The Hirshon Tomales Bay Barbecued Oysters

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon California olive oil
• ¼ pound canned San Marzano tomatoes, drained
• 3 tablespoons minced shallot
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• ½ tablespoon [easyazon_link identifier="B00348J434" locale="US" tag="t0c5f-20"]sweetened Chinese Black Vinegar[/easyazon_link] (or use cider vinegar if unavailable)
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• ½ tablespoon Bourbon, preferably Woodford Reserve
• ¼ teaspoon Asian [easyazon_link identifier="B00FQMW4PQ" locale="US" tag="t0c5f-20"]fish sauce[/easyazon_link], preferably Red Boat brand
• 1 teaspoon Chinese Chili sauce with black beans
• 1 shake of Tabasco (or to taste)
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground horseradish
• ¼ pound (1 stick) organic unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon finely minced parsley
• 1/8 teaspoon hickory liquid smoke
• 2 dozen fresh oysters - Miyagi oysters, but any medium-size oyster with a deep “bowl” bottom shell will work. You want to prevent the garlic butter and tomato sauce from sloshing out of the shell once they heat
• Sourdough bread

Instructions

1. --
2. For the tomato sauce: Combine the olive oil, tomatoes, onion, 1 garlic clove, thyme leaves, salt and brown sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until you can smash the garlic clove against the pot with the back of a spoon, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat and pass through fine food mill, or puree in a blender.
3. Return the sauce to the saucepan; add the vinegar(s), fish sauce, chili sauce, Bourbon and Tabasco, bring to a simmer, and cook for about 30 minutes, or until thickened. You should have about 1 cup of sauce.
4. Strain out the tomato seeds, then let cool. Stir in grated horseradish; set aside or refrigerate.
5. For the garlic butter: Mince the remaining four cloves of garlic. Melt the butter, add the garlic. minced parsley and liquid smoke, then refrigerate until solid.
6. For the oysters: Shuck oysters over a bowl, and being sure to preserve all the oyster liquor. Try to keep all the liquor in the shell with the oyster meat; otherwise you can add it back to the shells from the bowl after you put the oysters on the grill.
7. To finish: Prepare and heat the grill to medium high. Carefully arrange the oysters on the grill to prevent loss of liquor and cook, uncovered, until done, about 2 minutes. If the grill slats are too wide, nestle the oysters into a bed of rock salt layered into a shallow pan, and set that on the grill; cover and cook for about 4 minutes, until done.
8. Spoon a dollop of garlic butter onto each cooked oyster while still on grill; once the butter melts, add a dime-size “hat” of tomato horseradish sauce. Plate carefully to prevent loss of liquid, over rock salt if need be. Serve with warm sourdough.

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