GrillinFools
Fresh oysters that had been chilling in the Gulf of Mexico that morning are shucked, liquor preserved. The shucked oysters are topped with a horseradish butter and crunchy pancetta bacon and char grilled on a charcoal grill. The grilled oysters pancetta are then garnished with fresh green onions and grated Parmesan cheese. One of the many ways to enjoy char grilled oysters.
Does seafood taste better when eaten seaside? What about on an island? Well, Grillin’ Fools Greg and Tom do both every year when vacationing on Dauphin Island, Alabama. We’ve grilled shrimp, snapper, grouper, flounder, but our favorite is grilled oysters. Typically, we employ a simple recipe that Tom and his better half, Tracy, created but this time out we gave the oysters an Italian twist by adding pancetta to what we are calling Grilled Oysters Pancetta.
Grilled Oysters Pancetta Ingredients:
- 1/4 lb (one stick) butter
- 1/4 lb (one stick) butter
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tbsp fresh horseradish
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 4 shakes Worcestershire sauce
- 4 shakes hot sauce
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Dozen fresh oysters in the shell
- Green onions chopped for garnish
- 4 slices pancetta fried crisp then chopped for topping
How to Prep the Oysters for the Grill
Insert the oyster knife at the point of the shell and twist. To see more detail on shucking oysters look here:
The mothers are shucked!
Pro Tip ~ When shucking the oysters, try to save as much of the natural liquid of the oyster as possible
Called liquor or oyster liquor, because that oyster liquor is PACKED with flavor, never let that juice go to waste.
Also, any oysters you shuck that have little to no liquor should be checked for freshness to make sure they haven’t gone bad.
Grate the Parmesan cheese, then combine the other mixture ingredients in a bowl:
Pancetta
What is pancetta (pan-cheh-tuh)?
I thought it was like prosciutto, nope, that comes from the hind leg of the hog. Pancetta is an Italian invention that is an un-smoked, seasoned, salt-cured meat made from pork belly, which is where we get bacon from. So it’s fancy pants bacon.
Where can you buy pancetta?
Some grocery stores carry it in the deli but here in the St. Louis area we went to an Italian neighborhood known as The Hill and visited DiGregorio’s Market to buy Volpi pancetta (produced just a few blocks away). It doesn’t get more Italian or authentic than that. The Market had so many items not seen in a regular grocery store and we’ve been making repeat visits on the regular.
Cook the Pancetta like Bacon:
Fire up the portable grill and heat the cast iron skinny skillet then toss on the pancetta slices to make that fancy pants bacon:
Cook the slices until crispy and golden brown. I want to eat that right now!
Transfer to a cutting board and then stack ’em and whack ’em!
Pancetta chopped and set aside:
Pancetta Grilled Oyster Prep
Arrange the half shell oysters and spoon a dollop of the mixture onto each one. I didn’t know what a dollop was so I looked it up and after reading all the different definitions I still don’t know what it is but I think one looks like this:
Ok, there’s a dollop on each sea creature:
Grillin’ Fool Tom escorts the soon to be Grilled Oysters Pancetta to the grill. All have been dolloped (is that a word?):
How do you cook oysters on the grill?
Set up the grill for direct grilling and medium high heat. We aren’t searing steaks here but we aren’t slow smoking ribs either. 350F-400F is a good target.
Once the oysters hit the grill, don’t head inside for a beverage or a bathroom break. This doesn’t take long.
Oysters are on! With a little smoke wood action too:
Once the oysters bubble for 30-60 seconds they’re ready to come off the heat.
Once off the heat, top the oysters with crispy, (fancy bacon) pancetta and green onions:
Finally, grab the microplane and give them a dusting of Parmesan cheese (we bought that at DiGregorio’s too):
We moved to the seaside deck of the beach house, grabbed a cool beverage, and snapped a few pics:
Why do you grill oysters?
Grilled Oysters Pancetta Recap:
The oysters and the sauce pick up a lovely smoky flavor, despite only being on the grill a few minutes. The crispy pancetta added an enhanced flavor and contrasts the texture of the soft oyster. I love oysters and now I love pancetta too. I bought more and I’m trying to find more uses for it. It’s different from bacon because it isn’t smoked and I found it to be a little less salty also.
What brew is inside that DI koozie? Without naming brands here I’m told it comes from the oldest brewery in the country.
If you are ever in St. Louis be sure to visit The Hill. Many great Italian restaurants are there as well as specialty markets like DiGregorio’s.
Please do not visit Dauphin Island. I don’t want it to become too crowded! ;-)
If you have any questions or comments about grilled oysters pancetta, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.
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Recipe Card
Grilled Oysters Pancetta
Oysters topped with butter, horse radish, cheese, grilled to perfection and then topped with pancetta and green onions to make Grilled Oysters Pancetta
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- ¼ lb salted butter (1 stick)
- 1½ tbsp lemon juice (from ½ lemon)
- 1 tbsp fresh horseradish
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 4 shakes Worcestershire sauce
- 4 shakes hot sauce
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese grated
- 12 oysters in the shell
- green onion chopped, for garnish
- 4 slice pancetta fried crisp then chopped for topping
Instructions
- Shuck the oysters and set aside
- Combine all the ingredients except for the last three in a bowl and mix through
- Add a dollop of the butter/cheese mixture to each oyster
- Fry the pancetta in a pan just like bacon
- When golden brown, remove from the heat, allow to cool and rough chop
- Prepare the grill for direct grilling at medium high to high heat and add some wood chips or a wood chunk for some smoke
- Place each oyster over the hot coals and allow to cook
- Once the oysters have bubbled for 30-60 seconds, remove from the heat
- Add a punch of crispy pancetta and a punch of green onions to each oyster and then grate fresh parm over the top of all the oysters
- Serve immediately
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