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This is the first dish I ever wowed people with. Even if you feel yourself very maladroit in the kitchen, you can get the same effect: this is a very easy dish to prepare. All you need is fat, fresh oysters and thick-sliced, smoky bacon. You alternate the two on the skewers (brochettes) and fry them. For a more elegant dish, you can also wrap the oysters in the bacon--but for that the bacon needs to be fried a little first, and the oysters lightly poached.
Sauce:
- 2 sticks butter
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 4 dozen large oysters
- 12 slices bacon, each cut into four pieces
- 1 cup flour
- 1 Tbs. salt
- 1/2 tsp. salt-free Creole seasoning
- Vegetable oil for frying
1. Start the sauce first. Place the butter in a small saucepan over very low heat. Let it melt, then let it bubble until it stops. Skim the foam off the top. Keep the butter over the lowest possible heat on your stovetop.
2. Using a deep, wide pan, heat about an inch deep of vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
3. Mix the flour, salt, and pepper with a fork in a broad bowl.
4. Skewer on either metal or bamboo skewers (brochettes) about eight the oysters and bacon, alternating each oyster with a square of bacon. Arrange them so they're barely touching.
5. Coat the brochettes with the seasoned flour and shake off the excess. When the oil reaches 375 degrees, put them in, two at a time. Fry to golden brown, turning once--about two minutes per side. Keep them warm while you cook the remaining brochettes.
6. Add the lemon juice and the Worcestershire slowly to the butter sauce. Careful! This may make the butter foam up again and perhaps splatter!
7. With a fork, unskewer the brochettes onto serving plates. Stir the butter sauce to get some of the browned solids at the bottom, and spoon about 2 Tbs. of the sauce over each brochette.
Makes eight appetizers or four entrees.