Fried Oysters (and Breading 101)

Around here, fried oyster dinners are aplenty. Firehouses and churches sponsor them in the months with an “r” in them. John and I used to attend them regularly with his parents. But mom and dad have moved to Delaware, and we don’t feel like waiting in line for over an hour for a dinner that’s now up to $14 (on average) after consecutive price increases. This past spring I decided to make my own fried oysters.

The most important part of frying oysters (or any other food for that matter) is how you bread them. Lots of people screw this up. While breading lots of oysters this evening, I finally decided to do a write up about the process. If you follow the steps, I can guarantee you will end up with perfect fried [fill in the blank].

Breading food is very easy. I’m going to use my oysters as the example; you can use this method for anything that you bread and then deep fry.

Clear off a nice large area of your counter. Cover the whole area in aluminum foil — that way you don’t have to clean flour off of the counter later. From left to right, set up a large plate, a bowl and another large plate. On the first plate, put about 3 to 4 cups of flour. Mix in your favorite seasoning (I like to use salt and pepper). Fill the bowl with buttermilk. On the second plate, put a bag of Panko. Season it just like the flour.

In case you’re wondering, Panko is a Japanese breadcrumb. It’s light and delicate, which results in a very crispy coating. It also doesn’t soak up as much oil as breadcrumbs do, leaving you with oysters that taste like oysters instead of the oil you cooked them in. You can usually find panko in the Asian/Ethnic section of your grocery store. I buy mine at Safeway for under $2 per bag.

Hold your left hand up in front of your face. Take a good hard look at it — this hand (your left) will touch only wet ingredients. It will never touch flour or panko. Now hold your right hand up in front of your face. This hand will touch only dry ingredients. It will never touch the uncoated food or buttermilk. Got it? Good. Now, wash and dry both hands; we’re ready to roll.

Using your left hand, pick up one oyster and drop it into the flour. Use your right hand to coat it in flour, taking care not to get your finger tips very wet. Now, pick it up (right hand!) and shake off any excess flour. Place the oyster in the buttermilk. Using your left hand, push the oyster down in the buttermilk to ensure that it’s well covered. Lift the oyster out, let it drain for a second or two, then drop it into the panko. Use your right hand to coat the oyster in panko, then shake off any excess and lay it on the aluminum foil to dry.

Repeat those steps for every oyster; wash and dry your hands as necessary to keep “club finger” at bay. Once you’re finished coating all of the oysters, start deep frying them in small batches according to your fryer manufacturer’s instructions.

Notes

Why the double breading? The flour gives the buttermilk something to stick to.

You could use any dairy-based liquid, but buttermilk is thick, sticks to the flour well and imparts a bit of flavor to your finished product.

When you cook something, you always want to season in layers — that’s why you season both the flour and panko.

If you can’t find panko, you can use breadcrumbs; but the oysters won’t be as crispy and will probably be more greasy.

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