Oysters

Appears in

#44The Silver Palate Cookbook
The Silver Palate Cookbook

By Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins

Published 1982

  • About
Oysters once flourished in American waters. The Indians harvested them extravagantly, and they were an inexpensive staple for years. Polluted waters endangered the oyster for a while, but each year they are increasingly available, and cultivated beds will soon ensure that if we wish to eat 100 oysters at one sitting as Diamond Jim Brady once did, we can.

Oyster lovers have their favorites and will debate the various merits of the flat versus the hollow, the pale silver and expensive Belon, the green French Marenne, the pungent ivory Limfjord as well as the popular Blue Point, Chatham, Papillion, Cotuit, Box, Kent Island, Claire, Chincoteague, Malpeque, Apalachicola, and Canadian Golden Mantle. There are differences in size, flavor, texture, and saltiness. If you get a chance to taste several varieties side by side, you will learn to distinguish your favorites. Oysters must be served freshly opened, kept cold on a bed of ice. We like them served simply with lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper. Cocktail sauce (the kind made with ketchup and horseradish) is taboo (you can’t taste the oysters), but a Mignonette Sauce is occasionally welcome.