Recipes

Beer-battered brilliance

English twist, Beer battered brilliance

TRADITIONALLY back home oysters are eaten freshly shucked with a squeeze of lemon on a hot summer’s afternoon. This week I show you how to give the dish an English twist, so you can enjoy oysters all year round.

Tempura or beer battering fish is one cooking technique we are all familiar with. This recipe will show you how to use the beer battering technique to coat fresh oysters, adding texture and flavour to these naturally salty morsels.

Oysters are best bought unopened in their shell, however, I suggest asking the fishmonger to open them for you to avoid any nasty accidents. The UK has a wide variety of oysters available. Although they are much smaller than the French varieties, their size makes them perfect for this quick bite recipe.

Once the oysters are open give the shells a clean under running water and boil the shells for five minutes in salted water to sterilize. These make perfect serving dishes. Although you can choose your favourite dipping sauce to go with the oysters I find fresh Asian flavours work fantastically with this dish.

Print

Beer-battered Oyster Recipe

Recipe rating: 5.0 from 1 votes
Recipe by Chris Arkadieff Course: StarterCuisine: SeafoodDifficulty: Medium
Servings

1

servings
Prep time

30

minutes
Cooking time

5

minutes

Ingredients

  • 6 fresh oysters and the juices reserved

  • 250 g plain flour

  • 60 ml water

  • 220 ml of warm beer

  • 60 ml olive oil

  • 2 egg yolks

  • 4 egg whites

  • ½ cup of flour for dusting

  • Salt and pepper

  • Dipping Sauce

  • 2 parts fresh lime

  • 1 part fish sauce

  • ½ chopped chilli

  • 1 tsp of fresh coriander

Directions

  • Shuck the six oysters. Save the juices and strain through a sieve
  • Sterilize the shells by placing into boiling water for three minutes
  • Cover the oysters in a wet towel
  • Prepare the batter by whisking the flour, water, beer, olive oil and egg yolk to form a smooth batter
  • Cover the batter with cling film and allow to rest for 1 hour
  • Heat the frying oil in a deep pan to 180 degrees
  • Whisk the egg whites until they form firm peaks and fold through the batter mixture
  • Dust the oysters lightly in the plain flour
  • Using a fork drop the oysters in the batter and gently coat well
  • Gently place the oysters into the hot oil
  • Fry until golden
  • Place on kitchen paper and season to taste
  • Dipping sauce
  • To make the dipping sauce combine 2 parts lime juice to 1 part fish sauce and add half a chopped chilli
  • Add a tablespoon of fresh coriander and mix together

Notes

  • Serve in the shells with a drizzle of sauce. Enjoy!
Chris Arkadieff

Chris Arkadieff was born and raised in Australia where he gathered his first cooking experiences and won an Ansett “Best Apprentice Chef of the Year ” award. He was cooking on the exclusive Hayman Island in Australia, voted number two resort in the world, later he worked in Italy and did two stages in New York. He moved to London in 1999 to start working with Gordon Ramsay Group. After working first as sous chef and then head chef in London, he was in 2014 sent to Hong Kong to become the head chef for Gordon Ramsay’s group there. He is now head chef of the Strand Dining Rooms. He is also chef contributor to one of Prague’s leading food specialists Roman Vanek who wrote also a best selling cook book.

Published by
Chris Arkadieff
Tags: SB001
6 June 2020 10:29 PM