Joe's brioch loaf
Any time our family gets together you can be sure that we will have good food!
The cooking part included more North Carolina BBQ brought by the sister traveling from South Carolina as she passed through that state, and fried Maryland oysters and stuffed ham, both obtained near my brother's Maryland home. Since we grew up with North Carolina BBQ, the group was thrilled to enjoy that the first night together. Since I was the first sibling to be the Friday night cook who had to bread and fry oysters for 10 when I was a teen, I was thrilled that my nephews breaded and my brother fried the oysters...I only had to sit and eat them! They were excellent and I'm including their recipe for Fried Oysters below.
Since this is a food blog, I have to include a couple more food references. The nephew who lives in the cabin, Joe, is also a professional baker and he works at Walker's bakery in Sperryville. In case you get there, he told me that Vice- President J.D. Vance apparently is quite taken with their Florentine cookies. We enjoyed a number of the bakery's delicious products, including scones, croissants, babka and quiche, plus amazing sourdough bread. Joe shared a number of their products with us, including a delicious Danish and the brioche bread shown at the top of this post. There is a link to Walker's Bakeshop website below at the bottom of the post, after the oyster recipe.
We also stopped at Central Coffee Roasters in Sperryville. You can taste at least a half dozen of their exceptional coffees. I'm particularly fond of the Eapresso 101, but every on I tried was delicious and full flavored. They really know their coffee and can help you find just the right coffee for you. It's a family owned and run business, but the hours are weekend-ish. I'll put info below the oyster recipe if you want to check these businesses out. The Central Coffee Roasters do mail order, too. There is a link to their website below at the bottom of the post, after the oyster recipe.
All too soon it was time to head back to the airport to fly west. I already miss my east coast family! It was a wonderful visit and I hope to do it again before too long now that I know I can go by myself and make it home in good shape.
Phil and the Pirates' Oysters
Drain the oysters. (This works for any amount of shucked oysters)
Prepare three bowls, the first with flour seasoned with ground pepper, enough to dredge the amount of oysters you have. The second bowl has an egg wash in it (use milk in the egg wash instead of water), make it an eggy wash, not so much liquid. The third bowl has unflavored bread crumbs.
Pick up an oyster, dredge it in flour, transfer to the egg wash, then transfer to bread crumbs. Coat completely. Place oysters, once prepped, on a wax paper covered cookie sheet and let them sit as you heat the oil.
Don't let them sit for too long, Phil lets them sit for 15-20 minutes.
Pour canola oil or any vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet. Make it about 2-3 inches deep. Heat it up slowly and gradually until very hot, just shy of smoking.
Put a small chunk of batter in when you think it's hot enough and the batter chunk should skitter about, not sink.
Fry. In a large cast iron skillet, about six at a time. Put them in at intervals so you don't cool the oil. Take one out, put another one in as they cook.
Phil places a plate over a pot of simmering water and drains the oysters on this plate covered with paper towels. That way they stay warm as you fry all the oysters.
Enjoy! Enjoy with cocktail sauce, actually.
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