Anger Burger

Well, that was interesting.  After my best friend and my dad expressed a kind of “Oh, Sunday,” disappointment – dost thou not knowest me? – and my mom pointedly said nothing, I guess talking openly about human body parts is officially Too Far.  I hereby apologize for the Vagina Chicken post.

So instead, today I’m going to talk about oysters.

I have a spiritual connection with oysters.  According to my mom, she craved oysters while pregnant with me (she also frequently watched Julia Childs on PBS, for what its worth), and in a favorite family anecdote, once when I was about 3 I was left on the beach to sit next to the oyster bucket while my family harvested their limit from the shore, only to come back and discover I had smashed open all the already-collected bivalves with rocks and eaten their mangled insides.   Little Neanderthal baby.

A common misconception about oysters is that the shucked ones in jars are no good – this is certainly can be true, but provided they are harvested during a good time of year (right now is perfect) and are fresh, they are just as good as the ones still in their shells.  Granted, we’re very lucky in that we can drive straight out to Taylor farms, home of the best oysters in the world, but the basic idea is still there: as long as you’re not eating them raw¹, the ones in the jar are probably just fine.

A little egg wash and crushed saltines is all these kids need.  Keep the heat high, and as quickly as they brown they will be cooked through, after which you can eat straight from the pan or make a quick homemade po’ boy sammich with a nice soft roll, some shredded lettuce and whatever condiments you like.

My preference is to eat them straight from the pan with a little bit of cocktail sauce.  It’s been icy cold here, so these oysters are heartbreakingly delicious – sweet, clean and firm.  We made a little homemade Caesar salad and nothing else, and I haven’t had more satisfying meal in recent memory.

Here’s an older but nearly identical seafood meal from the last time I visited my mom about three months ago.

¹ And the only reason I recommend cooking them is for texture – nothing beats a fresh, raw shucked oyster, but if you’re going to cook them, don’t bother with both the price and the tremendous pain-in-the-ass of shucking.