Oysters #37
We cannot not dedicate this recipe to the New Dynasty restaurant in Montreal’s Chinatown. Every Joe Beef cook has woken up at least once with an odd burn in his or her gut from the MSG and a soy sauce stain on his or her mouth after eating there. At New Dynasty, the tables are covered and the lights are really bright, not unlike Dexter’s murder rooms! The kitchen serves until 5:00 A.M., and the boss is patient with drunks who are loud and drunks who fall asleep at the table (that is, Peter Meehan). Here you can find every sea crawler you dare to eat: eel, jellyfish (served with cold chicken), huge live crabs, winkles, hacked-up crispy lobster, razor clams, and more. Inevitably, we start a meal at New Dynasty with the big Vancouver oysters, steamed with black bean sauce, one or two each, and a hefty pour of cold beer from a teapot. For this recipe, we use Gigas oysters from our friend Victor McLaggan of Cortes Island, British Columbia. They are as big as my feet and a bitch to open, but they have huge meats that can be overcooked without much sorrow. This is a case, unlike real life, where it’s easy to feel inept with a big one. If possible, ask your fish guy to open the oysters. If you can’t get these big oysters where you live, use smaller shucked oysters and bake them in ramekins. You’ll probably have sauce left over, so store it in the fridge and use it on chicken, duck, or anything else that sounds good.
Recipe information
Yield
Serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
In a small pot, combine the water, soy sauce, and sugar and bring to a boil. Add the ginger, garlic, green onion, black beans, sesame oil, and chile; stir well, and remove from the heat. Transfer to a plastic container, let cool, cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or, ideally, overnight to let the flavors mingle.
Step 2
Shuck the oysters, pouring the liquor into a cup and saving it for another use and keeping the oysters on their bottom shells. Pour water to a depth of about 1/2 inch (12 mm) into the bottom of a large, flat pan with a lid. Or, even better, if you own a bamboo steamer large enough to hold all the oysters, set it up over water. Bring the water to a boil.
Step 3
Gently place the oysters in the pan, using crumpled aluminum foil to help stabilize them. You want the oysters cup up and no leaks. Spoon a good tablespoon of the condiment onto each oyster and put the lid on the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until you see that the oysters have shrunk a little. If there is a loss of condiment, replenish. Eat the oysters piping hot with plastic chopsticks.
