Oysters

[Carlisle Blues]

So did I!!! When I was a little boy I had a pet oyster......until my sister got hungry. :cry:




She had a pet guinea pig..............

Are you talking about "Surf and Turf"?????[huh] [huh]

 

[rkwilker]

I like mine raw or steamed with Texas Pete....hold the cracker.

 

[LocktownDog]

I still love them this way but a few years ago I lived on the Oregon coast and started to eat them fresh and raw with a squeeze of fresh lemon and I also love them roasted in the shell on the barbi with a squeeze of fresh lemon, melted butter and Tabasco.

Brooksie

Miss Brooksie,
If you haven't done so yet, head over to Camp 18 (just east of Seaside). Best breakfast ever! Fried oysters served on the same huge cast iron skillet as potatoes and eggs. You'll be happy and fat for days. :eusa_clap

 

[John in Covina]

I started off in my teens on Long Island eating the clams, mostly Little Necks and Topnecks, but had not really tried oysters. I did get to try Oysters Rockefeller (with the spinich a friend called them Oysters Popeye!) and liked them alot. Some years later I am at the Steak House at Circus Circus having a sumptuous meal starting with a top notch BIG shrimp cocktail when my friend Steve asked if I'd like an oyster from his appetizer set. I tried the raw oyster with a tad of the horseradish coctail sauce and a squeeze of lemon - WOW! They were so good I ordered oysters right then and there to have more -it was the crack cocaine of shellfish! And I was hooked.

A bit of a drive from Covina down in the town of Brea is a fine brewpub called Taps! which always has some superb brews flowing. The other side is a nice restaurant with a spotlight on fish and a New Orleans twist. They have usually about 6 to 10 different oysters available for raw consumption. The menu describes the type of oyster, where it is raised and a flavor profile along with suggestions for pariing with adult beverages.

It's been a while since I have had any, maybe we need to take a little spin down that way.

One thing is that when they realized how they could raise oysters in cooler waters it opened up more types and a greater year round supply.

 

[Spitfire]

Like how you got hooked on oysters, John. Great story!

 

[Brooksie]

Miss Brooksie,
If you haven't done so yet, head over to Camp 18 (just east of Seaside). Best breakfast ever! Fried oysters served on the same huge cast iron skillet as potatoes and eggs. You'll be happy and fat for days. :eusa_clap

My mom and I had breakfest there many moons ago and I have not been back because I don't usually head over to the coast the Seaside way I head out on HWY 6 the Tillamook way because the folks live 15 miles south of Tilly.

Brooksie

 

[John in Covina]

Like how you got hooked on oysters, John. Great story!

**********
Similarly When visiting Denmark in the mid 1970's a few days stay with my Uncle & Aunt place Ronnede Kro. (They were up to a short time ago the owner operators of Ronnede Kro it was in my uncle's family a long time.) As a teen I got to try their pickled herring, that was so good words cannot express the desire to have more of that. (My mouth just watered!) Amongst some of the finest cooking (extraordinary) that my relatives did during that trip, the pickled herring was definately a highlight.

Back to oysters, I like to have the unoaked non-buttery (steel tank) chardonnay with oysters although Guiness is good too.

 

[Ethan Bentley]

I have never had Oysters, the closest I have got is clam chowder (which is really rather the same).

The worry is about being ill from eating them. Does anyone have any tips for a newbie? I'd appreciate it.

Thanks - EB

 

[Inusuit]

Dang it! This is one of the few times I really, really regret being 1200 miles from an ocean. I love oysters served about any way, but especially raw. Hard to come by in Cheyenne. Best I've had was a little place in Everett, Washington, although a raw bar in DuPont Circle came close.

 

[John in Covina]

I have never had Oysters, the closest I have got is clam chowder (which is really rather the same).

The worry is about being ill from eating them. Does anyone have any tips for a newbie? I'd appreciate it.

Thanks - EB

*****************
It is and was that the summer months when the water got too warm the oysters in the US were considered a dicey proposition. Never eat oysters in a month with out an "R" in them! (May June July and August) It has also more to do with the spawning season. Oyster are being raised in colder waters so they are available in the non-r months. Oysters are filter feeders and can collect bacteria and diseases in them so where they may be caught or farmed is carefully regulated. Buying thru a good fish monger should guarentee regulated oysters not illegal ones. Oysters need to be alive when eaten raw or cooked and in good condition. They should smell "clean" but I cannot recall the 'how to' stuff on checking freshness right now. Check wikipedia maybe.

 

[John in Covina]

Clams and oysters are similar as shellfish but are different as day from night in the eating side.

 

[Warbaby]

The correct pronounciation is, of course, "Ersters".

 

[Brooksie]

The correct pronounciation is, of course, "Ersters".

Yep! Thats how my dad says it.

Brooksie

 

[Spitfire]

*****************
It is and was that the summer months when the water got too warm the oysters in the US were considered a dicey proposition. Never eat oysters in a month with out an "R" in them! (May June July and August) It has also more to do with the spawning season. Oyster are being raised in colder waters so they are available in the non-r months. Oysters are filter feeders and can collect bacteria and diseases in them so where they may be caught or farmed is carefully regulated. Buying thru a good fish monger should guarentee regulated oysters not illegal ones. Oysters need to be alive when eaten raw or cooked and in good condition. They should smell "clean" but I cannot recall the 'how to' stuff on checking freshness right now. Check wikipedia maybe.

Ah - the mysterious sexlife of oysters!
(Finally a good reason to talk sex in FL )

The thing with the month with the R in it has - to my knowledge - something to do with the change of sex that every oysters does every year. In the months where the water is warmer they turn into females - and gets slightly "fat" (so sorry ladies, no pun intended).
You can easily eat oysters in july - they just taste slightly "fat and richer". it has nothing to do with bacteria or "bad" oysters.
You can get a bad oyster all year round - but don't let that scare you away Ethan Bentley. Do you drive a car? If yes - how many times have you been in crashes?
Statiscally I should have had at least 6 bad oysters with the amount I have been eating. Haven't had any uptill now.(Touch wood)... So just enjoy.

 

[LordBest]

I have taken live oysters on long distance plane trips, actually. The delightful little things survive for weeks if left in their shells, allowing fresh oysters at ones leisure. The downside of this is having to shuck the blighters yourself, which can be something of a trial.

 

[Lone_Ranger]

There's a great seafood restaurant across the street from the International Spy Museum, in DC, that has a great selection. The name escapes me at the moment. I believe there is also a Legal's, at Regan National Airport.

A looooong time ago, there was a great place along the River walk, in San Antonio, TX.

 

[John in Covina]

On the East Coast & Gulf Coast the bacteria level in the water rises as the water gets warm during the summer months. And the water does get very warm.

 

[Spitfire]

Wasn't thinking about that John. Of course you are right there.
I was thinking French oysters and the Atlantic ocean/The Channel. (Where Ethan B. lives)
There is - obviously - a great difference.

In the meantime - here's one for you John:

Hope you get the opportunity to taste it again.

 

[John in Covina]

In the meantime - here's one for you John:

Hope you get the opportunity to taste it again.

****
Oh That's good stuff!

 

[John in Covina]

The Gulf Stream ocean water off of Jones Beach and Fire Island areas would reach the high 70's (F) by the end of the summer with bays and inlets being warmer. I think the Gulf of Mexico will get into the 80's during the summer, it's that heat that give energy to the hurricanes.

That's why they have been farming oysters in cooler waters like those of the west coast where the current comes down from the Arctic. It makes for a better selection even during the summer months over here.