Celebration (Oysters!)
Eating oysters feels like celebration – appreciation for this tiny creature’s life, and my own.
When I traveled for work and had the opportunity to dine alone, I’d eat oysters whenever I could: in Seattle, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Las Vegas. Feeling alive everywhere. When we moved to New York, I was delighted to find them in Grand Central, the terminus for our Metro North train, at once elegant and homey in the vaulted-ceiling cafeteria-style Oyster Bar. I like my oysters the way MFK Fisher liked hers – cold with just lemon, and good bread with salty butter.
Oysters for one (me), on a rainy day at Grand Central Station
For my 37th birthday (in 2017, if you’re keeping track), I hired the oysterman from our farmers’ market in San Carlos, California, where we lived then, and he set up shop in our sunny backyard, shucking oysters for all my friends. For Father’s Day 2020, in the height of pandemic-driven restaurant experimentation, we bought a kit from State Bird Provisions with oysters and their homemade kraut butter for grilling. Preferring my oysters raw, I was skeptical of the California way of grilling oysters (similar to oyster roasts in the Carolinas), but I came around. My friends Jordan and Jonathan devoted a whole holiday to roasting oysters – Oyster Easter – gathering friends on Tomales Bay for eight years in a row. Oyster Easter is no more, but I still find reason to celebrate.
Oyster Easter with @jordanb, Tomales Bay, CA
Today I am celebrating one year of Recipe as Feeling, and celebrating all of you for joining me. Committing to something, anything, and feeding it for an entire year is a big deal! Creating something out of my own consciousness, letting it nourish me, and sharing it with you has felt especially sweet. I am also celebrating a new company I’ve created, Potluck Production, born from the spirit of what happens when everyone brings their gifts to the table. I’m celebrating two years since leaving my job and boarding a train for unknown destinations, and I’ve never felt more free or happy to be alive. I’m toasting to my health, and yours, and my family’s and the communities we are a part of. Here’s to celebrating life together, cold and clear and tasting like the sea.
Recipe as feeling: Celebration (Oysters!)
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Choose the freshest possibilities.
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Grab a towel and some wine.
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Count your blessings.
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Let life spill down your throat.
Actual recipe
Raw oysters with lemon
Serves any number.
INGREDIENTS:
Fresh unshucked oysters, 6-12+ per person depending on how enthusiastic your oyster eaters are
Lemon, cut lengthwise into wedges
EQUIPMENT:
Oyster knife
Towel or gloves
Crushed ice and platter (optional)
Choose the freshest oysters you have access to. Clean your oysters by scrubbing off any loose grit (don’t soak them or they’ll take on the flavor of the soaking water). Keep them cold until you’re ready to eat them, preferably the same day you buy them.
Use a glove or wrap a towel around ruffled part the oyster with the curved cup of the shell down, pressing down slightly against the surface of a table with the towel or gloved hand. Keep the towel hand positioned safely away from the hand with the knife (so if your hand slips, you’ll hit the towel and not your other hand). With the tip of the oyster knife, slide it into the pointy side of the oyster. Find the sweet spot where it feels like there’s some space, and gently rotate it until the hinge pops. Carefully slide off the top shell, using the knife to scrape any oyster flesh off the top shell, keeping as much of the liquid as you can inside the bottom shell. Take your knife and scoop the oyster underneath to separate it from the bottom shell, and leave it in place in the liquid-filled cup of the bottom shell. Squeeze lemon on top, tip back, and enjoy, or place on an ice-filled platter to eat as a batch.
North Carolina oyster roast with @chefandthef and team
Published April 3, 2023
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