April 24 - This is delicious. The hardest things were buying the oysters and getting the darned things opened. I went to two stores (Sendiks and Whole Foods) before I finally found oysters at the Milwaukee Public Market oyster bar. See link below. It is a great place to buy fish, but it is fairly intimidating particularly since I am not an oyster eater and know next to nothing about them. I first asked the guy at the regular fish counter and he just waved me over to the oyster bar. So, I stood there for a few minutes looking at the signs on the wall and watching the other patrons in an attempt to figure out what the process was for buying a dozen oysters to take home to grill. Finally as no one seemed over anxious to help me I stepped up to the bar where the regulars were enjoying their lunch and ask "err, do you - umm, sell oysters to go?" I cannot imagine how the tattooed guy behind the counter figured out that I was clueless, but the look on his face made it clear that he was not in charge of the clueless department that day. He just said "what kind do you like?" I wanted to say "look buddy, I don't like you or your oysters. I am cooking through a cookbook and grilled oysters and next in line so just give me a dozen and let me get the heck out of here." Instead I said, "well, uh..." and he said "do you like the small salty kind or the larger meaty but less salty kind?" He pointed to a chalkboard where they had 8 different varieties listed. I had to assume they were all varieties of oysters. Anyway, I just told him I needed to make a phone call and retreated to my cell phone. No one at home seemed to have strong opinions so in the end I got 6 of the large meaty kind raised on a farm (no salt at all) and another smaller variety that were from salt water.
Getting the oysters opened was a trick. I am sure it is easy once you get some experience. We used screw drivers and jackknives but in the end they popped open and we were able to preserve some of the water in the shell. A little spoonful of bbq sauce in each shell and mmmmm good. They only cook for about 5 minutes total.
Here is the link to the St Paul Fish store at the Milwaukee Public Market.
http://www.milwaukeepublicmarket.org/vendor_stpaul.php
These were fast and delicious. We ate them right off the grill and scorching hot, with a spicy sauce, so if you take this route, have a cold drink ready! Also, if you are doing charcoal grilling, like us true-blue Weber grillers, then you probably want to grill something else for the menu, as these take no time at all. Of course, you could do more than a dozen...
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