National Oyster Day is August 5. These are Baja beach-shack oysters, cooked hard and fast over live fire.

The SoCal Cremosa Fuego goes into a compound butter that melts down into the oyster liquor, the briny juice in the shell, and turns into a bubbling, smoky, creamy-hot sauce by the time the edges of the oysters curl. Cotija, cilantro, a squeeze of lime, done in under half an hour.

Ingredients

Cremosa Fuego butter

• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons SoCal Cremosa Fuego
• 2 cloves garlic, finely grated
• Zest of 1 lime, plus 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ⅓ cup finely grated Parmesan

Oysters

• 12 large fresh oysters, shucked on the half shell
• ¼ cup cotija, crumbled
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• Lime wedges, for serving
• Rock salt or crumpled foil, to steady the shells
• Extra SoCal Cremosa Fuego, for the table

Directions

1. Heat the grill to high direct heat, about 500°F. Scrape and oil the grates.
2. Mash the softened butter with the Cremosa Fuego, garlic, lime zest and juice, smoked paprika, and Parmesan until it is one smooth, pale-orange compound butter. Leave it at room temperature so it stays spoonable.
3. Open the oysters, keeping as much of the liquor in the shell as you can, and run your knife under each one to free it from the muscle so it lifts out clean at the table. Steady them on a sheet pan of rock salt or crumpled foil.
4. Spoon about 1½ teaspoons of the Fuego butter onto each oyster, right on top.
5. Set the oysters shell-down directly on the grates. Cook 4 to 6 minutes, no flipping, until the butter is bubbling hard and the edges of the oysters just curl. Close the lid for the last minute to pick up a little smoke.
6. Pull them off with tongs. Hit each one with crumbled cotija, chopped cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. Serve hot, with the bottle of Cremosa Fuego on the table.

Tips

Buy them the same day. Ask the fish counter to shuck them for you the morning of, and keep them flat and cold on ice so you do not lose the liquor.

No grill? Run them under a broiler on the top rack for 4 to 5 minutes. Same bubbling butter, same curl.

Make the butter ahead. It keeps a week in the fridge and a month in the freezer, and it is just as good melting over grilled corn, shrimp, or a ribeye.

Do not overcook. The second the edges ruffle, they are done. Oysters go rubbery fast.