CookEat Recipe
Fried Oysters Horley
Whole oysters fried in a light egg batter and served with a hot strained tomato sauce.
Method
Steps
Step 1
For the tomato sauce, dice the four ounces lean raw ham, slice two carrots and two onions, and chop one leek, two parsley branches, one celery branch, one green pepper and one garlic clove. Melt two ounces butter in a large saucepan. Add the ham and these vegetables with two cloves, one teaspoon whole peppercorns, half a bay-leaf sprig, half a thyme sprig, one tablespoon salt and one light tablespoon icing sugar. Cook over brisk heat for about twelve minutes, stirring, until lightly browned.
Step 2
Stir the four tablespoons flour into the sauce pan and cook for five minutes. Add the two quarts fresh ripe red tomatoes cut into quarters and one quart cold water. Mix, cover and simmer very gently for one and a half hours, stirring occasionally. The diced ham must be thoroughly cooked; check that its centre reaches 70°C for two minutes.
Step 3
Press the sauce through a sieve and then strain through clean food-safe cheesecloth. Measure the actual finished sauce portion needed below and keep it hot for immediate use. Divide the unused sauce into small shallow containers, cool rapidly and refrigerate at 40°F or colder within two hours; freeze for longer storage.
Step 4
Separate the three batter eggs, keeping all three yolks and all three whites. Mix the half pound sifted flour, two tablespoons olive oil, half a teaspoon salt, one tablespoon icing sugar, the three yolks, half a gill cold water, one gill cold pasteurized milk and one teaspoon food-grade vanilla essence in a large bowl. Stir briskly for five minutes. Keep refrigerated at 40°F or colder if it must wait, and do not taste the raw batter.
Step 5
Use thirty-six large freshly shucked oysters from a certified supplier. Keep refrigerated at 40°F or colder until needed. Drain well and check for shell fragments. Prepare a fresh bath of refined canola oil suitable for 375°F in a deep fryer or deep stable pan, following its safe fill instructions. Heat to 375°F with a frying thermometer.
Step 6
Just before frying, beat the reserved three egg whites until stiff and fold them gently into the batter for one minute. Dip eighteen oysters in the batter, lifting them one at a time with a suitable fork or spoon and lowering them carefully into the oil. Work in smaller batches within that group if needed to prevent crowding and keep the oil at 375°F.
Step 7
Fry for about seven minutes, checking that each batch spends at least three minutes at 375°F. Continue until the oysters are fully cooked and the egg coating is golden and cooked through to at least 160°F, with no raw flour batter. Lift out with a skimmer and drain on a clean absorbent cloth or paper. Trim any uneven batter edges and keep briefly hot.
Step 8
Cook the remaining eighteen oysters in the same way. Arrange the fried oysters on a warm dish and serve promptly with one actual gill of the finished hot tomato sauce in a separate bowl.
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