Oysters Zott from Lessons in Chemistry

When I began to cook through of the recipes from Lessons in Chemistry, I knew that the one recipe that would be the most complicated to do was Oysters Zott. This is Elizabeth Zott’s take on Oysters Rockefeller, which are fresh oysters on the half-shell that are topped with breadcrumbs, herbs and butter, then broiled, and come from New Orleans. They’re an impressive, if expensive, appetizer.

Zott makes them on Supper at Six in episode six of Chemistry. She is forced to promote Swift & Crisp, a fictional vegetable shortening she privately decries as deeply unhealthy, when preparing the oysters on the show after her boss leverages the crew’s salaries.

Tonight's show will begin a little differently than what you're used to. I am announcing a new relationship with our partners at Swift & Crisp. America's number one choice in shortening, and mine.

To kick things off, I will be making Oysters Zott. My spin on Oysters Rockefeller prepared with my one and only better baking secret weapon, Swift & Crisp.

[montage of making the oysters]

And that is Oysters Zott. [applause]

-Elizabeth Zott

She later admits to her producer Walter that reading the sponsor’s message with a straight face was excruciating. Having taken the lesser of two evils, Zott says it is still evil. She later outsmarts her boss by announcing her participation in the anti-freeway protest on-air and paying the crew’s salaries herself over the course of the show’s suspension. In the final episode of the show, Zott denounces Swift & Crisp, who ended their sponsorship, while announcing her exit on-air.

Luckily, the real world recipe for Oysters Zott uses butter rather than shortening, and not nearly as much as Zott appeared to use on the show. What made it the most complicated of the Chemistry dishes is that I live in an area where seafood is imported, often frozen, and has to be cooked the same day you buy it to be truly enjoyed. I knew my mother and I would like the oysters, but we needed more people to eat them with us, and help us shuck them since no fishmonger we contacted would do that for us.

Last summer, I went on a walk with my cousin and we ended up at her place, where I proposed making oysters with her and her husband. She dislikes seafood, but he, being of Portuguese descent, loves it and was eager to try them. Hence, we planned a dinner around the oysters. The day of the meal, my mother and I went shopping and we bought a dozen oysters. The recipe makes two dozen, but we weren’t going to eat that much between the four of us, so I made the same quantity of topping.

Said topping includes a clove of garlic, chopped spinach and Italian parsley (always flat leaf, never curly), salt, pepper, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and lemon juice, with more lemon and hot sauce for serving. Notably, the recipe says to use panko breadcrumbs, and in the show that's what Zott used as well, but in the Cast Chemistry in the Kitchen video, Courtney McBroom used oyster crackers. Where I come from, those are not readily accessible, so it makes sense why the recipe said to use panko. Use whichever you’ve got wherever you are.

None of us had ever shucked an oyster before, but with the help of a tutorial from America’s Test Kitchen on YouTube, my cousin-in-law quickly picked it up. I even shucked one, having trouble getting the knife into it. The oysters gave off their nautical scent as soon as the shells were off, whereas they were not very fragrant before. We cooked them as the recipe instructed, but two minutes short of the twelve it requested. Also, the recipe tells you to put them on a bed of rock salt. That’s not available for a cheap price, so we opted for the much more economical crumpled foil method, which works just as well.

Upon opening the oven door, a plume of smoke burst out, having ignited for some reason, but the oysters hadn’t burned. Our guess was correct; they were cooked after ten minutes, and we enjoyed them as part of our first course. To make a meal of them, we paired the oysters with a recipe for white bean salad on toast.

Satisfied that the part of the meal I was most excited for went off well, I went onto the porch outside to help grill steaks for the main course. Those were enjoyed with butterflied shrimp, creamy Parmigiano orzo and a green salad with apples. Dessert included strawberries and an apple sour cream cake my mother baked for the evening.

The cynic in me, which I’m actively working on, made me think something could go wrong with the dish, there wouldn’t be oysters available on the day of the dinner, or my relatives would cancel last minute for some reason. All of these concerns surfaced in the days leading up to the dinner, but proved ultimately unfounded. I was able to make the oysters as planned, and even if I hadn’t, we still enjoyed a fantastic meal with close family and discussed trips planned for the future.

If you want to make this recipe yourself, you can get it on the official website here. You can also watch Aja Naomi King (Harriet Sloane) and Patrick Walker (Rev. Curtis Wakely) make the oysters with Courtney McBroom here. This is the white bean salad recipe I used.

Images from Lessons in Chemistry are the property of Apple TV+. All other photographs are the property of Ate Bit Culinarian.