Oysters Kilpatrick

I made Oysters Kilpatrick recently because I thought they might make a nice Irish-themed edition of  Name Plates  for St Patrick’s Day.  I should have probably done some research before cooking them because, despite their Irish-sounding name, Oysters Kikpatrick are not Irish!  And they may actually not even be called Oysters Kilpatrick!

So, if they are not Irish, where are they from? These yummy bites of seafood heaven were created by the chef of the Palm Court Restaurant in San Francisco’s Place Hotel, Ernest Arbogast.  He named the dish after Colonel John C. Kirkpatrick, who managed the hotel from 1894 to 1914.  Kirkpatrick was also not Irish coming from American and Scottish stock.

Oh, and yes, you read that correctly.  Oysters Kilpatrick is named after John Kirkpatrick.  How and why the change to Kilpatrick came about seems to be lost in history.  Also, there are plenty of places that call the dish Oysters Kirkpatrick.  Initially, I thought there might be variations due to geography but I found two restaurants in the same city serving them but one was Kirk and one was Kil…

Just to further confuse the issue there are several sites on the interwebs that call this an Australian recipe!!!

Seriously, is this the most confounding recipe ever?  First, they’re not Irish, second, it has two names! What is going on?  Choose a lane, Oysters Kilpatrick!

Oysters Kilpatrick – The Recipe

If the name is confusing then the ingredients also seem to change at will – oysters, bacon and Worchestershire sauce are the mainstays but to these can be added:

• • Balsamic Vinegar
  • Barbecue sauce
  • Chorizo instead of bacon, shallots and Brandy (Ooh, la la..so.fancy!)
  • Tomato Ketchup (I do NOT endorse this!)
  • Cheese  (Errgghhh…as much as I usually love cheese that one can go get shucked!)

I used Matt Preston’s recipe which contains Soy Sauce which is also not a conventional addition to Oysters Kilpatrick.  However,  seeing as everything else is confusing about this recipe…why the shell not?   It was an absolute pearl of a recipe!

Have a great week my friends!  And if you make these Oysters Kilpatrick, make sure you share them around.  You don’t want anyone to think you are shellfish!

And tell me – what’s your preferred name?  Kilpatrick or Kirkpatrick?