Celebration of oysters in Valley Ford this weekend

The annual Oysterpalooza festival is thrown each Memorial Day weekend at Rocker Oysterfeller’s Kitchen + Saloon in Valley Ford.|

You don’t need an excuse to take a road trip to the Sonoma-Marin Coast over the course of the long Memorial Day weekend, but if it helps, just tell your friends and family you are going out to pick up some oysters.

The weather is usually cloudy and a bit cool - perfect for working up an appetite - and you can crank down the moonroof, enjoy the ocean breeze and stop at one of the many roadside oyster bars and farms to slurp up a few meaty mollusks fresh off the grill.

Whether topped with butter and garlic, hot sauce or pesto, the bivalves grown in the cool, clean waters of Tomales Bay are a treasure in our own backyard foodshed. They are also an important ingredient in the annual Oysterpalooza festival thrown each Memorial Day weekend at Rocker Oysterfeller’s Kitchen + Saloon in Valley Ford.

This year’s food-and-music fest, firing up from noon to 7 p.m. Sunday, May 27, will feature local bands playing throughout the day and various food options ranging from Smoked Brisket Tacos to Grilled Oysters with zesty sauces.

Rocker Oysterfeller chef/owner Brandon Guenther has modeled the festival after the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, aka Jazz Fest, with food booths and an array of bluegrass, Americana and New Orleans jazz bands booming with lots of brass.

“That keeps the energy high,” Guenther said. “The lineup we have this year is a really nice blend of genres that go really well together. In between each band, we hired the Hubbub Club to do Second Line. They will march through the crowd and play New Orleans jazz.”

If you’re throwing a barbecue in your own back yard this weekend, Guenther shared some of his secrets to grilling oysters - it’s all about sourcing them fresh and local - and a few recipes for savory sauces and sides to round out the menu.

“We use the medium-size Miyagi oysters for our grills from Tomales Bay Oyster Company,” he said. “We use an extra small for our raw oysters, with a lemon-honey-jalapeno mignonette.”

For the grilled oysters, it’s nice to have a rainbow of sauces lending the treble note to the oyster’s briny bass. The chef likes to serve a tasty trio of Garlic-Butter, Pesto-Butter and Louisiana Hot sauces.

“We build a hot sauce using Frank’s Red Hot as our vinegar,” he said.

“We start with onion and garlic sauteed in butter, and then we add some white wine, some Worcestershire and hot sauce, and finish it in the blender with butter. That’s our most famous sauce.”

For the Pesto-Butter sauce, he said home cooks can make their own by mixing a store-bought pesto with butter in a 50-50 ratio.

You simply plop a teaspoon of sauce on each oyster after you’ve cooked them to sweet, juicy perfection on the grill.

For the main course, Guenther suggested going straight to the heart of California with a Santa Maria barbecue staple: the ever-popular tri-tip steak.

At Rocker Oysterfeller’s, the chef makes his own dry rub for the steak, but you could save time by picking up Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning.

“That’s one of my favorites,” he said. “Let that set on your beef at room temperature for about an hour. That way it cooks more evenly.”

Because it’s a thicker cut of meat, the tri-tip - also known as sirloin tip in other parts of the country - needs to be grilled fairly low and slow.

“If you grill it on high, it gets charred on the outside and is raw in the middle,” he said.

“If you turn the grill down to medium or medium low, you leave it on longer and let the skin caramelize and the inside slowly cook.”

For a tri-tip steak, Guenther said he would set the grill to 400 and cook the tri-tip for about 25 minutes, using a thermometer before pulling it off (120 degrees for rare, 140 degrees for medium rare, and 160 degrees for well done.)

“If it’s not getting caramelized fast enough, you just turn the heat up at the end,” he said. “It’s called a reverse sear.”

With the tri-tip, Guenther would serve elotes, a Mexican-style grilled corn-on-the-cob that is slathered with crema, cotija cheese and hot sauce.

“We’re doing an elote grilled corn at Oysterpalooza,” he said. “It’s really fun and easy for people at home.”

And, since it’s spring and you can still source delicious, California-grown asparagus, just toss some fat spears on the grill that have bee doused in olive oil, salt and pepper.

If you want to head to the beach, you can take a tip from professional caterers like Guenther and wrap up the cooked tri-tip, asparagus and corn in foil and pack it into an ice chest.

Throw a towel over it and shut the lid, and it will stay warm. The oysters can be grilled up at the beach.

On sunny days, Guenther usually heads to Dillon Beach or Doran Beach for picnics.

To round out your al fresco feast, the chef suggested stopping by the strawberry farm on Highway 12 in Sebastopol for dessert, Wild Flour Bakery in Freestone for fresh bread and Gourmet au Bay in Bodega Bay for your favorite vino.

Choosing Oysters

When shopping for oysters, here are a few tips from Guenther:

Buy local! Tomales Bay Oysters are some of the best in the world. Celebrate them by taking a lovely drive down Highway 1 and stopping in at Tomales Bay Oyster Company to pick them up fresh out of the water.

Be sure the shells are tightly closed. This indicates that the oyster is alive.

When you shake the bag, it should sound like a bag of rocks. If there is a hollow rattling sound, there’s at least one dead one in there.

If you encounter an oyster that has an open shell, it’s best to discard it.

Choose a size that is appropriate to how you’re serving them.

For oysters that will be consumed raw, purchase the extra smalls. For oysters that will hit the heat of the grill, purchase smalls or mediums. While large oysters can be grilled, the size of the meat can be off-putting to some.

Shucking oysters

Rinse any residual mud from oysters with cold, running water.

Place the oyster on a double folded kitchen towel on the countertop with the cupped side of the oyster down on the towel and the flat shell facing up.

The point or “hinge” of the oyster should be facing you.

Fold the top of the towel up over the front of the oyster and secure with your hand to stabilize it.

This puts your hand above the oyster and not in the direct path of the oyster knife. Puncture wounds can put the kibosh on a perfectly good barbecue.

Place the tip of your oyster knife into the hinge at around a 45 degree angle and with light pressure and a slight wiggling motion, pierce the hinge muscle.

You’ll feel the knife slide into the muscle when pierced.

It may take a little practice to find the proper angle, but after your first dozen, you’ll be a pro.

Once you’ve pierced the hinge, twist the knife to separate the hinge muscle and to gain access to the underside of the top shell.

Keep the tip of the knife in the hinge and rotate your knife around to the right hand side of the oyster, angle the front edge slightly up against the top shell and push the knife forward, scraping along the top shell to sever the top adductor muscle located about two-thirds of the way lengthwise from the hinge and on the right hand side. This will allow you to remove the top shell.

If serving the oyster raw, you can slide your knife under the oyster meat at the front of the oyster (opposite the hinge) and sever the lower adductor muscle located in the same place as the top muscle, but underneath.

Now the oyster can be slurped right out of the shell. When the oyster is grilled, this muscle softens and this step can be skipped.

Grilling oysters

Light charcoal or preheat gas grill. Warm your sauces up and gather some tablespoons or small ladles.

Shuck the oysters, discarding the top shell and leaving the oyster in the bottom shell. rrange onto a sheet pan or plate. Tip: Place a layer of rock salt on plate to help to stabilize the oysters.

Place oysters on the grill over medium heat. Tip: It’s a good idea to wear glasses or protective eye wear when grilling oysters.

Avoid hottest sections of grill so that water pockets in the shell don’t rupture and “pop”.

Once the liquid in the oyster begins to boil, the oyster will be cooked through. Move back onto your plate or sheet pan and apply the sauces.

Tip: Do not apply the sauces when on the grill. Any spilled butter will cause flare ups and make the oyster shells “pop” like it’s the 4th of July, sending flying oyster shrapnel in various directions including all over your oyster.

Garlic Butter

Makes about 1/2 cup

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a small pot and place over low heat. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes and remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Place garlic butter in blender and puree.

Louisiana Hot Sauce

Makes about 2 cups

1/4 cup yellow onion, minced

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

1 cup Louisiana-style hot sauce

1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted Butter, cut into small pieces and refrigerated

1/2 teaspoon salt

Sweat onion and garlic in a saucepan with a small piece of the butter until translucent.

Add hot sauce, Worcestershire, garlic powder and onion powder to pot and bring to a simmer then remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Place sauce in blender with cold butter and puree.

Grilled Mexican Corn

Makes 4 servings

4 ears sweet white or yellow corn, in husk

2 ounces Mexican crema or sour cream

2 ounces Mexican Hot Sauce such as Valentina or Tapatio

2 ounces cotija Cheese, crumbled

- Tajin (Mexican Chile Salt)

- Cilantro leaves for garnish

Light or preheat your gas grill to medium high.

Pull back the husk leaving it attached at the base of the corn. Remove and discard the corn silk and push the husk back up over the corn.

Place the corn on the grill, turning every few minutes to keep the husks from catching fire.

Grill for approximately 10 minutes or until the corn is heated through.

Remove from the grill and using some kitchen towels, peel the husks back and place the corn back on the grill to char the corn kernels slightly.

Season the corn liberally with Tajin, drizzle with crema and hot sauce, scatter the cotija and cilantro leaves.

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