In the Kitchen With: Chef Ryan Prewitt

At Peche in New Orleans, chef Ryan Prewitt is proud to give guests a dip into various Southern waters, serving Southern farmed oysters from around the region to let them see and taste the distinctions. “When it comes to food, oysters are the ultimate expression of place, creating taste memories that are very powerful,” he says. “They’re just a wonderful representation of location, so we try to balance our menu with Alabama, Louisiana and Florida oysters together, so you can tell the difference.”

He’s pleased the industry is now in a place that allows him to do this. “Nine years ago, with farmed oysters in the Gulf, there wasn’t a huge variety, just enough to make a Southern Gulf oyster platter,” he says. “Now, there are lots of options.”

Today, Peche serves exclusively Southern seafood, and Prewitt notes that oysters spurred that move. “From opening, we framed the restaurant as a seafood place, and initially we thought we’d use predominately local seafood, but also oysters from other parts of the country,” he says. “We did that for a very brief time, but I quickly realized we were missing the boat with that approach, that we had the chance to really highlight Gulf seafood, particularly oysters, and that’s when we took the entire restaurant to Southern seafood. Oysters were the gateway for that.”

And Prewitt is thankful that, unlike some sectors of the seafood market, oyster farming is in a good position to ensure Peche always has plenty of premium oysters to serve. “The ‘graying of the fleet’ is one of the big difficulties seafood faces, as many age out of the industry,” he says. “But in the oyster world, it looks like the opposite. There are so many younger folks seeing it as a career and getting into it, and I think that is super exciting. I’m looking forward to these folks getting better and better at this and producing even better oysters; the future is so bright for Southern aquaculture.”

Short Shell Session

Chef Prewitt shares some additional oyster thoughts and a recipe.

Favorite oyster memory: Sitting at a picnic table at a small county store in Northern California eating very salty BBQ oysters off the grill with a six pack of beer. That was it. That’s all they had, but it was amazing.

Fave way to eat them now: My preference is always raw and unadorned. I don’t usually do lemon or any sauce. I think all those things are wonderful but are a wholly different dish. So simply shucked and eaten is my No. 1. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love a plate of fried oysters too. (See Prewitt's recipe for this delight below!)

Number of oysters Peche shucks and serves each week: It varies pretty wildly. But I think we are in 5,000-7,000 range a week. That sounds like a lot, but other New Orleans spots like Drago’s and Acme likely lap that number. We buy about 3,000-3,5000 off-bottom oysters a week and 2,000-3,000 wild, dredged oysters, so that first number’s not all farmed.

Fried Oysters With Cucumbers & Pickled Pepper Mayonnaise

Yield: 4 servings

For Pickled Chilies:
1 pound hot banana peppers, sliced into rings
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 cups cider vinegar
2 cups white vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt

Heat the vinegars, sugar and salt to a rolling boil. Pour over chilies and onions. Allow to sit at room temperature for a few hours or overnight. You will have some chilies left over for another purpose.

For Pickled Pepper Mayonnaise
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup pickled chilies, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons chili vinegar

Combine above ingredients. The mayonnaise should be bright, spicy and a little sweet. It should also be pourable.

For Cucumbers
2 small cucumbers, or enough to make about 2 cups, cut into ¼ inch thick rounds
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
½ cup mint leaves, torn
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

Combine all the ingredients, and allow to sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes.

For Oysters
24 oysters, shucked, held in their liquor
2 cups cornmeal
4 cups white flour
Salt
Finely ground black pepper

Heat a deep fryer to 350 degrees.
Combine cornmeal and flour in a large bowl. Remove oysters from their liquor and completely coat in the flour mixture. Toss the oysters around so they are totally covered.
Fry oysters, in batches if necessary, until they are lightly golden brown and crispy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove to a towel lined tray and season with salt and black pepper.
On a large platter, cover the bottom with the cucumber mixture, then place the hot fried oysters on top. Drizzle a good amount of the mayonnaise on top and serve.