Recipes - Fried Oyster Tostada

What do you do when your friend orders 35 dozen oysters instead of 3 dozen? You get creative. This is one of the recipes used to spend 10 of those dozen.


Fried Oyster Tostada
(Tostada Ostras Fritas)




Ingredients and method:


Tostada

• fry white corn tortillas in oil until crispy, drain

Refried Beans

• 10 lbs of dried pinto beans
• 4 white onions
• 12 jalapenos
• 12 cloves of garlic
• 2 cups manteca (lard)
• water
• reserve lard, add all other ingredients in an adequate stock pot, add water with a 4:1 ratio of volume, bring to a boil, simmer until fully softened, add manteca, puree with a stick blender until completely smooth, continue cooking until desired thickness is reached.

Pickled White Onions (same recipe as mentioned previously in "tuna slider")

• 4 cups white wine vinegar (distilled will work also)
• 2 cups granulated white cane sugar (I still prefer using Zulka morena)
• 4~8oz cilantro chopped
• 10~12 large white onions
• slice onions as thinly as possible, using mandoline, meat slicer, or your bad-ass knife skills; mix vinegar and sugar until completely dissolved, add cilantro, add onions; stir, toss, do whatever to completely incorporate all the ingredients; set aside under refrigeration.

Chorizo

• I used pork chorizo, although I prefer beef chorizo, I think the beef would mask the oyster flavor.
• Cook chorizo to preference.

Fried Oysters (I used fresh Fanny Bay oysters, but I have used pre-shucked Blue Points in the past)

• Shuck all oysters and place in a bath of egg whites (one per oyster)
• For dredge (mix ingredients well):

1. 2 cups AP flour
2. 1 cup masa
3. 1 tsp kosher salt (or preference)
4. 1 tsp ground white pepper

• When ready to serve, dredge oysters until completely coated in mixture, deep (or shallow) fry in 345~355° oil until crispy (usually 45 sec ~ 1.5 min, depending on size of oyster).

Cilantro Sauce (this is my recipe for Elote (Mexican corn) baste, but I use it for a tartar sauce replacement in Mexican fried fish recipes)

• 4 cups mayonnaise
• 2 cups fresh lime juice (if you have to use bottled, only use premium fresh squeezed, not a concentrate or an essence based product)
• 4 oz cilantro chopped
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
• mix all ingredients well, adjust thickness by adding mayonnaise for thicker or lime for thinner, salt and pepper to taste

Assembly:

• spread beans on tostada, place a spoon of chorizo (your preference for amount) on beans, place in oven (400° for 1~2 minutes) to heat and keep warm
• dredge (dredge to order and do not dredge ahead of time, it makes for nasty) and fry oysters (2 per tostada); place oysters on chorizo
• place a decent amount of pickled white onions on oysters (2 ~ 4 oz)
• finish with cilantro sauce

¡ Aquí !