Page 56 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2021

What’s

Cookin’

with Larry Garner

Louisiana bluesman Larry Garner cookin’ up his “Oven Oysters.”
Photo by Sandakaye Garner

OVEN OYSTERS

Ingredients

12-24 oysters (depending on size; 12 large or 24 small)
½ tbsp salted butter x 12
½ tsp garlic powder x 12
½ tbsp of soy sauce x 12
5 drops of Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce x 12
1 tsp pepper jack cheese x 12
Editor’s Note: You may be familiar with Baton Rouge bluesman 1 tsp parmesan cheese x12
Larry Garner’s songwriting and sound, but what about his 3-4 slices bacon
cooking? Garner’s “Oven Oysters” will have you crankin’ some Pickled jalapeño slices
blues as you lay on the hot sauce. 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
I’m the kind of guy that if someone gives me a good 2. Get out your 12-hole muffin pan and cut ½ tbsp of butter
meal, I will catch them on the side and ask if they’d share into each hole, along with ½ tsp garlic powder.
the recipe. My brother-in-law asked me to go out with him to 3. Open your oysters and put 12-24 (depending on size) on
eat char-grilled oysters one day, and I fell in love with them. a kitchen napkin to soak up excess water.
The price was not bad and the background music was ‘60s 4. Place 1 large or 2 small oysters in each muffin pan hole.
soul, so I started eating them regularly – so regularly in fact, 5. In each hole, add ½ tbsp soy sauce, 5 drops of Tabasco
my cholesterol went up. I’d sit at the bar and watch the chef Chipotle Pepper Sauce, 1 tsp pepper jack cheese and 1
shuck the oysters, add ingredients and grill them over an open tsp parmesan cheese.
flame. The garlic, butter and bacon chips set it off, along with 6. Put your bacon in the microwave until almost crunchy,
the dunking bread to sop up the butter. As fate would have it, about 1 minute per slice. Then cut the bacon into ½-inch
the pandemic hit, but I still had the char-grilled oyster craving. pieces and sprinkle into each hole.
So as not to be outdone, I found a way to do my own version 7. Top them all off with a slice or two of pickled jalapeño.
of the recipe at home, in the oven. 8. Place the muffin pan in your preheated oven for 10 to 12
Being from Louisiana, raw, shucked oysters aren’t hard minutes. You can sop up the butter with bread to get the
to find at the seafood store. A pint for $15 ain’t bad, and last garlic butter drippings in the muffin pan.
it yields about 18-20 oysters. I bought a bunch of the other
ingredients, and here’s what I did during the pandemic to When Larry isn’t in the kitchen, he’s working on songs for a new
soothe my char-grilled oyster craving – without the grill. album. To find out more, visit larrygarnerbluesman.com.

54 Blues Festival Guide 2021