A read that nearly broke my resolve !

 

consider the oyster

A slim book ( a waify-76 pages)  with a bounty of gastronomic riches. More specifically, of the sea-food kind. And, even more specifically, of the bi-valve kind. MFK Fisher’s  “Consider the Oyster”.

John Updike called Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher  (1908-1992), “poet of the appetites” and rightly so. For in her succulent book, this most prolific and well-respected American food writer of the 20^th century, gives us beautiful recipes to make soups and stews with oysters; she tells us how to bake them, grill them, dress them and fry them among other culinary techniques to ready them for the table ; in case, simply cracking open their shells and sucking them down raw, is not your scene !

 She suggests variously:

 toss them in butter with a dash of salt and paprika

 jazz them up a la Francaise

 tuck them into Turkeys

 cook them into a catsup

or blend them into a bisque.

Fisher tells you that oysters are “lusty bits of nourishment” as they contain oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and more phosphorous than any other food !

She  (in the 7^th of the 12 delightful essays) also teaches you how to make a pearl (!!!) ;  and in another, shares with you her mother’s joy upon discovering an oyster loaf in her dorm in school in the 1890s.The oyster loaf being a loaf of bread  hollowed out and filled with rich cooked oysters, the top fastened on  and then baked crisp and brown !

While we may debate about the aphrodisiac properties of the mollusk, it is indisputable that the essays themselves arouse in you a maddening desire to dive into the nearest deep end and scout for these silky shell-fish!

Oh ! but what impossibilities am I fantasizing about ?!!! And what an inopportune time for the newly-turned vegetarian me ( trying valiantly everyday to stay true to my resolve) to read this particularly precious book !

For reading it brought back memories of my holiday in Monterey near San Francisco and an unforgettable lunch I had with friends by the wharf, some years ago.Biting cold winds were blowing in from the Pacific as our group with streaming eyes and runny noses sought shelter in a warm shack on the ocean front. I’ve forgotten the name of the place but not the atmosphere-cozy and inimitable. We ordered grilled oysters, clam chowder and cold beer ! First came the clam chowder. Enormous round bread loaves dug out in the middle and filled with steaming, buttery broth with morsels of every kind of sea-food. The grilled oysters, with their shells tantalizingly half-open, were stacked in mountainous piles on the plates. We teased the meat out and popped the briny-tasting bits into our hungry mouths and chased them down with icy-cold beer. Chewy, gravelly (with bits of sand even, in some) and with the over-powering smell of the sea , oysters are an acquired taste.

Sigh ! what a pity having to sacrifice something that took me the time it did to acquire !!

Consider the Oyster by MFK Fisher, North Point Press, NY.

Available at Giggles book store, Connemara hotel complex, Ethiraj Salai, Chennai.

Try this simple recipe for oyster stew.

Ingredients:

1 quart oysters

2 cups oyster liquor (liquor being the fluid that is inside the oyster shell upon opening. It can be used as a flavoring, to make stock)

2 cups heavy cream

4 tbsps butter

Salt and pepper

Method:

-Bring one cup of the oyster liquor to boil and when it has cooked for 5 mins, skim off the top, which will be foamy. Add the cream, butter and seasoning to taste. Cook the oysters in the other cup of liquor until the edges curl (abt 5 mins), strain and add to the cream. Serve immediately.

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