Julia Reed’s Pan-Fried Oysters

These gorgeous oysters are perfectly complemented by a delicious buttermilk dressing.

If I was offered the cliché genie wish If you could invite three people, dead or alive, to dinner, who would you invite?, somewhere in that three would be Julia Reed. Sadly, the vivacious southern writer and entertainer is no longer with us, a void I feel every time I open a Garden & Gun magazine and can’t flip first to her column “The High and the Low.” Thankfully Julia’s stories and books and southern recipes live on. If I’m looking for something to read without diving into a start-to-finish book, Julia’s cookbooks – funny, smart, and relatable – hit the spot. 

Recently hunkering down with Julia Reed’s New Orleans: Food, Fun, and Field Trips for Letting the Good Times Roll, I came across her recipe for pan-fried oysters. We love oysters at our house, even if the only time I have used them in past cooking adventures involved cornbread (our Thanksgiving dressing) or a ginormous pot of smoking hot oil (the leftover frying agent for turkeys on said holiday). The third Thursday in November is also the only time (save for a very few projects) we fry anything anywhere near our kitchen. But Julia’s pan-fried oysters looked so doable, and so beautiful, that I gave them a go.

And how happy were we that we ventured out! This recipe is easy, easy and produces crispy-outside, juicy-inside oysters that you top with a delicious buttermilk dressing and that will make you want to eat way too many. Give them a try while there’s still an “R” in the month, and pay tribute to one of the South’s most beloved writers.

Julia Reed’s Pan-Fried Oysters
From Julia Reed’s New Orleans: Food, Fun, and Field Trips for Letting the Good Times Roll
½ cup corn flour or Zatarain’s Wonderful Fish Fri (unseasoned)
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper
24 fresh oysters, drained
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
Watercress leaves
Buttermilk Dressing, recipe follows

Mix the two flours, salt, and pepper in a small shallow pan suitable for dredging. Dredge the oysters in the flour, shaking off the excess, and place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with wax paper. 

Heat the butter and oil in the skillet over medium-high heat until the butter is melted. Add only enough oysters to fit comfortable without crowding the pan. Cook until golden brown, less than 1 minutes per side, and drain on paper towels (you can replace the wax paper on the baking sheet with paper towels and reuse it). Repeat until all the oysters are cooked, adding more butter and oil to the skillet if needed.

Place watercress leaves in the indentation on an oyster plate, or line a serving plate with watercress leaves. Top with the hot oysters. Drizzle a bit of the dressing on top.

Buttermilk Dressing
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced chives
½ cup buttermilk
Kosher salt to taste
Tabasco sauce to taste

Combine all the ingredients except the buttermilk, salt, and Tabasco in a bowl and mix well. Whisk in the buttermilk until the dressing is smooth. Season with salt and Tabasco to taste.