oysters anonymous
When you find people who share your same interests, things can get dangerous. A shared passion quickly becomes a relationship of enabling. One feels pressed to go all out. Whether it’s eating two dozen oysters in front of Jane on your birthday, drunk texting with Nina about oyster cravings (and fiendishly seeking out $1 oyster happy hours), or challenging your east coast boss who you just met to an oyster-eating contest, my behavior as of late has been symptomatic of a penchant, an obsession even, for consuming those salty creamy bivalves. And I know plenty of people who feel (almost) as strongly. One afternoon I paid a visit to my old ‘hood, on the other side of the bay, specifically Gina and Aaron’s house. G and I popped by Tokyo Fish Market, a first for me.
While Gina perused the raw fish section, picking out some fine cuts of hamachi, tuna and hirame for us to nosh on, I surveyed the oyster selection. I opted for a dozen Drakes Bay, a dozen Miyagi and a dozen Chatham, an east coast oyster, just to mix it up a bit. The Chatham oysters were just so sweet and creamy — my favorite of the bunch!
[top to bottom: chatham, miyagi, drakes bay]
Aaron gave Gina and I a little impromptu lesson on how to shuck oysters.
1. Stick the oyster shucking knife into the joint, the part that keeps the oyster together. Wiggle the knife around until you pierce through the joint.
2. Twist the knife back and forth once you’ve penetrated the joint to separate the two shells.
3. Once you’ve successively wedged the two shells apart, use the knife to separate the “feet” from the top and bottom of the oyster meat by running the knife between the meat and the shell that’s stuck to it, on both the top and bottom.
Then you’re pretty much done. We sampled our oysters will all types of dressings. We of course had the standard fare on hand – slices of lemon and a mignonette made of champagne vinegar and shallots.
And some smoked salt — it was wild.
Aaron even dappled with some of the chilis he had on hand.
Naturlich we punctuated this feast of bivalves with some freshly cut sashimi. Sometimes you just need some starch (a bowl of rice) to cut all the delicious raw seafood you’re consuming.
The ultimate: a Chatham oyster with wasabi tobiko and cream!
T’was truly a massacre.
The night only degenerated from there. After feasting on three dozen oysters, two bottles of sparkling wine, and some eps of Heston Blumenthal and Rick Bayless, Aaron busted out some foie gras that’d been in their freezer for god knows how long. He lightly seared it and then used the cooking oil to make some — you guessed it — foie gras popcorn! Stinky.
) or in a simple taco or burrito. When you’ve put in that much work (if you could even call it that), why not just serve them in a really plain fashion? Showcase the meat — that’s the whole point anyway.
