On Not Cooking

Am I allowed to post about something that I didn't prepare at all? I mean I did absolutely nothing to alter the state of the food. I brought it, or rather them, home, cracked them open and ate them. Raw. Practically alive. I did add some black pepper and a bit of lemon, does that count for something? It's certainly not cooking.

I'm talking, of course, of oysters. Salty, slimy, fishy, metallic, tangy, quivering on your tongue, excitingly delicious oysters. I managed to pick up some particularly tasty ones at the Sydney fish markets recently. I bought a half dozen deeply curved, little pacific oysters called Kumamoto, named for the bay in Japan where they originate. This particular variety is farmed extensively in the American northwest, but they are only beginning to be available in Australia.

Before moving to OZ I'd never eaten a raw oyster, though I think oyster chowder was a pretty common diner-counter meal for me. I can't get enough of them now, but I am a bit picky about which ones I eat. I like a smallish, firm oyster, with a clean taste of the sea. I look for ones with deep shells – ones that remind me of the shape of the Opera House. Never buy oysters in the summer months, as they are spawning and their flesh goes creamy and soft. A good fish monger will tell you which varieties are spawning. In general I find that cold water oysters have a crisper flavor.

Most importantly, buy unshucked oysters, and get yourself an oyster knife. I always watch in horror at the fish markets as the professional shuckers open their oysters under running water. This, no doubt washes away all those annoying broken bits of shell and what not, but this is done at the expense of all that mouth-wateringly salty oyster juice that is swirling down the drain. Oysters treated this way have half the flavor of freshly shucked ones.

Ask someone at your local fish market to teach you how to shuck. If they don't know, never buy an oyster from them again; they've been buying in pre-shucked oysters. What's so bad about that? Oysters are alive until you shuck them; crack 'em open and the “bad oyster clock” starts ticking. Shucking is one of those simple tasks where the effort is dwarfed by the satisfaction. With a little practice, you'll be a pro. Let's eat.



Oysters Naturale

Open your oysters, carefully retaining their juices. Pick out any bits of broken shell. Smell each oyster. They sould have an aroma like sea mist. You'll know a bad one when you sniff it. Top them with a bit of cracked pepper and a squeeze of fresh lemon.