Giant oysters... what to do with them beyond the obvious?

Near us is an oyster company that grows world renown oysters. A dozen of their standard oysters will set you back about £24. The large ones considerably more.

At low tide today we did some foraging and found oysters that have escaped the grow bags of the farm and washed onto the mud flats. Some of them are absolutely huge. I’ve been advised that they may be 15 years old or more. The standard oysters from the farm are sold at about 2 years old.

We have come home today with a large bag of oysters - about 10kg. Some of them are enormous; large grapefruit sized. And we could have carried on collecting them for hours more.

So my question is, what do I do with huge oysters? I normally guzzle them whole -  and raw, but these are just too big!

Plenty of recipes out there for oysters. Fried, baked, etc. I was given some locally that were plucked and frozen. I made a baked dish using it, ritz crackers, and butter.

You must be south of equator? Around here (usa) they are not palatable in summer months.

If I had such a score, I would probably can them, either whole, cut up, or perhaps as a stew.  Large shellfish can be tough, but the prolonged cooking involved with pressure canning should suffice to make them tender!

Regarding time of year; my understanding is that the “rules” about when to eat oysters are to do with algal blooms which can make the oysters toxic to eat. I ah r no concerns about these as they are being collected from the beach adjacent to the oyster farm, and I know that the oysters are being harvested year round.

Here are some pictures from our haul.

In Texas its winter only. The body loses its structure in the heat, turning gelatenous. Interesting cause i thought that was the case everywhere. I guess water temps would be the key.

Here is how to shuck an oyster:




Here is how to eat them:


Squirt some sauce onto the fresh oyster. Use hot sauce, vinegar sauce, or lemon juice. Hold the oyster to your lips and slurp. Suck in the entire piece of oyster meat in one gulp.




Drink the oyster's juice. The fresh salty water makes the perfect chaser.




https://www.wikihow.com/Shuck-Oysters