Man he could whip up some fried catfish and hush puppies like NOBODY’S business! And when there was a slight chill in the air, we came home to Oyster Stew.

Oysters. Funny, how a slimy little thing that I refused to eat for like ten thousand years can bring back so many good memories.

Two of mama’s best friends were Jake and Ruby Bedenbaugh. They lived about three minutes down the road from our house if that. Miss Ruby took mama to the grocery store and to the “beauty shop” to get her hair “fixed”. Yep, I’m giggling right now even typing that sentence.

While mama’s hair was being “fixed”, I would run down to the Dime Store and load up on candy and Barbie accessories. Sometimes mama’s hair “fixer”, Mr. Wyman of Wyman’s Stylon (pronounced STY’-lon in perfect Southern”ese”) would even “fix” my Barbie’s hair. I digress.

After the grocery store, and the Beauty Shop, we would go back to Miss Ruby’s house for some of Mr. Jake’s home cookin’. Man he could whip up some fried catfish and hush puppies like NOBODY’S business! And when there was a slight chill in the air, we came home to Oyster Stew. Such a simple recipe, but one that warms up chilled bones like no other.

For years I would forgo the actual creature in the stew and just add ketchup and crackers. No comments from the peanut gallery please. 😉 Now, I slurp them down with the best of them. I think my record is a dozen raw in under 30 seconds.

I never thought of Oyster Stew as a comfort food, but with the flood of memories this brings back, it really is comfort in the truest sense of the word.

Old Fashioned Oyster Stew

• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 3/4 lb. to 1 lb. fresh, raw oysters
• 1 qt. half & half
• 1/8 tsp. Cayenne
• 1/8 tsp. Nutmeg
• hot sauce
• salt & pepper to taste

      

Directions

Saute onions in butter until tender. Add remaining ingredients and cook over low heat until stew is hot and oysters begin to curl around the edges. Serve with oyster crackers and hot sauce if desired.

Life is too short to eat ugly food y’all.