These are a family tradition, eaten only at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's a pretty basic recipe, handed down to me by my grandmother Audrey.

Ingredients

• (6) 8 oz cans of oysters - NOT smoked oysters!
• (2) sticks of butter
• (5) cups milk - whole milk is best, skim milk does not work
• (5) tablespoons white flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• (2) sleeves of Ritz crackers
• Dash black pepper

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350 F
• Drain and rinse oysters
• Place oysters in a rectangular Pyrex dish (9" x 13" I think)
• Melt 1 stick of butter
• Crush crackers into a bowl (keep them in the sleeve for reduced mess)
• Stir melted butter into cracker crumbs, mixing completely
• Mix flour, salt and pepper in a small bowl

Make a white sauce

• Melt 5 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium heat (not too hot!)
• Slowly stir in flour, salt and pepper mixture
• Add milk all at once
• Continually stir over medium heat until thick and bubbly - do NOT boil or burn! This step always takes me longer than I think it will - probably about 20-30 minutes...
• Cook and stir 1 minute more

Final assembly and cooking

• Pour white sauce over oysters
• Spread cracker crumbs over oysters evenly
• Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes

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