Oysters

[AzRaeL]

Top of my list of food that I am ashamed not to love.

Oysters.

I try to eat them to prove I'm cool and make like Cassanova but honestly, the taste is kinda icky. The texture..well i kinda swallow as fast as i can. The flavour is tolerable at best..makes me Gag usually.

Oysters...they're alright in a chowder. Only really good when smoked and served on a pizza.

What's it about Oysters that you people love so much? I wanna love it too. I just don't get it.

[Syrah]

I'm not sure. I like the creaminess of them and the taste which is hard to describe. I can't say why I like them aside from that. It was one of those things that I ate as a child because mum loved them..

[mrsadm]

Here is my erudite opinion: yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck.

[Radio7]

I love'em.

The taste of the sea, the slippery-ness of the meat. Cold and fresh, they make me think of the outdoors.

They are comforting, in a non-heavy kind of way.

Delicious.

[Oceangroveguy]

The taste of the sea, the slippery-ness of the meat. Cold and fresh, they make me think of the outdoors.

They are comforting, in a non-heavy kind of way.

Delicious.

What s/he said sez it all!!!

[marie-louise]

I love them BUT beware, their taste changes after a few hours out of the water. I used to drive by Hog Island Oyster Co. on the way home from my beach house. Their "store" is literally at water's edge-they fish them out of their holding tanks filled w/ the same water they grew in. We'd buy enough for a few days. While they were still very fresh the next day, and still good the second day, they weren't nearly as good as they were the same day they were harvested. I suspect most restaurants and fish stores are serving them a few days out of the water.

So... before you give up, try them right from the water.

[Kevin72]

To me they're almost as much, if not more, about the texture and temperature as they are about the flavor. Yes, there's the briny, mineral-y taste, (perfect with horseradish in my mind, I may be giving up any oyster credentials by admitting it) but there's also the creamy texture as Radio described, and ice cold sensation hitting your mouth. It's so primal and hedonistic all at once.

[RobStagis]

*grin* One of my favorite memories is hanging over the kitchen sink at the beach house with a buddy, beers on the counter, clam knives in our hands, opening and slurping cherrystone clams (OK - not oysters, but close enough). It's an acquired taste, but I'm glad I acquired it.

[Hest88]

You're not alone. I've been trying oysters for the last 15 years and I still don't like them---unless they're fried.

[hathor]

First off: if you don't like 'em...leave 'em alone, that way there will be more for me!

When they are good...its like you're a part of the sea and you can smell the ocean and all its goodness. Poetry.

[AzRaeL]

So... before you give up, try them right from the water.

←

You might be right. I shall endeavour to have them right from the water.

[ladyyoung98]

i love the flaovor of oyters in almost every way...but u could never get me to eat a raw one..its not exactly safe to do so anymore...not sure why..but then again having them raw just isnt my thinmg...i love them smoked and i love them fried and i love them in etouffe....love them in a chowder love them in paella..you do of course notice the common thread here....NONE OF THEM ARE RAW...... ...i love the flavor...what can i say....of course not to every bodys liking but hey...nobody is perfect.....

[Pan]

Cooked oysters are OK, though not my favorite type of seafood. But I've never liked raw oysters. I'm with mrsadm on this: Yuck!

[sassybat]

i used to only eat them fried. then my dad shucked some fresh ones, and made me try one. i thought, "ew, kinda slimy, but tastes mostly the same as fried." but as time goes by, i now prefer them raw. something about their fresh sea taste is addicting.

[Pan]

I can enjoy other things with some sea taste, like some seaweed and really fresh mussels (cooked), but raw oysters are nasty!

Hey, chacun 'a son gout!

[jayt90]

Smoked oysters are unbelievably gross, and a good waste of oyster meat, yet they do have that unmistakable flavour.

[tanabutler]

Adult content ahead:

Oysters are as close to the flavor of sex as it's possible to have without buying cheese. Perhaps closer, as they are actually alive.

They are hermaphroditic in this regard, and despite the chill of slurping them cold, briny, and straight from their shells, it is not possibly to have a more sexual gustatory experience—at least not in my book.

I'm not afraid of the microbes, either.

[kiliki]

I too thought oysters were "icky" when I first tried them, but then the oddest thing kept happening-I started craving them. So I'd order them a new way, and still would be a little grossed out, but sure enough, later on I'd crave them again. So gradually I acquired a taste for them-esp. the bbq'd oysters you find near Tomales Bay, CA, where I briefly lived. Still don't really relish them raw, though.

[Larry 1749]

They are the perferct food shooter. There is an oyster farm up the road form our cottage and we get them right out of the ocean. Try them with a squeeze of lemon and a shot of hot sauce.

[Jinmyo]

I can very rarely get oysters good enough to serve raw so far inland here in Ottawa. (Of course, there are restaurants and "oyster bars" here that do it anyway. But, well, you know...)

But when I can, it feels great.

They are so primordial.

One with crunchy grey salt. One with ancient shoyu and a few flakes of freshly shave bonito. One with lemon mayonnaise. One with a drop of trad balsmico and a bit of egg yolk. One with...

I'll sometimes used "eh, not so much" oysters from a monger I trust for a soup or for tempura.

Buit I don't think not so great oysters are great.

Great oysters are great.

[Kim WB]

oh, a spoiled nor'easter who strongly prefers them raw...with lemongrass vinagrette, with bottled cocktail sauce, or the best ....with a squeeze of lemon and lots of strong fresh cracked pepper.They're like liver or brown rice or real lamb...earthy, true, and pure.

Edited December 22, 2004 by Kim WB (log)

[francois]

I just love oysters. They are the essence of the sea, as Julia Child used to write.

I can understand that some people can get turned off by the way they look but I don't. I must admit that I first had them to impress my friends. At the time I had a few dry martinis...

After that I just did not mind their ooks. Actually, I rather like the way they look now. And their texture.

Still, oysters just go with falltime (or early winter) and a good bottle of white wine.

And yes, it is possible to get great oysters in the Ottawa region.

[The Hersch]

Oysters are as close to the flavor of sex as it's possible to have without buying cheese. Perhaps closer, as they are actually alive.

They are hermaphroditic in this regard, and despite the chill of slurping them cold, briny, and straight from their shells, it is not possibly to have a more sexual gustatory experience—at least not in my book.

←

I had to quote all of the above because I think it's among the smartest things I've ever read about oysters. "Perhaps closer, as they are actually alive"...yes, yes, yes!!! The sexiest way of eating oysters, to me, is to eat them in Paris, and with plenty of champagne too. The French unfortunately make the mistake of sauce mignonette, which is a terrible thing to put on an oyster. As someone else remarked, lemon juice and plenty of fresh pepper. Oysters are especially good when large, and plump, and briny, and followed by sole meuniere and a stroll in the 6th arrondissement.

[Oyster Guy]

Oysters are as close to the flavor of sex as it's possible to have without buying cheese. Perhaps closer, as they are actually alive.

They are hermaphroditic in this regard, and despite the chill of slurping them cold, briny, and straight from their shells, it is not possibly to have a more sexual gustatory experience—at least not in my book.

←

I had to quote all of the above because I think it's among the smartest things I've ever read about oysters. "Perhaps closer, as they are actually alive"...yes, yes, yes!!! The sexiest way of eating oysters, to me, is to eat them in Paris, and with plenty of champagne too. The French unfortunately make the mistake of sauce mignonette, which is a terrible thing to put on an oyster. As someone else remarked, lemon juice and plenty of fresh pepper. Oysters are especially good when large, and plump, and briny, and followed by sole meuniere and a stroll in the 6th arrondissement.

←

They are not, I repeat not alive when you eat them unless you are eating them without shucking them first.

This is a myth that should be put to rest once and for all.

However, I do agree with everything else being said in this quote.

As my oyster mentor once told me, "An oyster is like a French Kiss that goes all the way!"

The Oyster Guy

[KatieLoeb]

Nothing is more like a taste of the ocean on a beautiful summer day than a cold freshly shucked oyster. And the subtle differences in flavor between the species is something I am just really learning about at my new job. Recently tried Martha's Vineyard oysters and revisited Belons. Delicious and different. Belons more metallic and the Martha's Vineyards more "creamy". A visit to a well stocked and professionally run raw bar will make a huge difference for those of you that haven't really had a good fresh one before. I felt the same way the first time I tried uni at a sushi bar. I found it quite similar to waking up face down at the beach with high tide rolling in Then I tried good fresh uni that was well prepared by a master sushi chef. Now I love the stuff.

Managing an oyster house as I do, I've found that there's really no gray area where oysters are concerned. Either people love them or they simply don't eat them.

For what it's worth, one of the funniest things I ever heard about oysters was uttered by a clever friend of mine that said, "Why on earth would I want to eat that? It looks like it dropped out of a cow's nose!"