CHARGRILLED OYSTERS ACME STYLE

Read through the description of the technique to insure best results
You can skip a lot of the technical stuff by just using your oven broiler and and placing the oysters on a cookie sheet. If you can’t get oysters on the half shell where you live, do it by using a heat proof casserole dish and pretend you have shells. Still comes out darn good and not a drop of sauce will be wasted.

Here is a very good video detailing the basic technique:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEYq2KCnQz0

24 fresh shucked oysters , on the half shell
1 lb. unsalted butter
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bunches green onions , finely chopped
20 garlic cloves , pureed
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoons creole seasoning
2 ounces white wine
1 cup grated romano cheese or half Parmesan and half Romano
1 loaf French bread

Melt half the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add your lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, green onions and all herbs and seasonings. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then stir in wine. Keep stirring and remove from heat as soon as the green onions start to wilt. Let cool for 3-4 minutes. Add the rest of the butter and stir until completely incorporated.

Heat grill to to 350. Place oysters on grill. When the oyster liquor starts to bubble, spoon 1 Tablespoon of sauce on top of each, (use common sense: if you have small oysters you may not need so much sauce for the first anointing) you don’t want too much of it just running out into the fire) then top with 1 tablespoon of Romano cheese. Let the cheese melt. When oysters begin to slightly brown at the edges, remove from grill and place on a heat proof plate or tray.

Top each oyster with an additional Tablespoon of the butter sauce and serve immediately with slices of french bread for dipping. All you need is a good pint of lager and a few friends. I suggest a little Jazz in the background.

My notes to insure success: Acme uses a gas chargrill as do most restaurants. That means that most of the cooking heat comes from below. A good home gas grill works well. You can use a charcoal grll but the heat is hard to estimate. You could try the Mississippi test; heat will be right when you can count ONE mississippi, TWO mississippI, THREE mississippi with your hand held over the fire at grill level. Your grilled oysters will need to get so hot through that the cheese melts, and indeed browns;. closing the lid helps. Be sure to add the second Tbsp. of sauce AFTER you take the oysters from the heat and put them on a platter or plates.

Keep your sauce warm, if not hot. The sauce is important, you don’t want to waste a drop. That’s why the bread is in the recipe-have plenty.
Second, primarily electric stove version-you can do this with a grill pan, a small one will be slow so you will need to do ‘em in batches and probably isn’t worth the trouble, but if you use a 2-burner one you’ll be in heaven because you can do them all at once unless they are very large indeed. Here’s how: Preheat your oven to about 425 degrees and put your grill pan in there. It will take almost 30 minutes to have it raging hot-that’s what you want. Turn the oven on BROIL-high. Turn the 2 burners you will use on medium high to pre heat-you’re going to maintain the heat of the oven through the grill. Remove the grill pan from the oven and put it on the hot burners.

Put on the oysters, shell side down. They should start to bubble in a couple of minutes. Put the first portion of sauce and the cheese on at that moment. By that time your broiler should be hot. Look to see if the broiler element is an angry red color-that’s what you’re after. Return the oysters to the oven to get the cheese a bit crusty and you’re ready to plate up, put on the second portion of sauce at the table and serve.

If you have gas instead of electricity do the whole ceremony, putting the oysters on a cookie sheet and use the oven heat to do the first heating and the broiler if you prefer to finish browning them-use the top shelf for the whole operation if you have an under the oven broiler and you should have acceptable results; just wait till it’s hot enough.

You should use tongs to handle the oysters-they will burn your fingers otherwise. When they reach the table you can probably handle them or use a spoon or knife to handle them if you need to move them around or steady them until they cool a bit. The aroma of the burning shells and sauce is magnificent-think grilled lobsters...almost.