how to bbq an oyster or two

We just returned from another beautiful weekend away in Point Reyes Station overlooking Tomales Bay and I wanted to share this recipe right away. We learned it by eating oysters at Tony's up in Marshall several times over the years and it wasn't hard to figure out. Barbecuing oysters this way makes them smoky and sweet, and palatable to people that maybe don't enjoy the slimy mollusks raw like we do. 

We picked up medium-small sized oysters fresh out of the bay from Tomales Bay Oyster Company, but you could use larger oysters as well, just increase the cooking time a minute or two more.

ingredients

One dozen fresh medium-sized oysters

1/2-2/3 c. ketchup (in bottle)

1/2 lemon

4-6 minced garlic cloves

Start by mincing your garlic so it's ready when the oysters are.

Shuck your oysters. I use a wooden contraption that holds the oyster in the bottom of the sink so that my non-shucking hand is well out of the line of fire of the shucking tool, most of the time.

Photographing in direct sunlight is something I have very little experience with, so bear with me.

Squirt about a teaspoon of ketchup on each shucked oyster.

Squeeze a few drops of lemon over that.

Then cover the oysters with minced garlic. 

Now they are ready to barbecue! 

Hand off the oysters to your grill master to set over hot coals. We barbecued these right after grilling some meat, while it rested, so everything was ready to eat at the same time. Surf and turf!

After one to two minutes, the juices should start to bubble. Add another dash of ketchup on each, if you can stand the grill heat. It'll give another layer of smoky flavor and a bit of crust.

In about 3-4 minutes time total they should look like these and are done.

There you go. BBQ'ed oysters, good stuff. We ate another dozen raw with just a bit of hot sauce and lemon. Stella wouldn't eat the barbecued ones, but she ate two raw. Not her first, either, and she actually liked them this time! Big girl.