Flambadou Oysters

One of the things that I love most about grilling is the feel of cooking with fire. Well, this week we are taking that to a whole new level.  We acquired a Flambadou (pronounced flahm-buh-doe) from Clay over at Big Rig BBQ in Amesbury, Ma. A flambadou is a metal cone on a long handle that sits down into the hot coals.  Once the cone is red hot, you simply drop some beef tallow or fat into it and wait for it to ignite.  Once the fat ignites, you drip the melting, flaming fat directly onto your food to baste and sear it.  It is a form of cooking that dates back to the middle ages and became quite popular in French cuisine a number of years ago.  You can use it to sear meat, on a rotisserie or very popularly, as we did here, to cook oysters.

Video Recipe

Directions

1. Carefully shuck your oysters and remove the top shell. It helps to put the oysters in a freezer for 5-10 minutes first, it will start them opening a bit on their own. Scrape along the bottom shell to separate the meat from the shell.  Place your oysters in a heat proof platter such as the Oyster Bed that we used here and sprinkle each one with a pinch of seasoning.
2. You’ll want to use plenty of charcoal here in order to get a really hot fire going.  It is very important to process.  When you put the flambadou in the coals, it must turn glowing red!  SO, light those coals and get them to a high temperature.
3. We are getting closer to the fun part!  Place the cone end of the flambadou not the coals so that it is in the hottest part. As I said earlier, it is extremely important to get it glowing red hot. Once the cone is glowing, your are ready to cook with fire, literally!
4. Remove the flambadou from the fire and drop your protein fat or tallow into the large opening of the cone and wait for it to ignite.  Once it does, simply place it over your oysters and let that hot, dripping, tasty liquid goodness drip directly onto the open oysters.   This will cook the oysters and give them a bit of a firmer consistency.  Top them off with a squeeze of lemon, a little hot sauce or maybe even a little horseradish, it’s completely up to you.