Oysters: The Topic

[Peter the eater]

please don't cook them.

←

yesssss! sacrilege sacrilege sacrilege!

i regularly eat 2 dozens fines de claires directly over the kitchen sink. tabasco, curly parsley, many slices of lime, and sparkling wine to wash everything down. just... heavenly!

←

For breakfast? That's hardcore. I'd just call in sick and stay in my pajamas all day if I did that.

I've never had one of those fancy green European oysters but when I do, it'll be raw. When oysters are plentiful and inexpensive, I can only handle so many raw. Next time I'd like to try and smoke a few.

[BonVivant]

fancy? really? sorry fines de claires are small but quite fleshy. sweet and exquisite. it's rather frustrating that i can't open them as fast as i can slurp. but then i pay a fraction for 2 dozens eating over the kitchen sink. (it was for lunch, yesterday.)

i've seen dried oysters in Canton and HK. smoking them sounds good, actually. do show us how you eat them, _visually_.

Edited March 15, 2009 by BonVivantNL (log)

[Darth Sushi]

Oyster Rockefeller dip. try it. it rocks.

Oyster Rockefeller Dip

[Dianabanana]

Mr. Dianabanana is on his way home from Seattle, having purchased two dozen oysters last night, and having forgotten to open the plastic bag they came in so they won't suffocate. At this point they have been in the bag (refrigerated, of course) for about 15 hours. I just talked to him and he is pulling over to open the bag now.

Should I bother to go shopping for an oyster-centered meal tonight? Or will they be D.O.A.?

[SauceRobert]

Mr. Dianabanana is on his way home from Seattle, having purchased two dozen oysters last night, and having forgotten to open the plastic bag they came in so they won't suffocate. At this point they have been in the bag (refrigerated, of course) for about 15 hours. I just talked to him and he is pulling over to open the bag now.

Should I bother to go shopping for an oyster-centered meal tonight? Or will they be D.O.A.?

←

While it is not a good idea to leave them in a sealed bag, they may still be alive, the only way to tell is to shuck one and smell it, if it smells like anything but the ocean or is completely dry it is dead... also if they are open and dont close on their own (which oysters only occasionally do) they are dead.

[Domestic Goddess]

I agree with SauceRobert. You need to shuck one and smell it. If it smells a bit off, then you have to discard it. Another sign is that their shells are a tad open, then they're dead. Although here in Korea, I've seen people buy up dead oysters (open a bit), cook them and show no sign of food poisoning of some sorts.

[Peter the eater]

I agree, if they stink or remain ajar I wouldn't eat them.

Are you making Oysters Diana?

[maggiethecat]

The smell is everything. If they smell off, toss them. If they smell fresh eat them up.

[Dianabanana]

Reporting back: They were perfectly fine and in fact I think this was the best way I've ever prepared them!

I made a batter of 3/4 c AP flour, 1 T baking powder, 5 oz water, and 1 T canola oil, then deep fried them and sprinkled them with Szechuan salt made by dry roasting 1 t ground Szechuan peppercorns with 2 t salt. Super light and crunchy and a really great combination of flavors.

Great idea, Peter, this will make an excellent starter for my egomaniacal dinner! I did get the idea from Eileen Yin-Fei Lo but I bastardized her recipe (it's supposed to have five-spice powder in it) so I think that's sufficient ground to attach my name to it, don't you?

[nickrey]

Try this Japanese style dressing for natural oysters in the shell:

Mirin based oyster sauce

½ cup mirin

1 tbsp teriyaki sauce

1 tsp wasabi

1 tsp cooking rice wine

1 tsp finely chopped ginger

Serve over natural oysters.

[Katie Meadow]

Probably not the kind of help you are looking for, as I like my oysters raw, but there is a restaurant between Dillon Beach and Bodega Bay just inland from the northern CA coast with the name of Rockers Oysterfeller. The food is decent but the name is cringeworthy. It's a lovely drive at dusk from Dillon Beach, very rural, and once in a while we see owls swooping down for their dinner. The restaurant replaced a very nostalgic Italian family style diner/ restaurant known for martinis and three-bean salad. Respectfully called DeNucci's. 

[AlaMoi]

oh, no!  not gonna' think about it!  our fridge freezer overfloweth and the chest freezer requires a computerized inventory . . .

 

one (sigh) day I should do the 'learn to shuck' thing.  our fish monger does 'dinner&education' events and we attended the oyster bash. 

the point was to demonstrate the differences between various oyster types . . . including ! differences in 'shucking same'

 

most offering were raw on the half-shell - and indeed fascinating , , , example:  oyster seed from the Chesapeake, sent to upper NE/Canada , , same oyster, different environmental conditions - noticeable taste differences . . . 

 

as soon as I learn to walk&prep 0-Rockefeller I may opt to refine my . . . whatever . . .

 

I grew up on the Delaware Bay, but cousins were on the Chesapeake side . . . they'd snag an oyster and within seconds, , , shucked and slurped it right on the row boat . . .  that's me in the back poling with the oar....

[Kim Shook]

On 2/28/2023 at 4:14 PM, AlaMoi said:

oh, no!  not gonna' think about it!  our fridge freezer overfloweth and the chest freezer requires a computerized inventory . . .

 

one (sigh) day I should do the 'learn to shuck' thing.  our fish monger does 'dinner&education' events and we attended the oyster bash. 

the point was to demonstrate the differences between various oyster types . . . including ! differences in 'shucking same'

 

most offering were raw on the half-shell - and indeed fascinating , , , example:  oyster seed from the Chesapeake, sent to upper NE/Canada , , same oyster, different environmental conditions - noticeable taste differences . . . 

 

as soon as I learn to walk&prep 0-Rockefeller I may opt to refine my . . . whatever . . .

 

I grew up on the Delaware Bay, but cousins were on the Chesapeake side . . . they'd snag an oyster and within seconds, , , shucked and slurped it right on the row boat . . .  that's me in the back poling with the oar....

Great picture!  I grew up going to the Eastern Shore of MD a LOT.  We vacationed in Ocean City and Rehoboth and when I was in HS we had a place on Chincoteague, home of some truly great oysters.  My mother's best friends family ran a seafood restaurant in DC back in the 1950s and had a home at Beverly Beach where they cooked crabs and oysters every weekend when I was a kid.  And, somehow, I never got the raw oyster bug.  I've tried them over and over again and, while I don't hate them, I don't really like them.  Fry them or grill them or put them in turkey stuffing and I'm all over them.  

[AlaMoi]

raw oysters is a bit like liver&onion.  there's people who do, and people who don't . . .

I was pleasantly surprised at the 'oyster event' (above) - the cold water oysters seem firmer, crisper and with a more pleasant saltiness.

the problem is memorizing all the different types so one knows what to prefer . . .

 

our church did a ham&oyster dinner fund raiser - we've moved since, so I had to 'recreate'....

corn breaded oysters, country ham, slaw and limas....

Edited March 2, 2023 by AlaMoi (log)

[Kim Shook]

5 hours ago, AlaMoi said:

raw oysters is a bit like liver&onion.  there's people who do, and people who don't . . .

I was pleasantly surprised at the 'oyster event' (above) - the cold water oysters seem firmer, crisper and with a more pleasant saltiness.

the problem is memorizing all the different types so one knows what to prefer . . .

 

our church did a ham&oyster dinner fund raiser - we've moved since, so I had to 'recreate'....

corn breaded oysters, country ham, slaw and limas....

Epic combination!  Salty ham and sweet oysters (I know that some are a little salty, but they are sweeter than country ham).  I do a small plate with fresh succotash, cornbread, country ham, crabmeat and jalapeno cream and it has that same profile - now I'm thinking of subbing little fried oysters for the lump crab!  

[AlaMoi]

given a pint of oysters , , , we did another ham&oyster dinner.

then finished them off with a lunch po-boy.

(there's shredded lettuce hiding underneath . . )

[Kim Shook]

On 3/17/2023 at 12:59 PM, AlaMoi said:

given a pint of oysters , , , we did another ham&oyster dinner.

then finished them off with a lunch po-boy.

(there's shredded lettuce hiding underneath . . )

Frying is my favorite oyster preparation of all!

[kayb]

Char-grilled for me. 
 

damn. Thinking about NOLA now.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

A show-stopping first course was an oyster tempura on a lightly curried cauliflower puree soup.   

[weinoo]

Gimme a dozen or two Wellfleets (or similar) an hour out of the tide, properly shucked,  maybe some mignonette and lemon, an icy Martini or crisp white, and I’m happy.

[lindag]

I'm not much for oysters but I'd go for that martini.

[weinoo]

10 minutes ago, lindag said:

I'm not much for oysters but I'd go for that martini.

 

Gin, I would hope.  Wet. Twist. Olives on the side.

[AlaMoi]

ooooooh, tempura vs flour&cornmeal breading sounds wonderful!  especially a po-boy.

I have a great tempura batter I use for shrimp - might need to thicken it a bit but ...

 

I dug out my grandfather's oyster knife - time to learn the art of the shuck.

our fish monger has ice beds of live oysters - so perfecting the DIY routine will allow me to buy the quantity I need for the current cravings without having to fit in 'use them up' dishes.  plus, sometimes the shucked pints are "short dated" - i.e. not a lot of time to use them . . . can't rely on having a week +/- to eat them up.  the last pint I bought were fairly small ones - 28 in the pint.

[MetsFan5]

On 3/19/2023 at 2:36 PM, weinoo said:

Gimme a dozen or two Wellfleets (or similar) an hour out of the tide, properly shucked,  maybe some mignonette and lemon, an icy Martini or crisp white, and I’m happy.

  Perfect meal for me but I prefer smaller, sweeter west coast oysters. 

[weinoo]

9 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

  Perfect meal for me but I prefer smaller, sweeter west coast oysters. 

 

I had these last night...

 

 

4 East Coast varieties - I wish I could remember all the varieties, but the 2 large ones on the right were Duxbury, which were briny.  But note the 4 on top - small and sweet. Probably Maine/Rhode Island.

 

At Gage & Tollner.