste (lots) and
bring gently to a simmer, stirring occasionally, but
VERY CAREFULLY not boiling.

Toss in the oysters and all their juice, and allow
them to poach for no longer than a minute, stirring
gently.

Serve, and pig out ;-)

Oysters, in my opinion, are one of natures ideal
foods, and benefit from very little cooking- frankly,
they're at their best raw. However, if you're doing
them in stew, you wany them to get a light skin on the
surface, and be warmed through- they're still quite
edible after they've been cooked a little longer, but
unlike most soups, they're at their very best in the
first couple of spoonfuls.....

Phlip

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