Craig Claiborne’s Oyster Stew
Updated Feb. 24, 2025
- Total Time
- About 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 6tablespoons butter
- ½cup finely chopped heart of celery
- ½cup finely chopped onion
- 4cups milk
- 4cups heavy cream
- 2teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- ½teaspoon Tabasco sauce
- ¼teaspoon paprika
- Salt to taste if desired
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 2quarts shucked oysters with their natural liquor
- ¼cup finely chopped parsley
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat butter in saucepan and add celery and onion. Cook, stirring, without browning, about 5 minutes.
- Step 2
Add milk and cream and bring to the simmer. Add Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce, paprika, salt and pepper.
- Step 3
Add oysters with their liquor and let simmer about three minutes or until oysters start to curl. Do not overcook or oysters will toughen. Serve in heated soup bowls with equal portions of parsley sprinkled on top.
Private Notes
Comments
Halved the recipe, and added 1/2 cup of dry sherry, which gave the stew an even richer flavor. Sprinkled paprika along with the parsley, very festive!
Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of flour over the sautéed onions and butter stirring this mixture which is called a blond roux for a couple of minutes then add the rest of ingredients with two tablespoons of Pernod heat through and serve . Traditional dish served in New Orleans at Christmas !
I have been making this stew for over 30 years. We still love it. It is elegant, tasty, filling, easy to make. What more can you ask.
used 2 cups of half and half and 2 cups skim milk. Doubled celery and used green onions, cut very fine. 2pints of oysters and their juices. Mixed all the broth ingredients, added oysters last few minutes. Finished with a tsp of butter on top. Served with fresh out of oven yeast rolls. Delicious,
Make half a recipe. Use 4 containers oysters.
Add Dry Sherry