Tired of grilling up the same food at every barbecue? Free yourself from BBQ redundancy and test your proficiency with some barbecue oysters! Oysters can be cooked in their shells on your barbecue grill. The heat from the grill steams the oysters and pops the shells open, while poaching the oyster inside. They're easy to cook and make great appetizers!Before you get started, make sure you have the following utensils to handle the hot oyster shells: oyster knife (or equivalent ), gloves, hot pads and/or tongs. Also, be sure to have a pot of melted butter and garlic, hot sauce, horseradish, lemons, ect. for you and your guests to enjoy.
To cook:
Step 1: Place the oysters on the barbecue. Be sure and place the oysters on the grill with the cupped-side down. (Also called the bottom shell).
Normally, the oysters will cook open on their own. Sometimes, however, they cook without opening up. Check the oyster by tapping them with your knife. If they sound hollow, they're probably ready. Go ahead and pry them open with your knife.
Warning: Oysters sometimes pop open violently as they cook, spitting out hot oyster liquid and bits of shell. To avoid injury, try to aim the fluted end of the oyster away from you, or just place a lid over the barbecue.
Step 2: When the oyster opens up, you can serve them in one of two ways:
1. Sever the remaining muscles that connect the meat to the shell, and slide the oyster into your pot of melted butter.
2. Remove the top shell, sever the bottom muscle, and leave the oyster in its bottom shell. At this point, we suggest spooning a little of the butter/garlic sauce onto the oyster.
