So I was at a tiny market earlier and they had some fresh oysters. There are 12 in a plastic container, so no shells.
What is the best way to prepare them?
No SHELLS?
How are they supposed to make a pearl for you?
Mix up some cocktail sauce (heavy on the horseradish) and enjoy. Or pop a couple into a shot glass and add vodka and a dollop of cocktail or hot sauce and enjoy. Or just grab a fork! Enjoy!
Mix flour, cornmeal, salt and pepper. Roll the oysters. Fry in oil.
Option 1: Douse with Tabasco or other Louisiana hot sauce and eat.
Option 2: Make a po’ boy. Put mayonnaise on both sides of a French roll. Add the oysters. Add Tabasco. Top with lettuce and tomato. Close and eat.
I love a horseradish heavy cocktail sauce on my oysters as much as the next guy, but sometimes you just want something different. I really like a vinegar-based mignonette sauce, especially with some winter savory added, with raw oysters. A little googling reveals this nice looking recipe: Mignonette Recipe, Mignonette Sauce for Oysters
Its really good.
Your library probably has “The Hog Island Oyster Lover’s Cookbook”. If you can get your hands on that you will get a ton of info about oysters, plus a lot of splendid recipes. It’s also $13.50 at Amazon.
IMO the jarred oysters are for cooking. Oysters in the shells are for eating raw.
To me “fresh oysters” are still alive and in the shell, and are to be shucked just prior to use. I wouldn’t eat oysters from a container raw, unless they were shucked in front of me.
That said, good oysters purchased sans shell are perfect for oyster stew. Slowly cook finely sliced green onions or shallots with a stick of butter. Add equal parts cream and milk (you can vary the proportions to suit your taste, but I like 50:50), about 1 quart total. Gently heat until wisps of steam come off the top, just barely below a simmer. Add the oysters with their juice. Cook about 2 minutes or until oysters are just barely cooked. Add some salt/pepper, take off heat, wait about 5 minutes and serve with plenty of crackers.
I love oysters, and buy them by the bushel all winter. I prefer them raw on the half-shell, but oyster stew is an excellent dish because it’s warm and hearty, but simple. The flavor of the oysters is actually enhanced by the hot cream.
Just out of curiosity, how much does a bushel of oysters run where you live?
(I guess it would be helpful to know what part of the world you are in, as well)
It varies by year, but around $50-60. I believe the cheapest I’ve paid is $40, a few years ago. There are usually pretty steep price breaks as you buy more, i.e. a dozen is $10, a 1/2 peck is $15 (maybe 25 oysters), a peck is $20, a 1/2 bushel $30, a bushel is $50.
I live on the eastern shore of MD, and can see Chesapeake Bay (well, a sub-estuary of CB) from my front porch.
Love all these measures, we only buy them by the dozen or half dozen downunder 
I know just the chinese style: soutee chopped garlic, put in strips of peeled ginger, then the oysters, with a dash of either oyster sauce or Hoisin sauce. Add some salted soya beans and chopped leeks.
Yes! We’d sometimes make oyster dressing (not stuffing) from good jarred oysters. For yet another side dish on the Holiday table.
But they aren’t for eating raw…
Retail prices are usually about $1 per. A bushel will run anywhere from $50 to $100 depending on size, where they come from, and time of year. Last I checked, which was a few years ago, shucked oysters were about $40-$50 a gallon. They’re farmed in Narragansett Bay, but we get them from up and down the East Coast.
Oyster stew.
Reserve the juice from the jar, cut up the oysters a little and poach them in the reserved juice. Meanwhile, heat up some rich milk and add a little minced garlic and a shake of cayenne pepper. Bring the milk to a simmer and thicken it, if you want, with a little flour slurry. Turn off the heat and add the poached oysters in their juice. Salt to taste and serve with little oyster crackers.
I once poached the oysters directly in the milk and it resulted in curdled milk. Maybe there was some kind of oyster enzyme that curdles milk?
Am I the only one with this stuck in my head now?
Anyway.. yes, I’d agree with those who are hesitant to eat the pre-shelled oysters raw. I’ve actually never had a bad experience with raw oysters, but it’s such a common trope that I tend to avoid it when I’m less than 100% positive about their freshness.
Shame, because I’ll always believe an oyster is meant for slurping raw from the shell.. although Johnny L.A. has me craving a Po’ Boy now.
A padded oyster sandwich with cocktail sauce is a fond memory from long ago.