Hot food: Hot oysters

What are they?

Meet the winter oyster. Summer oysters are cold, freshly shucked and eaten in the sunshine but the brisk, cooler weather calls for oysters flash-cooked on smoky wood-fired grills, baked in ovens or gently poached; served plumped-up in their own briny juices. These are lighter, contemporary versions of ye olde oysters Kilpatrick (with bacon and Worcestershire) and mornay (with cheese sauce).

Where are they?

At Sydney's Ester, Mat Lindsay places rock oysters on a bed of rock salt inside the big wood-fired oven. "You have to keep an eye on them or they will overcook," he says. "You might see some moisture seeping out, that means they're done." He serves them with a brown rice vinaigrette with shallots and freshly grated horseradish. "All you taste is the oyster," Lindsay says.

Donovans, perched on Melbourne's St Kilda Beach, goes through up to three dozen hot oysters a day. Poached in white wine and champagne and served on buttery leeks with a light champagne cream, each oyster is topped with bowfin (Louisiana) caviar. "It's elegant, light, and celebratory," says co-head chef Adam Draper.

At Temporada in Canberra, head chef Chris Darragh throws Moonlight Flat or Narooma oysters on his ironbark-fuelled, Champion grill for 30 to 40 seconds until they pop open, then serves them with a simple shallot vinaigrette. "If you're by the ocean and you put oysters in the coals of your campfire, that's what it's like," he says.

Why do I care?

Because oysters are at their best in autumn and winter, not summer. And, because the shells open in the heat, you don't have to wrestle with an oyster knife.

Can I do them at home?

Yes, on the barbecue (lid down if it has one), or charcoal grill.

Hot oysters with chorizo vinaigrette

Serve on a bed of rock salt, seaweed or pebbles, to keep the oyster shells upright.

2 tbsp olive oil

2 fresh chorizo sausages

1-2 tbsp sherry or red wine vinegar

12 large, fresh, unopened oysters

1 lemon, cut into wedges

1. To make the vinaigrette, heat one teaspoon of olive oil in a non-stick pan. Skin the sausages and pinch the sausage meat into the pan. Fry for five minutes until crumbled and lightly golden. Remove from the heat, and add the remaining olive oil and vinegar. Gently toss, and transfer to a serving bowl.

2. Heat the barbecue to hot. Place the oysters on the grill and watch carefully for one minute, removing each one as soon as the top shell opens. If they haven't opened after 1½ minutes, remove and open with an oyster knife. Lift the flat top shell and use a small sharp knife to cut through the muscle attached to the oyster.

3. Top with the warm chorizo vinaigrette, add a wedge of lemon and serve hot.

Serves 4

SOURCING

NSW

Ester, 46-52 Meagher Street, Chippendale 02 8068 8279, ester-restaurant.com.au

VIC

Donovans, 40 Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda 03 9534 8221, donovanshouse.com.au

ACT

Temporada, 15 Moore Street, Canberra City 02 6249 6683, temporada.com.au