Oysters! Because the old thread won't leave the sandbox

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Oysters! Just had some—first time we've dared since a two-hour ER visit when Donald punctured his hand opening oysters on Christmas. Only one of our 16 guests had arrived—we left him to receive the rest. When we got back from the hospital the house was full of drunken revelers.
Not a big deal—one stitch and a tetanus shot. I'd order one of those chain-mail gloves, but they're expensive!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 5 January 2007 01:09 (eighteen years ago)

I have some oysters ready to go right now but I can't decide what to do with them. I'm thinking a New Orleans style oyster "stew" because the en brochette hasn't been working terrifically (IE the last time I did it a couple were dodgy cooked and weirded me out + FIRST TIME I EVER THOUGHT ABOUT FACT THAT OYSTERS ARE WHOLE ANIMALS and got skeeved).

― Allyzay Eisenschefter Pop You To The Extreme (allyzay), Friday, 5 January 2007 01:52 (eighteen years ago)

If you must cook them—Oysters Rockefeller! That way you won't stretch them, as you would with a stew, and the whole scary experience will be behind you sooner.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 5 January 2007 02:05 (eighteen years ago)

the r-month rule - how much cushion do you want on the edges (inside or outside)?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 5 January 2007 02:09 (eighteen years ago)

People eat oysters all year round. I don't understand the "r" month thing, even though I quoted it when I started that other thread in the sandbox. Red tide only happens certain times of the year—that might bea consideration— but it doesn't happen every year. I'm just talking off the top of my head, here—haven't done any research.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 5 January 2007 02:17 (eighteen years ago)

My sources tell me that the 'r' month thing predates reliable refrigeration, which neatly explains the prohibition of June, July and August. No one who has eaten a 'bad' oyster will ever wonder why a piece of folk wisdom evolved to help one to avoid the experience.

― Aimless (Aimless), Friday, 5 January 2007 04:23 (eighteen years ago)

We survived the eating of the pre-xmas oysters. We are a testament to the miracle of modern refrigeration!

"Bad" shellfish is often red-tide infested, no? In which case refrigeration is no help. Our northern red tide is different from the sinus-irritating airborne thing down south. Ours just infects shellfish. I think.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:22 (eighteen years ago)

I haven't graduated to oysters but I had mussels last night! And Ally, I can only eat so many without thinking too much about the WHOLE LIVE thing, and I DEFINITELY can't look at them after fishing 'em out of the shells. The big dark blob of brain or stomach or wahtever fucking skeeves me out so down the hatch they go, sight unseen. I could drink that white wine and garlic seafood broth out of a glass, though.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:35 (eighteen years ago)

the big dark blob gets bigger and uglier as the size of the mussel increases. the ones that the peruvian restaurant down the street uses are so huge that i can't cope (and i eat some gross stuff).

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:45 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, a couple of mine were HUGE, Lauren, and I had to really REALLY not think about it. I am chewing chewing not feeling around with my tongue too much thinking about what nice lightfixtures the restaurant has!

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:47 (eighteen years ago)

it doesn't make much sense, though, because one of my favorite things is monkfish liver which is basically the same as what i'm fretting over wrt to mussels.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:51 (eighteen years ago)

Shellfish size: I go for the big ones first. My husband thinks the small ones are tastier, but I love how the gaggers fill your mouth. Mmmff.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:53 (eighteen years ago)

Beth, you imp! Hush.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:55 (eighteen years ago)

could drink that white wine and garlic seafood broth out of a glass, though.

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9gnMieEkp5FEkEABnOjzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NDgyNWN0BHNlYwNwcm9m/SIG=136k32r9m/EXP=1168106500/**http%3a//www.music-opera.com/villedumois/villephotos_bruxelles/Moules%2520Frites.jpg

Moules-Frites!!

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:02 (eighteen years ago)

How do you guys eat them? It seems like there are several difft techniques. I like to loosen them from their mooring with a knife and then tip the shell into my mouth, and slurp it down noisily.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:04 (eighteen years ago)

Moules-Frites!!

Yes, yes, oh yes.

I pick the first one out with a fork, then use its shell as tweezers for the rest.

― Joe Isuzu's Petals (Rock Hardy), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:06 (eighteen years ago)

There were frites! It was at Petite Abeille and it was delicious.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:08 (eighteen years ago)

i haven't had decent shellfish (or any fish) in so long. do y'all also know crazy people who refuse to eat things from the sea? (people who then cock up yr dinner plans.)

― my teeth are horrible, I'm gaining weight, I don't understand twelve-tone (dubpl, Friday, 5 January 2007 18:08 (eighteen years ago)

There's something about fish bones that wig me out so I don't like cooking them myself - I can't explain it, because I love eating fish, there's just something that seems difficult and possibly lethal about all the complicated Cronenberg-esque anatomy of them - so mussels, clams, scallops, oysters etc are my favorites to make. The lovely Emma B will eat just about any fishbone and just crunch down on it, she doesn't care, it awes me.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:12 (eighteen years ago)

Anyway, Tracer, I plucked the shells out of the pot w my fingers and then forked the little bastards out for eating. Right away I cleared about half the pot to get down the broth, which is the best part anyway. I couldn't finish the whole 1.5 lbs or whatever it was. Wow.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:17 (eighteen years ago)

I eat them with a knife and fork. Sometimes you can hold ther shell down with the knife and skewer the wee mollusk with your fork and easily remove him. Other times, I slip one edge of the shell between the tines of my fork and use the knife to release the mussel.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:24 (eighteen years ago)

Yes, M, but you eat APPLES with a knife and fork. Peeled.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:27 (eighteen years ago)

ian birthday oyster dinner temp. postponed as adp screwed my company over and decided to not pay anybody. ;_;

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:37 (eighteen years ago)

Yes, M, but you eat APPLES with a knife and fork. Peeled.

Let's not exagerate, young lady, it's just the way the French girl who introduced me to moules-frites ate them and I was VERY eager to impress her with slightly more elevated than Cro Magnon table manners so as to be able to eat une autre moule later without any utensils whatsoever. I mostly eat apples sliced since I can't seem to stomach a whole one.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:38 (eighteen years ago)

Oh I'm sorry - I was talking about des huitres! Some of us can focus, here, people.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:57 (eighteen years ago)

No, it's true, I completely made that up. I remember reading some Victorian manners thing that described peeling an apple at the table with nothing but one's knife and fork which ?!?? to me. At the time, and now.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:10 (eighteen years ago)

I like to loosen them from their mooring with a knife and then tip the shell into my mouth, and slurp it down noisily.

same here. i've gotten looks doing this, though.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:12 (eighteen years ago)

I eat oysters entirely with my hands. Usually they're just resting in the shell, not moored, but one delicate (hah) finger suffices to loosen them if needed. Then tip into mouth and slurp.

Fsh with bones I instinctively eat with fingers, too—you can feel those bones. In restaurants the etiquette issue doesn't come up because I steer clear of fish. No restaurant does it right. Keep it simple, stupids! Stop smothering overcooked filets with mango salsa!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:19 (eighteen years ago)

As a general rule, oysters are usually shucked to the point where I can simply slide them into my mouth. I couldn't give less of a damn about getting looks for one reason alone; I like horesradish and I like vingar and shallots and lemon but I always have my first oyster right out of the shell with no more dressing than the BRINE in the shell.

I won't ever eat another cooked oyster again. The texture is horrid!

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:23 (eighteen years ago)

i actually like those little smoked tinned oysters packed in oil.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:29 (eighteen years ago)

Ok, those are fine, but taking fresh oysters and cooking them leaves them rubbery at best.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:57 (eighteen years ago)

That isn't true at all.

― Allyzay Eisenschefter Pop You To The Extreme (allyzay), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:58 (eighteen years ago)

I mean, it can be true, it can very easily be true, but it's not that difficult to prepare them in a way that makes that statement untrue. Don't blame poor oysters for terrible chefs. ;_;

― Allyzay Eisenschefter Pop You To The Extreme (allyzay), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:59 (eighteen years ago)

oysters are great deep-fried too.

and i don't understand using forks to eat mussles or oysters. the shells are so spoon-like already! and you are supposed to get the broth/liquor to taste with them. i've definitely gotten dirty looks from people before though.

― bell_labs (bell_labs), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:09 (eighteen years ago)

I need the slight emotional distance the fork provides, I expect. Scraping the anchored mussel out with my teeth, while an attractive prospect in terms of "fun with food", might be a little too internal-organ-remindy for me just now; I am still developing as an eater.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:11 (eighteen years ago)

The street around the corner from me now offers three different moules frites in a two-block area. It's a terrific dish, but there's something about dealing with so many individual pieces of the same two items that winds up feeling draining and un-meal-like. You have to share them with someone and drink a lot and consider it a meack, or a sneal.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:11 (eighteen years ago)

Also with a big enough bucket of mussels there comes a point where I have a spare plate filled with shells, and there's still half a bucket full of more un-raided shells, and I feel like I've been forking the things out forever, and I just DESPAIR at the whole process, like I will NEVER get through them all, and what am I, working on a boat or something?

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:14 (eighteen years ago)

That's true! Which must be why the waiter emptied my discard bowl several times over the course of the meal. Okay, so the restaurant only seats about six people and he had plenty of time -- still, good service is good service.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:15 (eighteen years ago)

One time a good friend of mine made the waiter wrap up the mussel shells for him and then took the empties home.

― Allyzay Eisenschefter Pop You To The Extreme (allyzay), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:16 (eighteen years ago)

Okay,I'll bite: why?

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:20 (eighteen years ago)

to make a dress with them, obv.

― VALLEY OF BLIZZARDZ (Mr.Que), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:20 (eighteen years ago)

THIS FRIEND WAS A MALE, P.S.

― Allyzay Eisenschefter Pop You To The Extreme (allyzay), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:20 (eighteen years ago)

i spent several childhood summers shucking oysters during my hometown's annual "clam festival," so i really have no squeamishness around shellfish...i see how it can be disgusting or weird to people though!

also, during highschool, i sold lobsters from a tank while working in the airport giftshop.

― bell_labs (bell_labs), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:22 (eighteen years ago)

THIS FRIEND WAS A MALE, P.S.
-- Allyzay Eisenschefter Pop You To The Extreme (allyza...), January 5th, 2007.

OK, he was making a jumpsuit then!

― VALLEY OF BLIZZARDZ (Mr.Que), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:24 (eighteen years ago)

OTM

― Allyzay Eisenschefter Pop You To The Extreme (allyzay), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:28 (eighteen years ago)

In all honesty I really don't know the "why." He was drunk and wanted to pitch them at cars, I think.

― Allyzay Eisenschefter Pop You To The Extreme (allyzay), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:29 (eighteen years ago)

my guess would be to make stock, but i guess that wasn't the case.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:37 (eighteen years ago)

No, he was not a cooking type of person. It was pretty definitely pitching at cars, or people.

― Allyzay Eisenschefter Pop You To The Extreme (allyzay), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:38 (eighteen years ago)

I guess it's good you didn't order something like bone marrow, then.

― Brian Miller (Brian Miller), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:41 (eighteen years ago)

maybe for making crafts?
img src="http://www.maineaccents.com/pics/shelltree.JPG" />

― bell_labs (bell_labs), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:45 (eighteen years ago)

dammit!
http://www.maineaccents.com/pics/shelltree.JPG

― documenta 12 has three leitmotifs (bell_labs), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:46 (eighteen years ago)

and that was way too large. i'm giving up internets for the day :(

― documenta 12 has three leitmotifs (bell_labs), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:47 (eighteen years ago)

I'm surprised how completely grossed out I am by that!

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:48 (eighteen years ago)

I love that someone was so proud of it that they photographed it.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 5 January 2007 21:47 (eighteen years ago)

We just ate the last of the xmas oysters, about a dozen apiece. Thirteen days old. They were tightly shut and briney, their saltiness much increased. If I die, well, I love all you guys.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Sunday, 7 January 2007 00:39 (eighteen years ago)

I get a dozen oysters once a week at work. We get some amazing ones from the Northwest out here.

― B.L.A.M. (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Sunday, 7 January 2007 02:13 (eighteen years ago)

Are all the oyster places in Manhattan closed on Sundays because there's no fish market that morning? Pearl Oyster Bar, the Oyster Bar in GCT, City Crab, where else...all closed or else not serving seafood.

― def zep (calstars), Sunday, 7 January 2007 04:38 (eighteen years ago)

I lived.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Sunday, 7 January 2007 17:07 (eighteen years ago)

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