A New Orleans restaurant favorite, seasoned oysters and bacon are threaded on skewers, passed in a buttermilk egg wash and dredged in flour and fried. Serve with a lemon butter sauce, toast points and lemon wedges.

Oysters en Brochette

It is thought that this dish originated at Galatoire’s restaurant in New Orleans, initially believed to have come from a Réveillon Christmas Eve dinner menu, though don't quote me on that! It may just be that Galatoire's is the only restaurant left that still serves it. Does make sense though as it's a bit fancy looking, isn't it? 

Don't fret though because as elegant as it may appear, it's really quite simple. It's all in the presentation.

What you'll need:

• Skewers - you can use metal or wooden, you'll just need to soak the wood ones first.
• 12 strips of bacon, which you will parboil to draw out some of the fat. Just a regular cut will do.
• 24 oysters - about the just right medium sized ones, not too small, not too big.
• Sea salt or kosher salt, freshly cracked black pepper and Creole or Cajun seasoning for the oysters.
• Buttermilk if you have it, otherwise whole milk (or whatever milk you have) whisked with eggs for the egg wash.
• Basic all-purpose flour for the dredge.
• Oil for deep frying - peanut, canola, vegetable or whatever your preferred frying oil is.
• Toast points.
• Lemon wedges.

As always of course, there are a number of variations in the preparation of Oysters en Brochette.

1. Bacon is usually partially cooked or boiled to cook out some of the fat since these are often deep fried or pan fried. Some folks like to freeze the cut bacon right until needed, which apparently makes it fry better than raw from the package.
2. Here I wrapped the bacon partially around the oysters before threading them on the skewer, but you can also just cut the bacon into 1-inch pieces and alternate with the oysters on the skewers.
3. I'm seasoning my oysters here and using a plain flour dredge, but as with basic fried oysters, that's sometimes swapped out for all cornmeal, a combination of flour and cornmeal and some folks like to use a commercial fish fry dredge (like Zatarain's or Louisiana brand).
4. I'm using a buttermilk egg wash with plain flour, but some just simply dip the skewers in butter and then flour.
5. Sometimes these are baked, I went with a shallow fry, in my electric skillet, because it's long and can accommodate the skewers I used nicely.

This is a good place to insert a quick reminder... that this is a blog, not just a "recipe site," and yes, there is a difference! I want to first thank all of you who have supported my work over the years. Your notes to me are uplifting and encouraging, however, if you aren't interested in the chit chat, info, photos, tips and such in a post, as always, you'll find the complete recipe text with measurements and instructions, as well as a printable document, a little bit further down the page. Just swipe or scroll down to the bottom of the post!

Here's how to make my Oysters en Brochette.

We want to accelerate the cooking time on the bacon and remove some of the fat, while retaining the bacon flavor, so we're going to follow an old Julia Child trick by boiling it.

She would boil it, primarily to remove the salt and cut back on the smokey flavor, then pat dry and cook in a skillet as usual for certain dishes.

By the way, you may have seen this "revelation" by and influencer on TikTok recently. What'd I say? All things old are new again in the world of social media, right?

If using wooden skewers you'll want to soak them in water for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile blanch the bacon for 3 minutes in boiling water to pre-cook.

Drain.

Pat dry with paper towels and cut pieces in half crosswise.

Start the lemon sauce by melting butter in a saucepan and adding the wine, lemon juice, minced garlic and Worcestershire. Bring to a boil, reduce to a low simmer and cook until slightly reduced, about 10 minutes. Add a dash of Worcestershire and set aside.

Get your oil going while you prep the skewers. Heat cooking oil in skillet or deep fryer to 375 degrees F. If you're pan frying, you'll want at least an inch of oil, more if you prefer to deep fry.

Beat together eggs and buttermilk.

Combine the salt, pepper and Creole or Cajun seasoning.

Divide oysters among the number of skewers you want to make. Slide half of the bacon piece onto a skewer, add an oyster, and thread the other half of the bacon over the oyster on the skewer. Repeat.

Season oysters on both sides with the seasoning mixture.

Dredge the skewers in the buttermilk egg wash.

Then dredge in flour.

Dip in egg wash and dredge again in flour.

Fry oysters for 3 to 5 minutes...

...turning once, until golden brown and crisp. Deep frying will be about half that time. Drain on a rack over paper towels. If you have a lot of skewers, you can hold them in a warm oven, preheated to 225 degrees F.

Place a swirl of lemon butter sauce on each plate.

Add toast points, top with oyster skewers, garnish with parsley and add lemon wedges on the side. Serve immediately.

For more of my favorite oyster recipes, check out the collection on my Pinterest page!





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Posted by DeepSouthDish.com on February 5, 2023

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