Oysters Rockefeller – Cleaning, Shucking and the Recipe

The Best Oysters are Rockefeller

Oysters Rockefeller are a great way to kick off any celebration.  New Orleans Mardi Gras is certainly no exception.  And as you may or may not know, the original recipe was developed in the French Quarter at local restaurant called Antoine’s back in the 1800’s.  This recipe has since gone platinum.  And you as you can see in the picture below, they are fairly inexpensive to buy and with this recipe, they certainly live up to their name, “Rockefeller”.  I think I paid about 58 cents a piece is all and the results were spectacularly “Rich”.

What kind of Oysters do you have?

These are West Coast Oysters.  You can tell they aren’t from the East Coast because of the Greenish color, instead of brown, and they’re a bit more long gated as well.  They should always be scrubbed and rinsed before shucking.  This will help eliminate any grime getting into the shell.  Personally, I like to rinse them out after anyway.  But some folks will freak out if you drain the “liquor” from the oyster before serving because there’s so much flavor there.  But for Oysters Rockefeller, there is so much flavor added to it through out the recipe, in my opinion, it really doesn’t matter.  The important thing is that no one breaks a tooth trying to eat them.

Shucking Oysters

I’ll show you, in the video below, how to properly shuck these things and lay them out on the half shell.  There’s really nothing to it once you learn the tricks.  But it’s important to lay them down on something that will keep them stable so they don’t teeter back and forth.  Some people, restaurants included, press the round shell backs down into Rock salt, and that’s great for serving but I just use cup cake pans to keep them from moving and it works great for broiling.

Oysters Rockefeller

To make this recipe, you need a few key ingredients but the main thing is to make it green like money.  As the story goes, when this recipe was created, someone in the restaurant exclaimed that these Oysters were as rich as Rockefeller.  Others think it has to do with the color of money itself.  Either way, the name stuck and now the world can enjoy them for any occasion.

If you’re interested in other Cajun recipes and food celebrated in New Orleans and at Mardi Gras, check out my Boudin, Crawfish Etouffee and my Jambalaya!

Oysters Rockefeller Ingredients:

1 doz Med/Lrg Oysters
2 cloves Garlic, ground
1 Green Onion, ground
1 sprig of Fresh Parsly
4 oz Baby Green Spinach
2 tbsp White wine, can sub ice water or white grape juice
1 stick of melted butter (1/2 cup)
1/2 tsp Crab Boil or Crawfish Seasoning (Old Bay is fine)
1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tsp Worcestershire
1 tsp Basalmic Vinager
1/3 cup Fresh Parmesan Cheese, grated
1/4 cup Bread Crumbs, optional

Be sure to watch the full Oysters Rockefeller Video Tutorial so you can see, step by step, exactly how to make them from scratch.