Shucking Oysters

Oysters - what do I know about oysters? I have to say the raw oyster is definitely an acquired taste. Like anything raw, it's a bit slimy and has a much different texture than cooked. On top of that, raw oysters are eaten from the the shell the oysters grew from! Nowadays where most of the animal food products don't resemble anything like the original animal, this is definitely a different experience. Once you get over the queasiness of it all, these are some of the best things in the world.

I can't remember the fist time I had oysters, but that's definitely after I became an adult and within the past 5 or so years. Let's face it, a kid was not to enjoy the look or texture of this stuff (pass me the chicken nuggets instead!) Toronto is not near an ocean but luckily there's a huge range of this stuff being shipped from east and west coast - and fresh, too! Over the past few of years I have visited a few oyster shops to try different types. First I started with the "buck-a-shuck" restaurant Tuesday specials, then gradually graduated to the a-la-cart style so I get to compare a few different types, from BC, or Boston, or PEI. Am I an oyster expert? Far from it. But I can now say that I definitely enjoy shucking my own oysters from home.

Credits has to be given to one of my favorite oyster shops: Rodneys' oyster house (see my experience at the restaurant here). It's a great restaurant, and deserves it's own spot light. Not only it's such a fun experience, I learned a lot there including grating my own horse radish root, and also got my first oyster shucker from there. That will be a whole different story later.

So when I had my own shucker and our lovely local grocery store had an oyster special - I got a few and shucked them myself. It's a weird thing to do but oddly satisfying. Each oyster tasted that much better - perhaps because since I had to struggle and force each one open? To my delight, my local grocery store actually has a few varieties including Raspberry point  and Lucky lime.

Encouraged by my initial success, aka didn't shuck my thumb off, I went and got a box of these things: and that's 33 of one of the most common oysters I can find - Malpeques. Just putting it in perspective, that's 3 short of 3 dozen of oysters - that's quite a lot. I took these home and soaked them in icy cold water for about 20min and gave them a good scrub. These oysters were quite muddy in the grooves. After giving them a cleansing rinse, I went to prepare other ingredients that go well with oysters:

- Lemon wedges: I personally think it's very important to have. Lemon's citrus acidity and freshness goes so well with any seafood, especially with raw seafood. So don't skip this step no matter what you do. A fresh lemon, cut into 6-8 wedges go a long way. Between oysters, I also like to clean my palette by bite into a lemon wedge, so I can start fresh and enjoy the next oyster with a re-set my taste buds.

- Horse radish. Also important. Some may not like the bite and spiciness. I personally think it's fantastic! So the root looks like a bigger, darker and rougher-looking parsnip. You got to peel the darker skin to expose the lighter fleshy bit and grate that into small pieces with a grater. After watching a restaurant do this I just can't buy the jarred stuff anymore. Grating it releases all the spicy particles in the air too (try not to sneeze!), it actually kind of wets the appetite.

- Red wine vinegar and shallots. Many love this too, I didn't use it. It's not a lot of work to throw this together. Shallots need a wash and quick chop, and just marinate in red wine vinegar until you are ready to enjoy it. It can be a substitute to the lemon wedge as it's also acidic. Which is also why you kind of don't need both. But if you like shallots - it's a delicious addition.

- Hot sauce. Good addition too if you like it spicy! I think horse radish is spicy enough so again didn't add any more hot sauce. But depending on your hot sauce's flavor profile, you can get a bit of herbs, mango or mint taste in the oysters, which can be quite nice.

In the end, put on what ever you want. There's really no "perfect combination". Perfect combination is when you enjoy your oysters however you like. Or if you had 33 oysters like I did, try a bit of mix and match if you like.

This evening, my dinner consisted of plate fulls of Malpeques. I made some kale chips to go with it - the crunch and bitterness is a lovely pairing. And yep, can't do without a nice cocktail.

So have I convinced you to try some oysters yourself?