Oysters and Snacks
Oysters as snacks, a snack named for oysters, plus a few bits of other oyster-related news
Oysters again. I couldn’t get to everything I had in mind to include in my last newsletter. And just as I was getting into the territory of a 20+ minute read for you all (who has time for that?!), I decided to break this one into two as well. With apologies to any of you who aren’t into oysters, my current oyster ramblings have turned into a trilogy.
After that, I will get back to other seafoody topics. I’m contemplating comfort food for an upcoming newsletter…tuna melts, chowder, shrimp salad come to mind for me. How about you? If you’ve got a favorite seafood comfort food, let me know below.
As noted in the last newsletter, something about oysters seems to draw more attention and spark more conversation than most other seafoods. There are days when I wonder if my perception of that is biased by my oyster-oriented radar, permanently tuned to the topic. Then there are times like this week when Seattle has not just one but two new oyster-bar-touting restaurants open—reinforcing the fact that oysters are on a lot of peoples’ minds and worthy of being made a focal point for restaurants (and events, tourist destinations, books—a soon-to-be-released novel features an oyster farming family on the Gulf coast, more on that later).
The newest restaurant from Tom Douglas & Company is Half Shell, in the space at the north end of Pike Place Market that long held his restaurant Etta’s Seafood. And Oyster Cellar downtown near the ferry dock is a new addition to the group of restaurants headed up by chef Brendan McGill. Can’t wait to taste my way through both those menus—I’ll report back.
For those in the Seattle area, I wanted to mention a talk I’ll be giving at the Sammamish Library on Wednesday evening June 12. I’ll give you ONE guess of the topic. Yep. Oysters. Asked to speak as part of a monthly series the library does, I opted for one of my favorite subjects. It’s a brief program, just an hour, I’ll be sharing photos and stories from various adventures with oysters over the years, and will have copies of Shellfish and Oysters available for sale. The event is free, but registration required, more info here.
The Ultimate Salty Snack
When I was working on the proposal for my salty snacks cookbook that came out in 2012, the plan was to focus primarily on salty-crunchy things. I’ve long claimed “salty-crunchy” to be my favorite food group, and even as a kid didn’t have much of a sweet tooth. The foundation was to be crackers and chips of various kinds, plus nuts, popcorn, crispy chickpeas and the like. It was only post-proposal that I worked in a “Meat & Seafood” chapter, including this Crisp Shrimp with Shichimi Togarashi recipe that I shared in a newsletter last fall.
Of course nature’s perfect salty snack was prime for inclusion in that book. It was tempting to present oysters in their purest form. For many aficionados, no embellishment of any kind is needed. Just a shucking knife (or otterly prowess and a hard rock, as we learned in the previous newsletter) to pry open the shells, the briny liquor surrounding the oyster the only proper accoutrement. But not much of a recipe would that make. Or at least a very sort one:
ingredients
as many oysters as you and your dining mates can handle
method
shuck oysters and slurp au natural
So despite the fact that oyster purists consider more than that to be gilding the lily, I did gild away with a grapefruit and Campari granita to spoon over raw half-shell oysters. (I gilded even more in Oysters, with a chapter of toppings for half-shell oysters that includes a few mignonettes, a few granitas, and a few relishes.) Here I share that granita recipe, an option for next time you’re shucking oysters for family and friends
Grapefruit-Campari Granita (based on my recipe from Salty Snacks)
This makes about 2 cups of granita, enough for a few dozen oysters. If you end up with extra granita, half-fill a martini glass or small tumbler with some of it, add a couple ounces of gin or vodka, and you have an instantly-chilled treat to sip alongside the oysters. My original recipe had more sugar, I’ve cut back here and honestly, today, I likely wouldn’t include any. It’s not the first time I’ve noticed how much my cooking tastes have changed when reviewing older recipes of mine.
1 cup strained freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (from 2 to 3 medium grapefruit)
3 tablespoons Campari
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1/4 teaspoon finely grated grapefruit zest
Pinch salt
Stir together the grapefruit juice, Campari, sugar, grapefruit zest, and salt in a small bowl until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Pour the mixture into a shallow dish such as a cake pan or pie plate and freeze until beginning to set around the edges, 35 to 45 minutes. Take the pan from the freezer and draw the tines of a fork through the mixture a number of times to break up the forming ice, crushing larger pieces under the tines of the fork. Continue freezing the mixture, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes, until it is fully frozen and has a light, flaky texture. It should take about 2 hours in total.
When ready to serve your freshly-shucked oysters, take the granita from the freezer and scrape it again with a fork to loosen it. Top each oyster with a tablespoon or so (pending the oysters’ size) of the granita and serve right away.
Homemade Oyster Crackers
Not only did oysters make it into my snacks book, I managed to also work a traditional salty snack into my oyster cookbook—despite it being oystery in name only. I have not done a super deep dive into the history of oyster crackers, but did find this video from the Vermont History website, paying a visit to Westminster Cracker Company, one of the (if not the) oldest oyster-cracker-making companies in the country. It happens to be the same company that made the bag of oyster crackers in a random photo from about a decade ago that I found in my files (pre-dates kitchen reno, those counters are about the only thing I miss). Based on some brief reading, the little crackers get their name either from early association as accompaniment to oyster stew, or because their shape was reminiscent of oyster shells. The former seems more plausible to me…
My husband had surely noticed the copy of this recipe hanging on the fridge for a few weeks recently, with other things-to-cook-one-of-these-days recipes I collect there in magnetic clips. He never came out and said “so, when are you going to make those?” but was clearly delighted when he came home to find the freshly-baked batch cooling on the counter. No chowder or seafood stew on the menu, we both love them as a snack, though I did make clam chowder a few days later to use some of the crackers for their originally-intended use.
This homemade version of oyster crackers has a touch of buttery richness, quite nice to snack on as is. And you can jazz up the flavor a bit by adding, say, a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper or a few tablespoons of minced fresh herbs to the dough. It takes a bit of care (i.e. patience) to cut these little squares, but it’s really a pretty easy recipe otherwise.
Oyster Crackers (based on my recipe from Oysters)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons (1 envelope) instant yeast
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup warm (105 to 110 degrees F) water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
Stir together the flour, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the warm water and mix at low speed for 10 or 15 seconds, the water just beginning to mix with the flour. Add the melted butter and continue mixing until a cohesive dough forms. Increase the speed to medium-low and knead until the dough is smooth and supple, 3 to 5 minutes longer. Drizzle a bit of oil over the dough and turn it in the bowl so it is evenly coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
Turn the dough out onto the counter, punch it down, and cut the dough in half. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one half of the dough to a 7- to 8-inch square with a thickness of about 1/4 inch. With a plain (not fluted) pastry wheel or the rolling blade of a pizza cutter, cut the dough into roughly 1/2-inch strips in each direction, making roughly 1/2-inch squares. Use a spatula to transfer portions of the squares to the baking sheet, then separate them so that they don’t touch while baking. Bake until the crackers are well puffed and lightly but evenly browned, 15 to 18 minutes. Some crackers around the edges may be done sooner than those in the center; transfer them to a wire rack (or a plate, some racks may not have fine enough mesh to hold the crackers) to cool and continue baking the rest for a few minutes longer. Repeat with the remaining dough portion.
When all the crackers have cooled, transfer some to a basket or bowl for serving, for guests to sprinkle over their own chowder or nibble. Store any extra in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Makes about 4 cups’ worth of tiny crackers, for soup-topping and/or snacking
Cynthia, I just discovered your Substack and love it already!! I've been to the Half Shell several times already to indulge in their $2 happy-hour oysters and they are among some of the most delicious I've ever tasted. Eager to read more of your fabulous posts!