hey welcome back to the backwoods
gourmet today we're grilling the oysters
y'all stink well uh last Sunday on our
way back from Pensacola our little mini
vacation we went through Apalachicola
Florida and all the Florida uns and most
people around southeast know that
Apalachicola is famous for its oysters
so we did stop at a place right on the
water where the commercial guys come in
and found one place that sold in retail
and got thirty pounds fresh Apalachicola
oysters so we're working on them and I
want to show you guys a great dish a
great dish to do with fresh oysters on
the weber kettle grill it's almost like
oyster baked
alright guys uh oysters come in these
bags like this this is what we got left
we've been chomping on these things for
a couple days
and they're really dirty either right
out of the bay so the first thing you
want to do is clean them real good and
easiest way to get that started in a pan
like this and we get old water here
we're just going to rinse them you're a
little fresher and want the mud off of
them and we'll keep sorting that out so
it would like to clean
these are all nice and clean so what
we're going to do is we're going to go
ahead and start selecting some for
grilling now you're going to have them
in all different varieties this one here
think he's got a large piece of old
shell on the back so he's really heavy
so I don't think he's going to be a
great one for grilling just cause of all
the extra weight he's attending we want
to get something that are reasonably
flat and it doesn't really matter the
size just long as they'll kind of you
know you test them out if they'll set
down like that and they won't rock or
fall over going to be perfect here we're
going to do an appetizer size portion
for you guys that one's probably
acceptable and it's a little small so
again we want that to be able to lay lay
nice and flat so when you put it on the
grill it doesn't dump out all of our
prepared now this one see he's he wants
to rock either way but I think that
little tip part will sit down on the
grill he'll be fine we'll go through
here and we'll pick the like six or six
or eight best ones for presentation and
see is another one a lot of you know the
old growth of East Carl on top of but
they need that to survive okay first we
need our cleaned raw oysters in the
shells you're going to need a glove for
one of your hands at least I'm
right-handed so at the left-handed glove
then I got an oyster knife and a small
paring knife and over here I got a pan
to put them on and as always cooking
outside you go in these nice cold adult
bells with Deb yeah I only had one I
swear
okay we got our glove on so we're just
going to go ahead and grab one of these
eyes in a quarter knife you don't know
how to shuck an oyster I want to show
you and I don't care what anybody says
this is not easy right back here in this
little corner you'll see this was not as
well defined as some but there's this
little point of the hinge right here and
that's where you want to get the tip of
your oyster knife in there far enough
that you can twist and pop the flat part
of the shell off one side of the shell
is more rounded than the other so
usually the smoother side that's going
to be your top kind of your rough side
is going to be your bottom right there
okay so we'll go ahead and give this one
a shot and some of these guys I don't
care what you track he's not coming open
unless you give them a little steam
that's one of the reasons we got a glove
is a you know just try to protect your
hand case the spike slips and let me
tell you when these guys are fresh like
this it can be a real bear and this one
is just chipping and shell off so that's
probably a good example of one you might
not be able to shuck raw we might have
to save him for a steamer we picked a
few extras here let's try a different we
definitely need a cutting board
something like that to get down them
okay that when I got in there and just
played the show
who not having much luck this is how
hard work
alright I save this one because he looks
like he's going to be easy because that
that spot is very well defined on this
one so let's really work our knife in
there we got it in there and now we're
just going to twist and you'll feel a
little pressure release now you can use
this to go ahead and take that off but I
like to use a thin bladed knife like a
paring knife to this paring knife here
and get right underneath that top shell
and just work it around under there and
once you cut that muscle and there's
your oyster all right you want to keep
these upright to keep most of that juice
you want to keep all that good eat in
the shell if you can so we set them on
our pan over here we're going to keep it
upright it's one of the reasons why we
selected the nice flat ones so we'll see
how we do on this guy just said none of
these guys are screwing the other ah and
that does take a some practice and be a
lot of strength I thought I got him
again
it's just flaking apart on me
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try one more yes some are easier than
others I found that these long skinny
ones are way easier to get open than the
short fat ones we'll finish them up
we'll go on to the next step and here's
our eight or nine that we're going to do
so we're going to throw these in the
fridge real quick and then we're gonna
get our grill ready we're tending the
trail going I'm going to go ahead and
put that set up again direct cooking
we're going to put it off to one side we
still have some of our coals from our
last cook in there and that's fine so
let's just grate on and this time little
flappers over the fire we're going to
add a going to add a little wood is good
generate a little smooth okay time to
make our dressing all we're going to eat
is about half a stick of melted butter
your favorite hot sauce and some key
lime juice guys this could not be
simpler by the tablespoon depending on
how hot you like yours tablespoon of hot
sauce into the butter and about a
tablespoon a key lime juice and just
take a fork put this together
just turning beautiful amber color and
will taste perfectly okay next we need
real promise on Oh Reggiano cheese thank
yous the buying side of our grater these
little holes here - great this was a
little too little fine greens and we're
going to need a bout we got eight or
nine oysters I'll say we're going to
need about a quarter of a cup so go
ahead and get that time if you really
need it on the fine side don't use the
coarse side of the grater or you've got
one of those little micro planes that'll
work this one it's pretty finely grated
honestly finely grated I have the
old-fashioned kind here so you know
you go on enough of this for a pinch on
each oyster you have no and say that's
pretty close to a quarter of a cup there
we need some more we can always make
more
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okay guys my two cents when it comes to
food safety and oysters you know the old
wives tale is you can only eat oysters
in the month with an R well it's me
that's not check no are in May I don't
know where that got started a long long
time ago I'm sure for we had all the you
know FDA and health safety inspections
things like that they basically if you
if you break down the month with our
thing the months without ours or your
warmer months of the year May June July
you know September October well
September and October do you have an R
so and as they're the two hottest months
in Florida and a highest water
temperatures in Florida so that old rule
don't always mean diddly it all has to
do with water temperature nowadays
oysters are randomly tested for their
bacteria level for commercial harvest
and when that bacteria level gets too
high they will close that area to for
harvesting you can collect moisture in a
wild and cook them in any month of the
year from clean saltwater you know do
you want to harvest them next to the
nuclear power plant mmm probably not but
if you're on the intercoastal clean
pristine water air you see orchards you
want to get some and it's july long as
you're cooking them you can rest assure
that you're not going to have any
problem with bacteria would i eat them
raw and when the water temperature is 85
probably not
which I'm not a huge raw fan anyway but
I like mine steamed lightly and and
fried and the way we're doing the day
which was the recipe I actually just
invented yesterday
me and mrs. backwood tried it and we
just had to share it so I hope you guys
take my two cents worth on Oscars and
hey if you get some definitely make what
we're making today all right
good ol mr. Weber you sir has 450 right
now perfect
that's about where you want to keep it
we got this we got the little guy down
here on the bottom half open okay half
open rent a 450 so what we're going to
do right now is gonna pop the lid off
here and we're warm and I got one chunk
of uh might get some to lift that with
you know and we're going to put in one
chunk of oak whatever good hard what you
got hit Creek be fine I got some big
ears so I have a tough little small
brush that back over put the lid back on
and wait for it to start they're giving
us a little smoke our cook time on this
going to be very short about eight
minutes all right guys it's ghrelin time
I'll show you how to do it here's our
oysters going to go ahead and just lay
them on the indirect side try to get
them to they won't sit level put them a
long ways with the greats
because they're you know the bottom of
the shells are grounded grounded and you
want them to remain like cups because
we're getting ready to do some magic
with them if you can get them to stand
up and sometimes you can actually drop
one on the other to try to lift or
balance them
and if you can't get it all the way to
the beef some of them are flatter than
others and they work a little better
this is a this is a dishes appetizer
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it's been about six minutes I was pretty
hot and they look perfect right now it's
the butter starting to brown and the
cheese is starting to brown off we're
just going to go ahead and want to do
that oh yeah I did this list okay
everybody head to the shell so that you
don't screw up your cheese we just did
Graham right buddy just head to the
shoulder don't try to grab them
crossways what not to do
sometimes we tell you what not to do and
I'm telling you don't always go by the
edge of the shell with your tongs we
don't take them up for your hands for
sure we are hot okay save them for your
presentation
okay those are gorgeous
get them ready for the place
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alright folks time for the plate and we
have our long long plate here today I'm
just going to go ahead actually first
thing I'm gonna do is I have made a
ceviche with some fresh green scallions
from the garden LOV I was just sliced
scallion we put in key lime juice just
add hot sauce and some salt so what
we're going to do is we're not going to
use the actual green pepper on that but
we're green onion so much is we're just
going to dribble some of that juice
right on the plate like that and we have
a similar of our butter hot sauce that
we did put a little bit of that down to
and I'll put our oysters on and you know
I like to put them alternate it kind of
invites people from both sides of it on
an appetizer
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so the whole three that now we'll take
just one or two of the ceviche these are
you know softened up in there in the
lime juice
a couple of those on Chaucer
you want to play
like that
there you go this is grilled oysters the
spicy butter in parmigiano-reggiano
awesome alright well remember I told you
these are like a oyster bacon you know
that cheese kind of melts the shell
their forms kind of a crust and we've
noticed we didn't cut the oyster loose
from the bottom of the shell we left it
on there so it wouldn't slide out so
don't cut them loose from side you leave
it on we track
that is truly a gift from the ocean in
this case Gulf Mexico
and you know smoking is from the wood we
used on there really comes through with
the tea
all right so if you get you some
holsters you know it's a bit of work but
definitely worth the effort these things
are really turned out awesome and you
know I would suggest if you're anywhere
in Florida or have access to them
getting Apalachicola oysters they are
world-famous
so as always thanks for watching the
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stop
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