I often wonder why people like oysters so much because let’s face it they are slippery, soft & stringy-textured foods. Is is because the frisky Casonova devoured 50 of the mollusks every day for breakfast to get his stamina going?
Wellfleet oysters
I remember a time in Paris during the holidays when resaurant where I apprentized was closed for a break. Cooking in Paris was rather difficult - to say the least - since most of my collegues at that time made it feel like nobody else could actually cook delicious food other then a French person. So back to my oyster memory. I always enjoyed the scent of freshly baked baguettes wafting out of some close by bakery and on a particular morning I decided to do something “Paris cliché”… eat some oysters.
Oyster stands can be all over Paris and usually they are located in front of a restaurant. They are composed of a few oyster crates and a bar like set up where one can indulge in Champagne and oysters.
I devoured Fines De Claire and Belon oysters before and thought they were very good. Being in Paris slurping Champagne and briney oysters was even better.
It seemed to be the perfect day until half an hour later when I became violently ill and then had to spend the next 36 hours in my tiny dark studio apartment’s bathroom.
Since then I kept my distance from oysters for the obvious reasons. But I was confronted with my memories when I had a seafood restaurant and oysters returned to my life. I made sure that my oysters were top notch and learned why there is a chance with oysters that they may not be “good ones.” An oyster pumps up to 24 gallons of ocean water through their stystem throughout the day. So not only do they make their diet from the ocean water but also the occasional bacteria might enter their system this way. So, not only pearls come out of oysters!
In these days we discard oysters which are not alive anymore which means they must be snapped all the way closed and still have ocean water (also know as oyster liquour) in their shell. Another indicator of a bad oyster is a foul smell -- believe me you wont miss a dead one, it really stinks.
Beausolai oysters
But the question is still there - -why is it so exciting to eat an oyster? Is it really an aphrodisiac? Is it because of the organ-like quality it has? Is it because it is challenging and decadent? Or because it is oceanic like drinking part of the sea? I think it is all of these reasons that make eating an oyster a sexy experience – and not to mention the war stories you get to brag about if you should be unlucky enough to encounter a bad one!
