Oy! I've got oysters.

February 21, 2008 7:50 PM

I've got 11 fresh oysters in the refrigerator. After opening them what are the basics in devouring them.

I know that you can add hot sauce or lemon and salt. Are there other simple things to add to them? Does one pour off the excess water in the shell? What arcane info do I need to know to maximize the pleasure of imbibing Aphrodite's vessel?

posted by goalyeehah to food & drink (14 comments total)

Hot sauce is good. You can also do a bit of soy sauce and scallions. Or just lemon. Or--and this is my personal favorite--cocktail sauce. The less you put on them, the more you taste the ocean. A plain oyster tastes like a deep breath of fresh open air. However, the texture of oysters is somewhat of an acquired taste that not everyone appreciates right away, and in a lot of people's opinions (including mine), they go down a lot smoother with a dash of cocktail sauce.

And yeah, just pour off the excess water, poke the base of the oyster to make sure it's completely detached from the shell, tilt your head back, and pour the oyster into your mouth.
posted by infinitywaltz at 8:02 PM on February 21, 2008

Fresh ocean air, I mean. They taste like fresh ocean air. Um...In the open.
posted by infinitywaltz at 8:06 PM on February 21, 2008

open your mouth, dump them in, oyster water and all. hot sauce, lemon, etc. are all optional, but the oyster juice, the water in there, at least I think that should go with the oyster. I could be wrong, but I eat a lot, an awful lot, more of these than your average bear, and they taste better dumped from the shell straight down your gullet, with the juice and all, at least in my opinion. You might want to run a knife under them in the shell to help them slide out if you are preparing them yourself.
posted by caddis at 8:13 PM on February 21, 2008

If they are any good oysters, just a drop of lemon, and then slurp them right out of the shell (maybe using a tiny fork to help, if you have one.) The juice, which is also slurped, is called 'liquor'.

The other classic accompaniments are cocktail sauce (ketchup plus prepared horseradish, in a pinch) and malt vinegar with diced shallots in it. They are not necessary. Just enjoy the fresh oysters. Don't leave them in the fridge too long - they don't keep.
posted by ikkyu2 at 8:23 PM on February 21, 2008

Open them, pour off the water and let them "breathe" a bit, they should make new water in a couple of minutes, they should be moist when you eat them.
You can eat them with lemon, ponzu or good quality wine vinegar mixed with minced shallots. The thing is, you want just a slight acidic taste, just a couple of drop of lemon juice should do the trick. If they're super fresh they should move a little bit when they get lemon on them.
Also this tidbit from the wikipedia article is important :"Fresh oysters must be alive just before consumption. There is a simple criterion: oysters must be capable of closing the shell tightly. Any open oysters should be tapped on the shell: a live oyster will close up and is safe to eat. Oysters which are open and unresponsive are dead, and must be discarded."
posted by SageLeVoid at 8:28 PM on February 21, 2008

I agree with caddis -- the flavorful oyster liquid should not be discarded. How to Shuck an Oyster, along with many other articles on shucking, warns again spilling any of the oyster liquor.

As for toppings, try it with ponzu. This recipe for Japanese-style oyster shooters with ponzu and tobiko looks intriguing.
posted by kathryn at 8:32 PM on February 21, 2008

If you have to have some sort of accoutrement with them, a balsamic reduction with sauted' shallot is very good. But all by themselves...infinitywaltz nailed it. Don't swallow them whole. Bite into them, and as my father put it to me; "They taste like the sea." And sacrelegious as it seems to most, I prefer to run them under a trickle of water after shucking. Yes, you lose some of the liquor, but nothing ruins the experience more than to bite into even the smallest amount of shell. Besides, there's plenty of briney goodness in the oyster itself.
posted by JABof72 at 8:54 PM on February 21, 2008

I like 'em with a twist of fresh lime juice and a sprinkle of cracked pepper.

Down the hatch, me buckos.

Ye shall not die in vain.
posted by Wolof at 11:30 PM on February 21, 2008

Tartare de boeuf aux huîtres: make a "tartare" of beef (very fresh, high quality beef) by dicing it very very small. Also slice the oysters in small pieces. Mix oysters with beef, grind fresh black pepper over it, add salt and a bit of olive oil.

Also mean: mashed potatoes with oyster.
posted by NekulturnY at 12:41 AM on February 22, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

Definitely don't spill out the water inside. I can't find the script online, but there's a great moment in Tipping the Velvet when Nan shows Kitty how to eat an oyster, telling her to take great care not to spill the liquor inside.
posted by bassjump at 4:58 AM on February 22, 2008

I often slide them, juice and all, onto a saltine or if feeling fancy, a round of toast with or without accompaniments as above.

This thread is really making me look forward to tomorrow's oyster roast; I hope the rain stops.
posted by TedW at 5:16 AM on February 22, 2008

I do like TedW and slide them onto a saltine cracker, with one added caveat- some good, clear out the sinuses horseradish sauce.
posted by jmd82 at 6:21 AM on February 22, 2008

Yes, you lose some of the liquor, but nothing ruins the experience more than to bite into even the smallest amount of shell. Besides, there's plenty of briney goodness in the oyster itself.

Vehemently (and hungrily) disagree. A teeny-weeny fragment of shell is nothin'. The liquor is vital.

I like just a squirt of lemon juice. Mignonette is also nice with champagne, rice, or red wine vinegar and shallot (Personal preference is that balsamic or malt vinegar can get a little overwhelming).

I agree that chewing them a couple of times is the way to go, but I'm quite the oyster-eater. Since you're a beginner, don't be ashamed to swallow the first few whole. You'll still "get" the oyster flavor and feeling, and after having slurped a couple, you can graduate to putting your teeth in 'em.
posted by desuetude at 6:32 AM on February 22, 2008

I shucked oysters professionally for many years. One thing that hasn't been mentioned here is that most of the flavor of an oyster is in the muscle, the small white disc of tissue that the oyster uses to hold the top and bottom shells together. BE SURE when you shuck them that you get as much of the muscle as you can by running your oyster knife underneath the oyster thereby disconnecting the oyster muscle from the bottom shell. An oyster won't just slide out of the shell unless this is done.

Also, if you want to taste the oyster at all, do not add cocktail sauce. Cocktail sauce is an American innovation that completely masks the flavor of the oyster. I recommend the French sauce of simple red wine vinegar and finely minced shallots.

Never rinse a shucked oyster. It's better to rinse the oyster very well before shucking in order to minimize the chance of introducing any grit.
posted by wsg at 8:49 AM on February 22, 2008