5 Fried Oysters Facts You Need to Know for a Tasty and Safe Meal

Some say oysters taste like fish, while others say they are slimy and don’t mention the taste. However, on a personal note, I find oysters to be briny, and they taste like the sea and are a little fishy when they are raw.

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What do fried oysters taste like?

The flavor of raw oysters carries over to fried oysters, which are still salty and slightly fishy.

Frying them adds the flavors and seasonings of the breading and the oil in which they are fried. It also makes the oyster firmer and less slimy.

Do fried oysters taste fishy?

They shouldn’t taste overly fishy and are less salty than raw oysters due to part of the cooking process. When cooked properly, they should have a nice crunch.

Tartar sauce goes well with the flavor of oysters, and a spicy cocktail sauce does as well, and both tame down the mild fishiness of fried oysters.

What exactly is an oyster, anyway?

Oysters are bivalves and members of a family that includes several different mollusks. Their body is a shell with a hinge that allows it to open and close. This action enables the oyster to filter and draw water through its gills and trap its dinner from the water where it lives.

Oysters are a sustainable coastal crop that offers food and better water quality where they are raised. Farming oysters along the coasts is a sustainable farming method with many benefits. First, it increases the water quality for the oysters, the other sea life, those who live in the area, and those who visit.

Are fried oysters better than raw oysters?

That is a matter of opinion. Oysters are an acquired taste, and although I love the flavor, I don’t like them as much when they are fried as I do when they are raw.

A fried oyster has a different flavor than one that is raw, and the cooking process firms the meat, so it is not so soft and kills any bacteria in the oyster.

From that standpoint, I can see the benefit of frying oysters, but I began eating them raw long before I ever tried a fried oyster. However, bacteria in coastal waters is as high as it’s ever been in many parts of the world, so fried it is

Eating fried oysters is safer than eating them raw.

Fried oysters are safer to eat than raw oysters. The coastal waters where oysters are grown and farmed are subject to bouts of vibrio bacteria, which can get into the oysters. You can’t see or smell this bacterium in oysters, and vibrio bacteria can make you very ill if present in raw oysters.

Raw and undercooked oysters are also subject to hepatitis A and norovirus infection, both of which can make you very ill. You don’t have this problem with fried oysters because the fryer’s heat will kill these various bacteria as they can’t make it through the cooking process of a properly fried oyster.

Although raw oysters are tasty and go as well with champagne as with a cold beer, please take caution when consuming them, especially if you have a compromised immune system. Also, refrain from eating oysters during the warmer months of the year. Finally, take care and order your oysters fried to be on the safe side.

How do you cook fried oysters?

Restaurants use a deep fryer for cooking oysters, which cooks them very evenly. However, they can be fried just as quickly in a larger skillet. Or, you can use a heavy pot or Dutch oven, with about half an inch of oil in the bottom.

You need an oil that can take high heat, like vegetable or peanut oil. However, both oils can impart a little of their flavor to fried foods. So, carefully consider the type of oil you will use to fry your oysters because it affects their flavor.

Drain the oysters in a sieve or colander before you dip them in the buttermilk and cornmeal/flour mix.

Oyster breading

Oil can give oysters a distinctive flavor, and so can the breading. States in the Southeastern corner of the U.S. tend to bread their oysters very lightly, with cornmeal with various seasonings added. It gives the oysters a crunch without overpowering their delicate flavor.

Other cooks use Panko bread crumbs, which are almost flavorless, so they are easy to season as you want. However, they will make your oysters crunchier than a plain corn meal. You can add the seasonings you want to use to the bread crumbs if you choose to.

Creole sauce is a common theme in many breading mixes. However, it is not required. Buttermilk is commonly used to coat the oysters, so the breading will stick to your oysters.

The added flavor of the buttermilk also gives the breading a pleasant taste. Salt, pepper, cornmeal, and hot oil are all you need to make delicious fried oysters.

How do you eat fried oysters?

You can eat fried oysters in several ways. They are great with a spritz of lemon juice, a tangy tartar sauce, spicy cocktail sauce, or remoulade sauce. But, as with most foods, it’s a matter of taste.

So, if fried oysters are new to your palate, try them several ways until you find the best combination of flavors that suit you.

What are fried oysters good for?

Fried oysters are great as a meal for lunch or dinner. Add a baked potato and another veggie, and you have a complete meal.

However, raw oysters are generally eaten as an appetizer, and fried oysters are usually served only as an entrée at most restaurants.

Although fried oysters can be served as an appetizer and an entrée, they are more commonly seen on restaurant menus as a main course.

However, they have found a place on the appetizer menu in some restaurants, and there is no reason you can’t fry up a batch to munch on while the rest of your seafood feast is being cooked.

Fried oysters also make excellent Po’ Boy sandwiches. One of these hearty sandwiches is made on French or Cuban bread and is stuffed with fried oysters and then topped with sauce, lettuce, and tomatoes.

Some oyster Po Boy recipes use coleslaw as a topping, and the sauce for a Po Boy is as varied as the hands that prepare it.

What foods go well with fried oysters?

Fried oysters can be served with fried foods, such as onion rings or French fries. However, they can also be served with a baked potato, Cole slaw, or tropical carrot salad. Steamed rice goes well with almost anything and goes quite well with fried oysters.

Are fried oysters nutritious?

Oysters are good for you, fried or not. High in protein, low in fat, and an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, oysters include the following nutrients:

• Vitamin B12 and D
• Copper
• Iron
• Magnesium
• Manganese
• Phosphorus
• Selenium
• Zinc

An actual brain food, a single fried oyster, contains about 50 calories. Yet, they have abundant ingredients that help promote a healthy lifestyle. Eating fried food occasionally is acceptable, but is not good to do all of the time. However, the nutrients in a fried oyster can almost make you overlook the fact it is fried.

Are Oysters expensive?

If you buy your fried oysters in a restaurant, they can be costly (like other seafood). However, many grocery stores sell shucked and un-shucked oysters in their meat departments.  

Of course, they are more expensive if they are already out of the shell, but they will save a lot of time when you prepare to cook.

A less expensive option for fresh oysters is prebreaded frozen oysters. I know, that seems like sacrilege, but sometimes you want something and don’t have the time to cook it from scratch.

Although oysters don’t take much time to fry, you can start and finish cooking them before you can find a parking space at your local seafood spot.

Have oysters always been so expensive?

At the turn of the 19th century, the true heyday of oyster production in the United States, oysters were so abundant that they were dirt cheap.

However, oysters’ habitats have changed due to population increases along the coasts.

The changes to the waterways have led to oyster production that is lower now than it was a century ago. Thus, as with everything that becomes more difficult to get, the price goes up.