Skip to main content
Main

Oysters on the Shell

A simple dish of oysters served on toast, cooked on hot coals, stove, or oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Oysters on the Shell

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Wash the oyster shells.

  2. Place them on hot coals, a hot stove, or in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  3. Open the shells with an oyster knife, ensuring none of the liquor is lost.

Serve

  1. Serve quickly on hot plates with toast.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Toast
Gives a crisp, warm base that contrasts with the soft, cold oyster flesh.

The step that matters

Open the shells without losing the liquor. The liquor is the oyster's own briny juice. Keeping it in the shell keeps the meat moist and well flavoured, while losing it leaves the oyster dry and bland.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More oysters on the half shell recipes

Raw 3 See all 32 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes