Pleasures of the Oyster

You Can Talk about oysters and leave out sex.

The two subjects have been inseperable ever since Caesar and his imperial armies tramped into England and tasted the British bivalves. So exhilarated were the conquerors that they carried the oysters packed in snow, reiced in the Alps, all the way back home. Romans tasted the sweet morsels on the half shell and hurried to cultivate them. Every Roman orgy thereafter included oysters on the bill of fare. Albinius, a politician in Gaul, is supposed to have downed 300 at one meal. Vitellius, with somewhat more of an edge to his appetite, is said to have devoured a neat 1000 at a continuous sitting--or lying down.

Oysters were soon eaten all over Europe. By the time of Charles I in England a popular breakfast combination was a plate of raw oysters and a pint of wine. Among all classes of people it was believed there was no love potion more effective than oysters. Byron, the English poet, described them as an "amatory food."

The tradition that oysters are a sex stimulant has never died. To this day oyster bars abound with young blades gulping down big plates of freshly opened Cape Cods before rushing out to their dates.

Scientists in modern times have always discounted the idea that oysters are an aphrodisiac. They would no more endorse this theory than they would agree that fish is a brain food or that onions will remove warts. But a Dutch scientist, Pieter Korringa, writing in the respectable Scientific American as recently as November 1953, pointed out that the oyster is rich in mineral elements which "contribute to its stimulating and aphrodisiac qualities." If normal good health affects our (continued on next page) reproductive capacities, oysters can very well be a contributing factor to this health since they are one of nature's most perfectly balanced foods from a nutritional standpoint, containing most of the important vitamins and minerals.

The author of this article believes that all this talk about sea slugs and sexual gratification was started by the oysters themselves. Take a female oyster for instance. Like the male she is immobile when an adult and can't move from her chosen home. But this liability doesn't hamper her sexual activity at all. When she is ready to propagate, she may send anywhere from 25 million to a half billion eggs into the surrounding sea waters all in search of male sperm. When the male and female are united and fertilized, they form a larva. The larva develops a small organ which enables it to swim. It also builds two tiny hard shells. As the shells develop, they become heavy. The larva gradually sinks to the bottom. Oysters are clinging creatures. The young oysters give off a glue-like substance and attach themselves to some stable object. The object may be a stone, a tile, a pipe, or any other fixed hard surface which becomes the oyster's little gray home at the bottom of the sea.

While male and female oysters can't see each other (they don't have a brain) they both nevertheless manage to send their sperm and eggs into the water at the same time of the year--during the warm summer months.

How can the poor isolated female oyster know what the male oyster is like or vice versa? European oysters have solved this dilemma beautifully. They simply change their sex from time to time. One summer they may be female, the next season, male. They are true hermaphrodites. The amazing ability of the oyster to change its sex can now be recorded by electronic methods. Give the European females credit, too, for caring for their young. Instead of spawning their eggs right into the sea to be buffeted by tides and eaten by enemies, they deposit the eggs on their own gills where they are protected during an incubating period.

Oysters don't have to practice birth control. Their enemies do it for them. If all the female's eggs were fertilized and lived, in a few generations there would be a stack of oysters four times the size of the earth. Oyster eggs are an aperitif for hungry fish seeking food. Only about one oyster larva out of ten thousand finds a suitable home on the ocean bottom. Then many adult oysters are the victims of such enemies as the starfish or the drill which can bore a hole right through an oyster shell to enjoy a fresh seafood snack.

Other chapters of the oyster's career are equally astounding. No human being could ever drink an oyster under the table. The little mollusk drinks about 100 quarts of water a day. The water passes over and through its gills and supplies it with food. It was once thought that oysters were dumb scavengers eating any kind of food that came their way. Recent studies have shown that this is not so. Oysters have a remarkably sensitive taste apparatus and will reject food containing harmful bacteria.

Those people who like to boast that their ancestors came over on the Mayflower should keep quiet in the presence of oysters. During the Eocene, long before man himself roamed the earth, oysters were propagating themselves. The huge mounds of ancient oyster shells near Damariscotta, Maine, testify to the fact that oysters were a gourmet's treat enjoyed by American Indians long before the Pilgrims set foot on Plymouth. Oysters have blood that is really blue. The large copper content in the oyster gives it this distinctive trait.

Residents of Florida and Puerto Rico frequently discover oysters growing on trees. In these localities oysters attach themselves to submerged tree trunks. At low tide, the bivalves are bared, ready to be picked off by anybody hankering for a plate of half shells.

Oysters, of course, have only the greatest contempt for pearls. A pearl is simply a nuisance to an oyster. If an oyster swallows a piece of grit or other foregin object by mistake, it quickly begins to build a shell around the object. In time it will become a pearl. Pearls found in American oysters aren't of much value because they're too brittle. The champion pearl diver on dry land was George Davis of Muskegon, Michigan, who found 25 pearls in one oyster stew.

Generally speaking people don't eat oysters because they're searching for pearls nor because they're seeking a stimulant but because oysters simply taste so damn good. Oysters are one of the few foods which are eaten whole, body organs and all. When your oyster fork spears a plump raw oyster, pearly gray with close folds of flesh, as cold and salt as the sea, and you dunk the shimmering morsel into a bath of cocktail sauce, biting with horseradish and Tabasco, you're not just eating, you're in love. And there's not much else you can think about except the next oyster. When you've finished the plate of half shells, you examine the ring of empty shells carefully, looking around clockwise and counter clockwise, hoping that one more might be left. You pick up the cold shells with your fingers and dran the last drop of oyster liquor. The rest of the meal is an anticlimax unless it happens to be more oysters.

The author has often been consulted on whether oysters should be swallowed whole. He doesn't believe, frankly, that whole oyster swallowers have a completely open and shut case. He's one of the chewing clique who believe in pressing the delicate mollusk between the teeth to enjoy its best sea flavor. And then the issue is sometimes complicated by the size of one's mouth. For example in Port Lincoln, Australia, oyster eaters would have difficulty if they tried to gulp down whole the large size oysters there which are as big as a large dinner plate each--a foot in diameter.

Names of oysters in the United States indicate usually the bays or coves from which the oysters are taken. All Eastern oysters are of the same variety. A Chatham oyster, a Chincoteague or a Delaware bay are all members of the osterea virginica. Oysters grown in Northern waters, however, are noted for their saltiness while Southern oysters are famed for their subtile sweetness. Cape Cods, Lynnhavens and Chincoteagues are some of the most popular in oyster bars. Blue points are a name for small or medium size oysters harvested before they are completely grown.

Cooking doesn't make an oyster tender. Every chef knows that the more you heat an oyster, the tougher it becomes. Treat the oyster at the range as though you were showing a guest to a warm fireplace. Don't set him afire.

Although chefs have devised elaborate oyster dishes such as oyster souffle with Parmesan cheese, oysters in tartlet shells with caviar and oysters stuffed with truffles, men prefer their seafood in the hearty styles eaten in oyster bars and homes all over the country. That plain cookery doesn't mean careless cookery is nowhere as quickly demonstrated as in the prepartion of oysters where every little deviation of seasoning or cooking time at once becomes noticeable.

Playboy chefs can derive a lot of pleasure from the following suggestions and recipes.

In North Carolina, at outdoor barbecues, men have long enjoyed this al fresco treatment: Place oysters in the shell on an iron grating over a charcoal or wood fire. Wait for the shells to open revealing the oyster simmering in its own natural juice. Use a pair of gloves to snatch up the hot bivalves and merely sprinkle lemon juice on top before eating.

Raw oyster eaters sometimes yearn for a change from the conventional cocktail sauce made of catsup or chili sauce, horseradish and Tabasco. Try this continental concoction with your half shells. In a small jar combine 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard, 1 teaspoon grated onion, juice of 1/4 lemon, 6 drops tabasco sauce, 1 tablespoon horseradish, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper. Shake well. Chill several hours before serving.

Steamed clam devotees will like this. Place oysters in a pot with one inch of water. Put on a tightly fitting lid. Bring the water to a boil. Reduce flame and simmer until shells open. Serve in the shells at the table. Dip in melted butter to which a small amount of lemon juice has been added.

[recipe_title]Fried oysters. 4 portions[/recipe_title]

Buy two dozen freshly opened medium size oysters. Pick over oysters carefully to remove any small pieces of shell adhering. Drain off oyster liquor. Dry each oyster carefully on a clean towel or absorbent paper. Sprinkle oysters with salt, pepper and celery salt.

Beat 2 eggs slightly. Add 1 tablespoon of salid oil, 2 tablespoons water and 2 tablespoons sweet cream. Beat well. Dip oysters in the egg mixture. Remove and dip in 1 cup fine cracker crumbs. Be sure each oyster is thoroughly coated with crumbs. The crumbs act as a protective coating and keep the intense heat of the frying fat from toughening the oysters.

Fry in deep hot vegetable fat or lard. Fry in fat that hasn't been previously used, if possible. Fat should be 385 degrees if you use a fat thermometer or hot enough to brown a cube of day old bread in 40 seconds. Place only one layer of oysters at a time in fry basket. Don't overfry -- a light golden color will insure tenderness of oysters. Turn out on absorbent paper to dry any excess fat. Serve at once. If oysters are kept standing, the steam inside the oysters will cause the crumbs to become soggy.

On the table there should be a gravy boat of creamy cold tarter sauce, a bottle of catsup and lemon wedges. French fried potatoes, potato chips or shoe string potatoes are welcome. Iced beer or ale should be stationed right alongside the dinner plate. To top the meal bring on a billowy lemon meringue pie and large cups of hot coffee.

[recipe_title]Oyster stew

for a Quartette of Playboys[/recipe_title]

But 24 large or 36 medium size freshly opened oysters. Place oysters in a heavy saucepan with 4 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon celery salt, 1/4 teaspoon paprika and 1/4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce. Heat oysters together with oyster liquor only until ends of oysters begin to curl. Further heating will toughen them. In another saucepan put I quart of milk and 1 cup of light cream. Heat until milk begins to bubble around edge of pan. Don't boil.

Put the oysters together with their juice and seasonings in 4 large soup bowls or tureens. Pour hot milk over oysters. Add 1 teaspoon butter to each bowl and sprinkle generously with paprika just before serving. Chopped scallions, a Louisiana filip, may be added to the stew if desired. Keep a large mound of Trenton or oyster crackers at the table. Oyster stew eaters will not object to a platter of assorted cheese and coffee to complete the occasion.

Oysters Rockefeller are a New Orleans specialty now eaten all over the country. They are simply oysters baked on the half shell spread with a mixture of bread crumbs, butter, herbs and seasonings. If the herbs are not available, cooked chopped spinach is sometimes used as a substitute. To keep the oysters on an even keel in the baking pan, they are frequently set in a bed of coarse rock salt so that each oyster bakes evenly. Be careful the salt does not get into the oysters.

[recipe_title]Baked Oysters Rockefeller

for four Cosmopolitan Appetites[recipe_title]

Buy 24 freshly opened large oysters on the half shell. If you buy them opened at the fish store, use them within two or three hours after they are opened. If you can open the oysters yourself with an (continued on page 50) Oysters (continued from page 41) oyster knife, do this just before baking them. An automatic oyster opening gadget can now be purchased in many household equipment stores. Place the oysters in a wide shallow baking pan.

In a mixing bowl put 1/4 pound of softened but not melted butter. Keep the butter at room temperature for a short while to soften it if necessary. Add -- small grated onion and 1/2 cup grated white bread crums. Add 1/4 teaspoonsalt, 1/4 teaspoon celery salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper and a dash of tabasco sauce. Add the juice of 1/4 lemon. Add 1 teaspoon each of the following herbs all finely chopped: tarragon, chives, chervil and parsley. If herbs are not available, substitute 1/2 cup finely chopped cooked or canned spinach well drained before chopping. Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Spread this mixture over the oysters. Bake in a hot oven 450 degrees for 10 to 12 minues. Serve with iced dry white wine. Follow up with a huge bowl of tossed salad garlic scented, long crusty thin bread and a platter of French or Viennese pastries and coffee.