There’s a guy who smokes oysters in a pull behind trailer around Memphis. You’ll find him parked outside various locations in Midtown. A few months ago, our path’s crossed at Crosstown Brewery. 

My buddy suggested that of all the options offered to dress the oysters, that a Memphis style BBQ sauce was the way to go. He wasn’t wrong. I was inspired. This direct fired approach utilizes more of a vinegar based BBQ sauce. A southern style mignonette if you will. You will need: 

For the sauce:

• 1 sliced Serrano Chili
• 1/4 cup of diced red onions
• 1 tbsp of brown sugar
• 1 cup of apple cider vinegar
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the oysters:

• 12 oysters of your choice (I went with blue point)
• 1 French baguette 
• 1/2 cup of shredded Gouda 
• 1/2 stick of melted unsalted butter
• Lemon zest

Mix all of the ingredients for the sauce together and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. 

Shuck the oysters carefully so that you don’t cut yourself or lose any liquid in the shell. Place directly over the fire on your grill. After a few minutes they will begin bubbling. Sprinkle a little lemon zest and add a little melted butter on each oyster. Be careful of flare ups here. After a few minutes, carefully remove the oysters with tongs. 

Slice the baguette into 12 pieces and coat one side with butter. Cover the opposite side with shredded Gouda. Toast each piece on the grill butter side down until the cheese is melted. 

Place the oysters on top of the cheese toast and spoon on a little bit of the vinegar sauce.  Make sure you get a slice of Serrano on top of the oyster for an added kick in the pants. 

Goat Cheese & Caramelized Onion Pizza with Pancetta

This pizza was a bit of a happy accident when I first made it over 10 years ago. I had never made my own Alfredo sauce, so I was a bit intimidated. Luckily it worked and was a hit.

Using goat cheese instead of mozzarella helps to tang this za up with just the right amount of creaminess. For both pizzas on the post we used this recipe for the crust and it turned out pretty great.

For the sauce:

• Half a stick of butter
• About 4 ounces of heavy cream
• Lotsa parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste (the sauce gets better the more pepper you add)
• 8 ounces of pancetta
• 4 ounces of goat cheese
• I small red onion

Cook the pancetta, drain, crumble and set aside. Chop the onion into strips and caramelize in either butter or oil then set aside. Melt the half stick of butter in the sauté pan. Once completely melted, turn heat to med-low and add in the heavy cream. You do not want to heat this too quickly or the cream will curdle. Once the cream begins to thicken slightly, start adding in parmesan cheese incrementally. Let the cheese melt into the sauce completely before adding the next round. Once the sauce is to the desired thickness, remove from heat. Assemble the pizza and bake in your favorite heat box, smoker, etc.

Leftover Pulled Pork with Red Onion and Cilantro Pizza

One of my favorite things to make with leftover pulled pork is bbq pizza. It’s a great opportunity to add additional flavors to compliment the bbq. It can be as simple or as complex as you want it. For a quick weeknight meal, this is my go to recipe. 

Either a quick homemade dough or a pre-made thin crust. Boboli works great.

• 1/4 cup of your favorite bbq sauce
• 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup of grated Gouda
• 1/2 cup of pulled pork
• 1/4 cup of sliced red onion
• 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro 

This pizza is great out of the oven, but even better on the grill.  

I first tasted mussels during the summer of 2012. I had recently become a fan of bivalve molluscs after slurping a few dozen pacific northwest oysters in Seattle (side note: here's why you may feel a bit fluffy after eating Seattle mussels). I had tried gulf oysters before but they can't hold a candle to their cold water cousins. The delicate texture and buttery-sweet flavors of small cold water oysters make the meaty, oversized gulf variety reminiscent of old man ears.

When I spotted beer-steamed mussels on the menu of the Schlafly Tap Room, I thought "Why not?". These were small, manageable creatures. Maybe I'd enjoy them as much as I did the Cascadian oysters. One bite and I was hooked. 

This recipe is inspired by that experience.

You'll need:

• 1/2 lb of chorizo
• 3 sliced shallotts
• 2 sliced jalapeños
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 can of Mexican lager
• 2.5 lb of fresh mussels
• 2 tsp of chili seasoning or seafood seasoning
• 2 tbsp of butter cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
• 1 roma tomato, diced
• juice of 1 lime 
• 1 loaf of french bread

Using a 10 inch cast iron skillet, cook the chorizo over medium-high heat while breaking apart with a wooden spoon. You can use any heat source you like. Once browned, sauté the shallots and jalapeños. After about 4 minutes add the garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Pour in the can of Mexican lager and allow to simmer. Add in the Mussels and season with the seasoning of your choice. At this point you are braising the mussels. Most mussels you order in restaurants are steamed but since I don't have a proper lid for my cast iron skillet, I braised them in the beer broth. This requires a little bit of stirring to ensure even cooking. Once the mussels have opened up, continue to cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat.

Finish the mussels with the butter, cilantro, tomato and lime juice and serve with toasted slices of French bread. 

Look at yourself in the mirror and behold the awesomeness.

It's not uncommon to find potatoes in Masaman Curry. I don't prefer it, but sometimes it works. Any time I've attempted to make this particular curry with potatoes included, the starch turns the dish sort of gummy and therefore pretty much ruined.

I thought for a change that I could fully own the starch by incorporating curry into it, and not the other way around. The result was surprisingly good.

You'll need:

• A couple shallots
• Vegetable oil
• About 4 cups of potatoes
• 1 can masaman curry paste
• 1 can coconut milk
• fish sauce
• Half a stick of butter
• salt and pepper to taste
• Chopped cilantro to finish

Fried Shallots

Slice the shallots into thin pieces. Heat oil over med-low. You don't want to get the oil too hot. It will fry the shallots too quickly and potentially burn them.

Cook the shallots in the oil for about 20 min at med-low. The shallots will bubble but not aggressively like frying. Once they turn brown, remove and reserve the oil. Shallot oil is great for cooking just about anything with.

The Potatoes

Bring pot of water to boil. Peel and cut potatoes up to cubes. Boil until fork tender.

While potatoes are boiling, put a couple tablespoons of the shallot oil into a pan over high heat. Once the oil is hot, fry the curry paste for a few minutes. Oil separation is a good thing. Then add half of the coconut milk and stir to cook for about 5 minutes. Again, oil separation is a good thing. Turn off heat and set aside.

Drain and mash potatoes. Add butter and stir until it is absorbed into potatoes. Then add curry/coconut milk mixture into the potatoes and stir. Add fish sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with fried shallots, chopped cilantro and a drizzle of the remaining coconut milk.