Ostras Fritas a la Chalaca

Fried Oysters, Callao-Style

When I moved to Los Angeles from London, I was so happy to be back on the Pacific Coast. I loved London, but the seafood in California was more like what I remembered from home, and the sunshine and T-shirt culture was much more my speed than rain and suits. And I was so happy to be on the same side of the globe as family and friends in Lima.

This recipe was one of the very first that I came up with when I got to L.A. The name is a riff on chorritos a la chalaca. Chalaca is a reference to Callao, Peru’s main seaport just to the west of Lima, where mussels are steamed and served with a spicy rocoto pepper, red onion, and tomato salsa with plenty of lime juice. There are so many good fresh oysters in California, and I hadn’t eaten a really good fried one in what seemed like forever, maybe never. Most are so thickly battered and fried that every last ounce of their delicate, briny flavor is gone. You might as well deep-fry spoonfuls of batter. But if you pan-fry the oysters on one side only, the fried side gets all crispy and golden brown, but the oysters stay medium-rare on the opposite side and they almost melt on your tongue. The trick is to flour the oysters very delicately, then slip them into oil that is hot enough to turn the batter golden brown, but not too hot, or the oysters will burn. It’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it, but having an extra oyster or two around for experimentation doesn’t hurt.

The Rocoto Leche de Tigre Salsa, really a combination of ceviche sauce and salsa, makes the oysters taste like they were just plucked from the sea, but if you don’t have time to make it, you could make a quick Salsa Criolla (page 44). The oysters should not be gigantic, more medium in size (3 inches wide at most), or they won’t cook evenly. And it probably goes without saying, but with any oysters, buy only the best quality fresh (never frozen) oysters from a reputable vendor. Save the Kumamotos for eating purely raw. They are too delicate to pan-fry and tend to fall apart.

1 Rinse 12 oyster shell halves and pat them dry with a paper towel; arrange them on a serving platter and set aside.

2 In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Hold one hand over the bowl with the flour mixture. Spoon about half the flour mixture into your palm and gently place one oyster in the middle of the flour. Lift up the oyster with the opposite hand and gently set the same (floured) side back down in the flour, like you are flouring something very fragile. If you jam the oyster into the flour, it will take on too much coating. Repeat the lifting process one more time and gently shake the excess flour off the bottom of the oyster. Place the oyster, floured side down, on a plate and flour the remaining oysters.

3 In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat about ¼ inch of oil over medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes, until hot but not smoking. Pick up one end of a “test” oyster with your thumb and index finger, as if you were holding a whole sardine by the tail, and hold the oyster with the floured side facing away from you. To keep the oil from splattering on you, gently lay the oyster into the pan, floured side down, in one swooping motion from the “sardine head” toward the tail. Fry the oyster until the bottom coating is golden brown, 1½ to 2 minutes. Use tongs to immediately flip the oyster and sear the opposite, uncoated side for a quick second or two—that’s it. Transfer the oyster to a plate, floured side facing up.

4 Check the test oyster to make sure it is golden brown on the bottom but still very moist and juicy on the uncoated side. If not, adjust the heat as needed: If the flour fell off the oyster, the oil is not hot enough. If the oil is too hot, the oyster will begin to burn after 30 seconds. Cook the remaining oysters the same way. You can cook up to 6 oysters at a time, but they can overcook quickly, so I suggest you cook them in smaller batches. Transfer each oyster to a half shell with the floured side up.

5 Serve the oysters hot, as you fry them, with a little rocoto leche de tigre salsa spooned on top of each (about 2 teaspoons per oyster). Or serve them at room temperature once you finish frying all of the oysters. Add the salsa right before serving.

Rocoto Leche de Tigre Salsa

Makes a generous ½ cup

Keep fresh fish trimmings in the freezer so you can quickly mix up a small batch of Rocoto Leche de Tigre (as with any ceviche, make sure the fish is very good quality). Like any fresh salsa criolla, you can chop the ingredients up to an hour before serving, but don’t mix them together until the very last minute.

Mix together all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Use the rocoto leche de tigre salsa right away.