Oyster tasting with Silex and Fevre

Bi!! wrote on Fri, 2 Oct 2009 15:50:24 -0700 (PDT):

How were the oysters? I don't really care about the wines.

Bi!! wrote on Sat, 3 Oct 2009 07:41:52 -0700 (PDT):

For myself, I don't really like elaborate sauces which overpower the taste of fresh oysters; lemon juice or perhaps Sauce Mignonette are my limit. Sauces are to disguise a lack of freshness, IMHO. I'd go for a very dry white wine with them tho' I'll admit I've never tried champagne. I've also enjoyed Guinness Export Special with oysters.

These really weren't sauces but for instance the Beau Soliel Oysters had a few tiny matchsticks of radish, a drop of soy and a yuzu, just enough to accompany and enhance the oyster flavor. I like Guinness with oysters too but my prefernce is for a mineral and citrus driven very dry white wine like Chablis or Sancerre. When in cities in the U.S. known for seafood with ultra fresh oysters I like a squeeze of lemon maybe a dash of tabasco and an ice cold pilsner style beer.

Quote from one of my favorite volumes, The Gold Cook Book:

"Some people think that oysters are an amatory dish, But scientist imply that this just an idle wish.

Who Cares however if it's truth or if it is a lie, As long as oysters never lose their urge to multiply."

Godzilla

I had an Aussie friend who kept a shucking knife in his car. He'd drive down to some rocky cove, wade out, grab an oyster and eat it while waste deep in the water. You couldn't get them any fresher than that! Graham

Hi Bill

Here in NZ we have four different species of oyster growing.

The two commercially available varieties are -

Pacific Oyster - Crassostrea gigas. Bluff Oyster - Tiostrea chilensis.

Also growing, but restricted in their availability are -

NZ Rock Oyster (identical to Sydney Rock Oyster from Australia) - Saccostrea glomerata. and the Mangrove Oyster - Crassostrea gasar.

They are truly distinctly different in shell and flesh apprearance as well as taste.

I have spent a few minutes visiting my friend Google, and have ascertained that the four oysters you tried are all of the same species - American / Eastern Oyster - Crassostrea Virginica.

So, am I right in assuming that any differences you perceived were the subtle differences gained from the respective growing environments?

st.helier wrote on Sun, 4 Oct 2009 11:47:19 +1300:

I did not know that there were so many types of edible oyster, if Wikipedia is correct.

True oysters are members of the family Ostreidae. This family includes the edible oysters, which mainly belong to the genera Ostrea, Crassostrea, Ostreola and Saccostrea. Examples include the Belon oyster, eastern oyster, Olympia oyster, Pacific oyster, Sydney rock oyster and the Wellfleet oyster

Note that the Wellfleet oyster is differentiated from the Eastern oyster. There are certainly very different looking oysters available in Europe: Portoguese oysters, Brittany oysters (are these the same as Belons?), English Channel oysters etc.

Nonetheless, when fresh they are all very good!

Wouldn't they have been even better without that waste deep in the water? :D

You are correct but they looked entirely diferent from one another in size, shell shape, texture and color. I assume the differences were in the (forgive me) terroir. The Crassostrea Virginica is probably the most widely available but we also get Ostreo Edulis (Belon) in the east and we have a few different species from the pacific coast although Crassotrea Virginica are also harvested from the Pacific. We tend to name them from the place that they come from like French wines.

Like Ed, I tend to seek out small dumpy oyster bars on the wharf or near the source and roll up my sleeves, squeeze of lemon, maybe a dash of tabasco and a cold beer but the garishes can really be fun and interesting at places with talented chefs. I must say though that fresh raspberries and oysters did not match well.