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If you’ve never thought of combining pizza and oysters, you’d be forgiven for believing that there’s probably never a logical reason for these two foods to be combined. But at 3’s 12-hole short course in Greenville, South Carolina, chef Chris Wehking was inspired by a clam and pepperoni dish he tasted at a restaurant in Charleston. 3’s didn’t have enough room on site for a pizza oven, so Wehking decided to add pizza oysters to the menu.
“It’s a way to get a little taste of pizza without having to use a pizza oven,” Wehking said.
The key to creating pizza flavor is homemade pepperoni butter, which Wehking makes by grinding up the pepperoni and draining out all the fat on the stove. The fat is then whipped into a cream and sprinkled generously over each oyster.
Welkin’s favorite is the salty-sweet oysters from Virginia, which he likes for their large, meaty texture.
After shucking, Welkin places six oysters on a baking sheet, adds a dollop of pepperoni cream, and sprinkles them with grated Parmesan cheese. Wehking then places the oysters in the oven and cooks them for about 90 seconds.
“When you cook oysters, the longer you cook them, the drier they become and they become tough,” Welkin said. “They’re going to wilt, you’re going to lose the meatiness. You’re going to lose the flavorful juices in them. So we just want to make a real quick cook.
Once the oysters are grilled, Wehking tosses them with garlic breadcrumbs for extra crunch, sprinkles them with fresh parsley, and serves them immediately.
So how best to enjoy oysters?
“Squeeze a little lemon and knock it back,” Welkin said.
To see a full tutorial on the Wehking method, watch the video above. To learn more about 3’s Greenville, click here.
