Grilled Oysters with Miso Wakame Butter
These chargrilled Little Busters oysters from Dirigo Marine Resources in Freeport, Maine are perfectly paired with some sweet and briny butter made from Sweet Miso and Wakame from Atlantic Holdfast Seaweed Company.
I’ve been working on recipes that combine fresh local marine ingredients with the brine and complexity of my bivalve beauties. Warm and savory chargrilled oysters are the perfect accompaniment to a crisp Autumn grill session with friends. Plus, the Sweet Miso-Wakame Butter can be used on more substantial dishes to pair with your oysters (toss it with some grilled sweet corn or slather it on some toast, and your heart will literally melt).
The key to this dish is choosing an oyster with a deep cup, some meatiness, and a complex flavor profile. The deep cup is essential for holding all that delectable Sweet Miso-Wakame butter. You will want an oyster with some meatiness so their bellies will marinate and swell as they are heated. Finally, the oyster’s complex flavor profile will compliment your Sweet Miso-Wakame Butter; choose an oyster that is all-brine, and the sweetness of the miso and the butter will be muted.
For this recipe, I used some Little Busters Oysters from Dirigo Marine Resources. On the market, Little Busters are 3-year old oysters that typically range 3-to-3.5 inches in size. Furthermore, they have a complex flavor profile with an initial wave of a crisp, mineral brine followed by a sweet creaminess - their unique taste is perfect for this recipe.
For my Sweet Miso-Wakame butter, I love using Wild Atlantic Wakame (Alaria esculenta) from Atlantic Holdfast Seaweed Company that I purchase at Heritage Seaweed in Portland. This particular wakame is hand-harvested off the coast of Stonington, Maine during the low tide line of exposed ledges in areas with heavy surf. Care is taken to harvest only young first-year plants, allowing older plants to remain and continue producing spores, ensuring continued regeneration of the population for further harvests. The wakame from Atlantic Holdfast is dried immediately after harvest to retain its full nutritional value. When re-hydrated, it has a refreshing subtle brine.
The miso for this recipe can be homemade, or a great alternative is using Sweet White Miso from South River, made with organic brown rice, sea salt, and koji culture.
Grilled Oysters With Sweet Miso-Wakame Butter
Ingredients
Instructions
- Bring 2-3 cups of chicken stock to a boil in a saucepan.
- When the chicken stock is boiling, place between 4 and 5 pieces of dried wakame in the stock, ensuring that it is submerged.
- It will take approximately 45 minutes for the wakame to fully soften. I prefer to turn the stovetop heat to “low,” place a lid on the saucepan, and simmer the stock.
- When the wakame has softened, remove the saucepan from heat, remove the wakame from the stock, and pat them dry. (Your leftover stock can be used for soup! Wakame is a great source of calcium, potassium, and iodine. When wakame is re-hydrated, some of its mineral content is absorbed in the stock. This nutritious stock can be refrigerated or frozen later for use in soups and sauces).
- Finely mince the wakame.
- In a large bowl, mix together 8 TBSP of unsalted butter, the diced wakame, and 2 TBSP of Sweet Miso. This can be done using a mixer or by hand. Make sure that everything is mixed well, and the wakame is fully dispersed in the butter.
- Reform the butter by rolling it into a cylindrical shape using parchment paper. Refrigerate for approximately 20-30 minutes, or overnight, for it to reshape.
- Light a firepit, gas grill, or turn on your oven’s broiler - however you want to cook the oysters!
- Shuck your oysters cleanly, ensuring not to pop their bellies.
- Place a dollop of Miso-Wakame Butter on each oyster.
- Chargrill the oysters for approximately 5 minutes, until their bellies swell and the butter melts.
- Using tongs, carefully transfer to a plate for service!