Baking
57 recipes
I love baked oysters, you may have noticed I have a few on this site – Mornay and Rockafella.
I still happily devour fresh, raw oysters too with lemon and tabasco, or minced ginger and soy sauce.
But this surf n turf classic which originated in San Fransisco, is an Australian favourite. I based this recipe from one of the famous Australian seafood institutions - Alice Doyle’s recipe from the Doyle’s Cookbook of old.
I like to use thickened cream, rather than single cream, as I prefer the texture. I also like to precook the bacon, so it is nice and crispy, and the oysters don’t need so long under the grill to risk overcooking and affecting their texture and flavour – a warm through is the point with a quick browning of the crumbs is the idea.
Double or triple the recipe – grill as many as you can fit on the tray! Just make sure each oyster has a good covering of sauce, bacon and crumbs.
For a fun note – there is a myth that claims the name came from an Irish fisherman named Patrick who died of a heart attack after hauling too many oysters, the newspaper headline read "Oysters Kill Patrick" !
However it is really named after the manager of the hotel where it originated - Colonel John C. Kirkpatrick.
Makes 1 dozen
Pictured: Oysters Kilpatrick
Ingredients
- 1 dozen oysters
- ½ cup thickened cream
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 – 3 rashers of bacon cut into fine small strips
- ½ cup fresh breadcrumbs or panko
Method
Mix the cream and Worcestershire sauce together in a bowl.
Fry the bacon til just cooked – it will brown more in the oven – keep all the lovely oil to help moisten the crumbs later.
Place the oysters on an oven tray, making sure they are leaning and placed correctly to be sitting up right to hold the sauce etc. – takes a bit of fiddling but you get there!
Spoon the cream mix into each oyster evenly, sprinkle over the bacon, then the breadcrumbs, drizzle over any extra rendered bacon fat or spray with a little olive oil to give the crumbs some oil and moisture to brown up.
Heat a grill to med high, place the oyster 10 cm or so from the top and let brown and warm quickly for a few minutes, watch them carefully and remove them as they bubble and brown. If they are browning too quickly before bubbling up a little, either lower the tray or the temperature a little.
Serve immediately with some finely chopped parsley if you have it, lemon wedges and teaspoons.
Pictured: Oysters Kilpatrick ready for grilling
