I bought an oyster knife and the six fattest oysters
in the tank at the nearby Asian market. Even with
the knife, it was a struggle to open six oysters,
but fortunately I did not injure myself this time.

I smoked them on the barbeque with indirect heat
and hickory chips. I put the chips on dry, because
I wanted them to yield their smoke quickly, followed
by the longer heat-only period to drive off some of
the bitter and tangy off-flavors of early smoke.

They smoked for about five minutes, and after another
five minutes I tried an oyster. It was okay, but
undercooked. Based on that sample, I planned to let
them go another ten minutes, but I got distracted and
let them go for another fifteen or so minutes.

The total elapsed time was about 25 minutes, and they
came out okay, but next time I'll let them go a little
bit longer. It's been years since I made smoked
oysters on the barbeque, and I remember that when I
made them before, the abductor muscle became too
tough to eat. I didn't have that problem this time.
That tells me that my earlier experiments probably
went way longer than 30 minutes. I'll try 30 minutes
next time.

Another improvement will be to put the hickory chips
directly on the coals instead of on the grill, to
shorten the smoke-generation period. I want a flash
of smoke, followed by dry heat. I'll also reduce
the number of chips. I find it difficult to resist
using too many chips in anything I smoke, and oysters
need to be more lightly smoked than poultry or red
meat. This time, I half-shut the exhaust vent, which
almost suffocated the charcoal and prevented about
half the chips from being consumed, which was fine
because even the amount of smoke I did get was more
than enough.

I rediscovered why I soaked them in olive oil while
chilling them in the refrigerator. They come out of
the barbeque dry -- not shriveled or wrinkled -- but
with a dry surface. Soaking them in olive oil gives
them a nice sheen and makes them richer.

Mark Thorson wrote:

> I rediscovered why I soaked them in olive oil while
> chilling them in the refrigerator. They come out of
> the barbeque dry -- not shriveled or wrinkled -- but
> with a dry surface. Soaking them in olive oil gives
> them a nice sheen and makes them richer.

Indeed. Marinating in oil afterwards is a key part of
my own method also.

Oysters are extremely wet. You pretty much have a choice
of cooking them quick on the grill or smoking them for
a longish timeframe until the surface dries out and
they start to firm up. This is the only way you get any
lasting smoke flavor. The oil helps restore their texture
a bit.

I will smoke them for an hour or more if I'm not in a hurry.
You have to keep them temp very low in that case or they
come out tough. So, cook time is inversely proportional
to pit temperature.

--
Mort

Sqwertz wrote:
>
> On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:34:48 -0700, Mort wrote:
>
> > Mark Thorson wrote:
> >
> >> I rediscovered why I soaked them in olive oil while
> >> chilling them in the refrigerator. They come out of
> >> the barbeque dry -- not shriveled or wrinkled -- but
> >> with a dry surface. Soaking them in olive oil gives
> >> them a nice sheen and makes them richer.
> >
> > Indeed. Marinating in oil afterwards is a key part of
> > my own method also.
> >
> > Oysters are extremely wet. You pretty much have a choice
> > of cooking them quick on the grill or smoking them for
> > a longish timeframe until the surface dries out and
> > they start to firm up. This is the only way you get any
> > lasting smoke flavor. The oil helps restore their texture
> > a bit.
> >
> > I will smoke them for an hour or more if I'm not in a hurry.
> > You have to keep them temp very low in that case or they
> > come out tough. So, cook time is inversely proportional
> > to pit temperature.
>
> When I do smoked mussels (brined greenlips on the half shell), I
> put a little oil into each shell, along with "cajun" spice
> (Schilling/McCormick foodservice) and smoke them that way. This
> keeps the mussels from drying out as much and also makes the
> marinade.

With the shell on one side and oil on the other,
I'm not sure how the smoke can penetrate the mussel.
Some smoke volatiles will dissolve in the oil, of course,
but that could be a problem when it comes to driving out
the bitter and tangy components of smoke.

When I smoke oysters, they are out of their shells.

Mark Thorson wrote:

> With the shell on one side and oil on the other,
> I'm not sure how the smoke can penetrate the mussel.
> Some smoke volatiles will dissolve in the oil, of course,
> but that could be a problem when it comes to driving out
> the bitter and tangy components of smoke.
>
> When I smoke oysters, they are out of their shells.

I smoke them on a very fine mesh screen made specifically for
smoking seafood items. If you're into getting maximum smoke
flavor you pretty much need to use a grate of some sort. Seafood
is a short cook and you don't get much smoke time.

--
Mort

Mort wrote:
>
> I smoke them on a very fine mesh screen made specifically for
> smoking seafood items. If you're into getting maximum smoke
> flavor you pretty much need to use a grate of some sort. Seafood
> is a short cook and you don't get much smoke time.

The oysters I buy are fairly big, and there's
no problem using the regular grill of my barbeque.

Sqwertz wrote:

> On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:10:52 -0700, Mort wrote:
>
>> I smoke them on a very fine mesh screen made specifically for
>> smoking seafood items. If you're into getting maximum smoke
>> flavor you pretty much need to use a grate of some sort. Seafood
>> is a short cook and you don't get much smoke time.
>
> I got too much smoke on this last batch. The temp in the smoker
> was only 120 or under for 1 hour. Used the ECB, but I let the
> chunks come up to smoke in the firepan which was not under the
> body of the unit. I just put the smoking chunks on some concrete
> bricks under the body.
>

This could be the result of my particular technique, but I find
the half life of smoke flavor on oysters to be ultra short. What
tastes like a good amount of smoke right off the pit is faint and
even hard to detect after a night or two in the fridge.

--
Mort

Mort wrote:
>
> This could be the result of my particular technique, but I find
> the half life of smoke flavor on oysters to be ultra short. What
> tastes like a good amount of smoke right off the pit is faint and
> even hard to detect after a night or two in the fridge.

I sure don't have that problem, but I probably
use a lot more smoke than you do. My oysters
are dark brown on the outside.

On Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:40:23 -0700, Mort > wrote:

> Sqwertz wrote:
>
> > On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:10:52 -0700, Mort wrote:
> >
> >> I smoke them on a very fine mesh screen made specifically for
> >> smoking seafood items. If you're into getting maximum smoke
> >> flavor you pretty much need to use a grate of some sort. Seafood
> >> is a short cook and you don't get much smoke time.
> >
> > I got too much smoke on this last batch. The temp in the smoker
> > was only 120 or under for 1 hour. Used the ECB, but I let the
> > chunks come up to smoke in the firepan which was not under the
> > body of the unit. I just put the smoking chunks on some concrete
> > bricks under the body.
> >
>
> This could be the result of my particular technique, but I find
> the half life of smoke flavor on oysters to be ultra short. What
> tastes like a good amount of smoke right off the pit is faint and
> even hard to detect after a night or two in the fridge.

You store leftover barbecued oysters? They need to be eaten
immediately, and now you have a good reason why.

--

Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.

On 2010-07-18, Mark Thorson > wrote:

> the knife, it was a struggle to open six oysters,
> but fortunately I did not injure myself this time.
>
> I smoked them on the barbeque with indirect heat

Biggest oyster tip of all time!!:

Put an oyster on a heat and it will open on its own.

nb

notbob wrote:
>
> Biggest oyster tip of all time!!:
>
> Put an oyster on a heat and it will open on its own.

But that will expose them to heat which will
be part of the total cooking time. I want them
to be hit with smoke from the moment they feel
the heat, so they must be out of their shells
before that.

Mark Thorson > wrote in :

> I bought an oyster knife and the six fattest oysters
> in the tank at the nearby Asian market. Even with
> the knife, it was a struggle to open six oysters,
> but fortunately I did not injure myself this time.
>
snip

Mark,

Sounds yummy! I love smoked oysters but never did on a grill, just bought
them at grocery. I commend your drive to learn to do them on your own!



--
regards,

piedmont (michael)

the practical bbq'r!; http://sites.google.com/site/thepracticalbbqr/

piedmont wrote:
>
> Sounds yummy! I love smoked oysters but never did on a grill, just bought
> them at grocery. I commend your drive to learn to do them on your own!

There was a time when I was trying to smoke
everything. After a long hiatus, I've started
smoking again. Smoked a couple duck legs
yesterday which were great. Much better than
chicken. When the Asian market gets a new
batch of oysters, I'll do them again.