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RICK’S CRISPY FRIED OYSTERS

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

There used to be a classy little Chapel Hill restaurant called Mondo Bistro, but chef Rick Robinson closed the doors, abandoned the stove, and became a realtor. Luckily, I got Rick’s recipe for fried oysters when I profiled him for Food & Wine back in the 1990s. Mondo Bistro bedded the oysters on a tart tarragon-scented arugula salad and added a wreath of leek-pancetta ragout—a tad fussy for home cooks. I serve Rick’s oysters solo—to raves, I might add. Note: To give the oysters extra crunch, use high-gluten bread flour for dredging.

Vegetable oil for deep-fat frying

1½ cups unsifted bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour (see Note on Chapter 3)

½ cup unsifted yellow cornmeal

½ teaspoon salt, or to taste

¼ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

1/8 teaspoon ground hot red pepper (cayenne), or to taste

24 medium oysters, shucked and drained well

1. Pour the oil into a large, deep skillet to a depth of ½ inch and set over moderate heat.

2. Meanwhile, combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, black pepper, and cayenne in a large pie pan. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed; the mixture should be piquant.

3. As the oil in the skillet approaches 360° F. on a deep-fat thermometer, dredge the oysters in the flour mixture and let stand until the oil reaches 375° F.

4. Fry the oysters in three or four batches, allowing about 1 minute per side for them to crisp and brown; transfer to paper toweling to drain.

5. Serve hot and resist the temptation to put out tartar sauce. Rick’s oysters don’t need it. No cocktail sauce, either.

I love to dip my oysters in a bath of hot butter, but other Lowcountry people…eat their oysters as God made them, savoring that giddy, briny essence of the Lowcountry as it comes from its shell.

—PAT CONROY, OYSTER ROASTS, GOURMET

TIDEWATER SCALLOPED OYSTERS

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

Thanks to the abundance of fish and shellfish in Virginia’s rivers, inlets, and bays, the colonists at Jamestown, America’s first permanent English settlement (1607), managed to survive. Noting the marine bounty, Captain John Smith wrote that his boats could scarcely navigate the lower reaches of the Chesapeake because the fish “were lying so thicke with their heads above the water.” Shellfish, too, were plentiful. Early on oysters were simply eaten raw or roasted over campfires, but later, when women were imported to the young colony, cooking began in earnest. The dishes they prepared were English and none more so than scalloped oysters. This modern version, as elegant as it is easy, depends upon absolutely fresh oysters—preferably the Chincoteagues of Virginia.

1 quart freshly shucked oysters, drained

¾ cup oyster liquor

½ cup (1 stick) butter, cut into pats

2 tablespoons finely minced yellow onion

2 tablespoons finely minced green bell pepper

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground hot red pepper (cayenne)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1¼ cups fine soda cracker crumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Butter a 1½-quart casserole well and set aside.

2. Pick over the oysters carefully to remove any bits of shell, then place in a heavy, medium-size nonreactive saucepan along with the oyster liquor. Set over low heat and warm 3 to 4 minutes or just until the oysters ruffle.

3. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small skillet over moderate heat, add the onion and bell pepper, and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often, until limp. Blend in the flour, salt, black pepper, cayenne, lemon juice, and 1 cup of the cracker crumbs, then stir in the oysters and their liquor.

4. Turn all into the casserole and scatter the remaining ¼ cup cracker crumbs on top. Slide onto the middle oven shelf and bake uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbling and lightly browned.

5. Serve at once. Good with roasted red-skin potatoes, buttered broccoli, asparagus, green peas, or beans.

BLACK-EYED PEA CAKES WITH TOMATO SALSA

MAKES 4 SERVINGS