"oysters" news and stories

CNN is reporting that after 10 months and an estimated 200 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, oysters are back on New Orleans menus. What makes that news even more notable is that the local oyster harvest was down nearly 50 percent in 2010, and many Americans harbor lingering concerns over the safety of Gulf seafood, despite assurances by government officials.

You won't see much hesitation in the dining room at New Orleans-based Café Adelaide, where chef Chris Lusk was crowned the "King of Seafood" in the midst of the oil spill. The chef says his fried oysters with horseradish crust are a hot item.

"Right now, with the colder weather, Gulf oysters are amazing. They have good salinity and the quality and the size are great," he told Slashfood. He also says he feels more confident about local seafood than ever before.

"You have layers of government agencies checking on everything from the facilities to the beds, making sure the seafood is safe. There are so many eyes checking on everything, I feel extremely confident about the safety of the oysters we're getting," he said.

Nearly eight months after the Deepwater Horizon rig blew out into the Gulf, the U.S. has filed suit with BP and other companies over the spill "in its effort to get billions of dollars for untold economic and environmental damage," reported the New York Times late yesterday. "Under the Clean Water Act alone, BP faces fines of up to $1,100 for each barrel of oil spilled."

And we hear that Gulf fishermen are up to new tricks themselves -- with a new oyster-harvesting method that may result in better (healthier) oysters.

Announced yesterday, by the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board (the organization behind Friends of the Fishermen, which had top chefs like Tom Colicchio on board), this new initiative "promises to increase production and open up entrepreneurial opportunities for oystermen."

Normally oysters are grown on reefs attached to the ocean floor, but Gulf oyster farmers are now looking into a not-so-new but new-to-the-Gulf, off-bottom approach where oysters are suspended on water columns and easily pulled to the surface in hunks. Oysters can then grow "in areas where a traditional bottom harvest is impossible" like over sand, notes the Board. It also "protects oysters from predators, provides a means to reduce fouling, increases oyster growth rates and allows for pruning, which results in oysters with fatter meat."

Fresh oysters in a Champagne sauce with a healthy dose of coarse ground pepper (mignonette) are a very French way to begin a holiday meal. Lucky us, oysters are in season in December. So whether you live in Normandy or in New Orleans (where oystermen are still very much in business), it's the perfect time for a meal on the half shell, starting with this recipe.

Also see today's post about Louisiana oysters.


Gallery of French Christmas recipes at KitchenDaily.

In Westmoreland County, Va., at the bottom of Nomini Creek near Chesapeake Bay, there's a bed of oysters with a chef's name on it -- actually, it's got her son's name on it. Jamie Leeds, chef-owner of Hank's Oyster Bar in Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Va., has started working with a local oyster farmer to develop her own variety of oysters on her own reef, named Hayden Reef. The project is also helping to restore the bay.

Oyster farmer Bruce Wood (of Dragon Creek Aqua Farm) had been delivering oysters to the restaurants since 2005, and he and Leeds would end up chatting during deliveries and developed a good working rapport over the years. Says Leeds: "It's just great to have that relationship, to really know where your product is coming from." So he felt comfortable approaching Leeds about recycling her shells. Using the roughly one thousand shells Leeds' restaurants go through each week, Wood was able to build an artificial reef by creating a wall for spat (oyster larvae) to cling to.

In another life, Wood was a retired Air Force colonel, just passing by the area, when he came upon a murky, unmanaged creek. "The first thing I thought was, we got to get some oysters in here to clean this up," says Wood. As natural filterers, oysters ensure better water quality -- they're typically able to filter up to 50 gallons per day, and that's just one oyster. So Wood saw the potential for double duty: to provide restaurants with a local product and to restore the ecosystem of the bay. "The creek empties into the river, the river empties into the bay, and the wheel goes round and round and we clean the bay," he says. Wood now works with about sixteen local restaurants, including Leeds' two Hank's Oyster Bar locations.

New York's beautiful Grand Central Terminal is home to many restaurants and merchants. One of the most well known is the Oyster Bar -- originally opened in 1913 -- which is planning an Oyster Frenzy later this month.

General manager Jonathan Young and executive chef Sandy Ingber -- nicknamed the "Bishop of Bi-Valves" -- will host the event, which begins at noon on Saturday, September 25th, and continues throughout the day. Festivities include a "Professional Shucking Championship" with the reigning champion Luis "The Mexican Menace" Iglesius, and the fifth annual "Slurp Off," which is open to anyone who thinks he or she can eat a dozen oysters in the fastest time. Sixteen varieties of oysters – eight from both the East and West Coasts – will be on the menu during the bi-valve bonanza.

There will also be a "Great Oyster Shooter Face Off." Through September 16th, the bar is accepting entries from amateur and professional drink mixers for a martini-style cocktail that complements raw oysters -- cocktails must be iced, and served in a martini glass. The finals will be conducted at the Oyster Frenzy on the 25th. The five finalists will include one amateur and four professionals who must be in attendance at the Frenzy to compete. The prizes to the winner will include dinner for two at the Grand Central Oyster Bar, and the winner's recipe will be featured on the bar menu.