Batty for bivalves? Raw bars, happy hours make the world your oyster
“You notice it by the number of oysters you go through,” says chef Michael Scelfo of Russell House Tavern in Cambridge, Mass., where it’s not uncommon for late-night diners to take advantage of the $1-an-oyster happy hour and engage in friendly competitions to see who can slurp down the most.
Oysters make a great late-night snack, says Scelfo. “They’re fast; they’re cold; they go great with beer; they go great with wine or a craft cocktail.” And let’s not forget that whole alleged aphrodisiac thing. “There’s just kind of this air of mystery to oysters, which is just cool,” he says.
Interest in oysters seems to dovetail with two food trends. One is the move toward adventurous eating — tongue, anyone? The other is the general interest in getting the back story on foods and searching out different varieties — think heirloom tomatoes. True oyster fans know their Belons from their Beausoleils and talk like wine tasters about things like hints of melon and clean finishes.
“It’s part of the new interest in foods that are authentic and deeply connect to place. Oysters are the opposite of supermarket food,” says Rowan Jacobsen, author of “A Geography of Oysters: The Connoisseur’s Guide to Oyster Eating in North America.”
Chef Parke Ulrich of the Waterbar restaurant in San Francisco, which recently served its one millionth oyster, offers 20 varieties of oysters, including Cove Miyagi, farmed by Scott Zahl of Cove Mussel Co. in Marshall, Calif. Zahl, who has a day job, leaves coolers of oysters on Ulrich’s back porch and the chef brings them into work.
Knowing the origin of an oyster “really creates a sense of place,” says Ulrich, who refers to oyster environments as “merroir,” a play on the French wine-growing term of “terroir.” So, an Olympia, from South Puget Sound in Washington state, is “metallic and mineral-y” while a Beausoleil, from New Brunswick, Canada, is “very briny and clean.”
Waterbar takes a liberal interpretation of happy hour, featuring one variety at $1 apiece from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
When eating an oyster, some customers will say they’re reminded of playing in waves when they were kids. “It takes them back to those memories of their childhood or growing up or special moments. I think it’s pretty special,” he says.
Oysters still are a niche market. A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report based on 2009 figures ranked shrimp as the No. 1 seafood of choice in the United States.
What’s changed has been the growing popularity of raw oysters as opposed to the old model, where oysters were generally shucked on site and packaged for consumption, says Margaret Pilaro Barrette, executive director of the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association, based in Olympia.
“In the last six years or so there’s been this renaissance of, ‘Let’s enjoy this oyster as it comes out of the shell,’” she says. “A lot of raw bars have opened up, providing the consumer with an opportunity to taste raw oysters from different parts of the country.”
More information about the oyster
A group of oysters is commonly called a bed or oyster reef.
The largest oyster-producing body of water is located in Chesapeake Bay, although these beds are starting to decrease in number due to overfishing and pollution. Large beds of edible oysters are also found in Japan and Australia.
As a keystone species, oysters provide habitat for many marine species. Crassostrea and Saccostrea live mainly in the intertidal zone, while Ostrea are subtidal. The hard surfaces of oyster shells and the nooks between the shells provide places where a host of small animals can live. Hundreds of animals such as sea anemones, barnacles, and hooked mussels inhabit oyster reefs. Many of these animals are prey to larger animals, including fish such as striped bass, black drum and croakers.
An oyster reef can increase the surface area of a flat bottom 50-fold. An oyster’s mature shape often depends on the type of bottom to which it is originally attached, but it always orients itself with its outer, flared shell tilted upward. One valve is cupped and the other is flat.
Oysters usually reach maturity in one year. They are protandric; during their first year they spawn as males by releasing sperm into the water. As they grow over the next two or three years and develop greater energy reserves, they spawn as females by releasing eggs. Bay oysters usually spawn by the end of June. An increase in water temperature prompts a few oysters to spawn. This triggers spawning in the rest, clouding the water with millions of eggs and sperm. A single female oyster can produce up to 100 million eggs annually. The eggs become fertilized in the water and develop into larvae, which eventually find suitable sites, such as another oyster’s shell, on which to settle. Attached oyster larvae are called spat. Spat are oysters less than 25 millimetres (0.98 in) long. Many species of bivalve, oysters included, seem to be stimulated to settle near adult conspecifics.
Some tropical oysters in the family Isognomonidae grow best on mangrove roots. Low tide can expose them, making them easy to collect. In Trinidad in the West Indies, tourists are often astounded when they are told that in the Caribbean, “oysters grow on trees”.
Common oyster predators include crabs, sea birds, sea stars, and humans. Some oysters contain live crabs, known as oyster crabs.
Fish & Seafood with Bill & Sheila
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