Gul-gratin (Oyster Gratin in the Shell) · Chae Nak-yeong

Rinse the 9 oysters, then shuck them: separate each oyster from its shell and set both aside.

💡 Work the knife in at the hinge, not the lip, and twist rather than lever. Hold the shell in a folded tea towel — the edges are genuinely sharp and this is where people get hurt.

Wash the 9 shells thoroughly and set them out on a tray — his own prep note. They are the vessel the gratin bakes in.

Pat the oysters completely dry with kitchen paper.

💡 Oysters are full of water and the flour will slide straight off a wet one. Dry them well or step 5 gives you a grey, poached oyster instead of a browned one.

Dust each oyster with buchimgaru on both sides.

Heat a little olive oil in a preheated pan and fry the floured oysters briefly, just until the outsides are golden.

💡 'Briefly' is his word and he means it. The oysters have 10 minutes in the air fryer still to come — cook them through now and they will be rubber by the time they reach the table.

Set each browned oyster back into one of the washed shells.

In a preheated pan, melt 1 tbsp of butter with a little olive oil, then add ½ tbsp minced garlic and 1 tbsp minced red onion and fry them.

Once the red onion has turned translucent, pour in 200 ml of cream, add a little lemon juice and the 3 cheddar slices, and simmer on low until it is thick and clinging — his own word is 꾸덕꾸덕.

💡 Low heat, and keep stirring. Cheddar is a melting cheese, not a sauce cheese — rush it over high heat and the fat splits out and you get an oily film instead of a cream.

Add the lemon juice last if you can — a squeeze into hot cream can curdle it, and it only needs to be there at the end.

💡 His text lists the lemon with the cream and cheese, so this ordering is ours, not his. If yours does split, a splash of cold cream whisked in hard will usually bring it back.

Spoon the finished sauce generously over each oyster in its shell — he says 듬뿍, so cover it completely.

Pile breadcrumbs generously over the sauce so the top is entirely covered.

Air-fry at 190°C for 10 minutes — his figure — until the crumb is deep gold. His own note: times vary with the machine.

💡 Check at 7 minutes on your first go. Breadcrumbs sit right next to the element in an air fryer and go from pale to burnt in under a minute — his own note about machines varying is the honest warning here.

Lift the shells out with tongs and serve straight away, on rock salt or crumpled foil so they sit level.