I hesitate to call this a true Oyster Poorboy because the oysters aren’t deep fried or rolled in cornmeal or any of that other stuff. Plus I make it using oysters from a can. It’s more like an oyster sandwich. I find that it tastes really good though, and I can do with the flour-only coating. Depending on where you live, you are probably able to get oysters that are better tasting, fresher, and cheaper, but for me the can is the only easy way to go. I think they may come in jar too. By the way, oysters are a pretty much self-sustainable, non-polluting form of aqua-culture. I believe it’s one of the few like that. So you can eat your oyster sandwich and feel good about the environment… well, maybe.

Homemade Oyster Poorboy

Can of Oysters (1 small can) — $2.50
French Bread (1 small loaf) — $0.25
Mayo (1-2 tbsp of $2.00 jar) — $0.08
Parsley (1/4 cup chopped from $0.69 bunch) — $0.06
Flour (1/4 cup from $1.50 bag) — $0.03
Corn Oil (2 tbsp from $2.00 bottle) — $0.05
Salt / pepper — negligible

Total: $2.97

Chop parsley fine. Mix in small bowl with mayonnaise, add a bit of salt if you like. Drain the oysters from the can (save the oyster liqueur if you want). In a ziploc bag put in the flour, salt, pepper. Dump the oysters in there, seal and shake a bit. Heat oil in a nonstick pan. In meantime, put cut a pocket in the french bread and toast it if you like. When oil is hot, fry oysters until golden brown. Dry them on paper towel lined plate. Spread some mayo mixture on bread and shove as many oysters as you can in there. Sandwich is done.

I believe you can also use cornmeal in the similar manner, for a more authentic poorboy. Please note, this is truly a poorman’s poorboy… I really have no idea what I’m doing; it’s just a fried oyster sandwich but it tastes good enough to me.

I barely made this under $3.00 but your price will vary, probably on the higher side. You can usually get small french bread loaves in the supermarket somewhere. The price of the can of oysters is pretty much everything which is why I can’t give this that high of a Cheap Eats score. But everything besides the bread is something you might have in the pantry (this is where it’s nice to have CANNED oysters). Also, you’ll probably pay between 8 to 11 dollars for one of these in the restaurant and it won’t have as many oysters in it!

You can add stuff to the mayo, like chopped green olives, to make it like tartar sauce almost. Or use tartar sauce. Also, might want to consider adding cayenne pepper to the flour for an extra kick. Haha, yeah, kick it up a notch like Emeril…

Cheap Eats Score: 7/10