I love baked oysters, like the others in this site – Mornay or Rockafella. I still happily devour fresh, raw oysters too with lemon or a mix of fresh minced ginger and soy sauce. The only one missing however was Kilpatrick which is a classic favourite for a good reason – surf n turf at its simplest form and so divine.
I like to use thickened cream in the recipe as I like the texture rather that with single cream, yet double cream was too rich when we tried it and over-powered the dish.
I also like to precook the bacon so the oysters don’t need to long under the grill to risk overcooking and affecting their texture and flavour – a warm through is the point with a quick browning of the crumbs is the idea – like the mornay recipe.
Double the recipe or triple to make as many as you like! Just make sure each oyster has a good covering of sauce, bacon and crumbs.
Based on a recipe by Alice Doyle from the Doyle’s Cookbook of old.
Pictured: Oysters Kilpatrick1 dozen oysters
½ cup thickened cream
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 – 3 rashers of bacon cut into fine small strips
½ cup fresh breadcrumbs or panko
Mix the cream and Worcestershire sauce together in a bowl.
Fry the bacon til just cooked – it will brown more in the oven – keep all the lovely oil to help moisten the crumbs later.
Place the oysters on an oven tray, making sure they are leaning and placed correctly to be sitting up right to hold the sauce etc. – takes a bit of fiddling but you get there!
Spoon the cream mix into each oyster evenly, sprinkle over the bacon, then the breadcrumbs, drizzle over any extra rendered bacon fat or spray with a little olive oil to give the crumbs some oil and moisture to brown up.
Heat a grill to med high, place the oyster 10 cm or so from the top and let brown and warm quickly for a few minutes, watch them carefully and remove them as they bubble and brown. If they are browning too quickly before bubbling up a little, either lower the tray or the temperature a little.
Serve immediately with some finely chopped parsley if you have it, lemon wedges and teaspoons.
Makes 1 dozen
Pictured: Oysters Kilpatrick ready for grilling