Whether you suck them in for their aphrodisiac qualities or just for a good meal with wine, oysters are an expensive habit. Like a fine wine, they are complex and elusive. Texture, salinity, notes and finish—you can get as poetic about the little mollusks as you would about a grand cru classe. Here’s a primer to make sure you know what you’re talking about.
Why They Taste So Good
Flavors mainly come from the stomach since you are eating their digested food—seaweed, plankton, algae. All that glycogen is where the sweetness resides. The rest of the flavor comes from the seawater you’re slurping as you suck down that mollusk—so it better be clean. That’s why, when it comes to oysters, it’s all about location, location, location. Like wine and the terroir, oysters take their flavor, complexity, texture and salinity from their surroundings.
When To Eat Them
The seasons for oysters are based on water temperature—the colder the better. When they are in hibernation, during winter, they are chock-full of glycogen (since they aren’t eating), making them sweet and yummy. During the summer, the suckers are mating and aren’t as full. In the Northern hemisphere, it’s simple: months without the letter r are bad.
What’s In A Name
Like wine, most oysters are classified with the appellation, connoting the location of the slimy sucker, and a varietal, which is the species. There are around 20 commercial species, famous ones include:
Virginica: Also known as eastern, since they are native to America’s frigid waters of the east coast, these oysters have a strong ocean kick. The specie is also farmed in the west coast.
Pacific: These oysters were originally from Japan and are now the most farmed species around the world, especially in Europe and the west coast of the US.
European Flat: The oysters have, as the name implies, a flat shell. Natives of Europe, they are also known by their locations such as the famous Belon. Notes that come to mind are cigars, cognac and foie gras. Most European oysters are meaty with an intense mineral finish.
Kumamoto: The small oyster is farmed all over the world, especially in the US. Indigenous to the Kumamoto region of Japan, it is now slowly disappearing from the area. The shellfish has a creamy taste with a slightly salty finish and is one popular little oyster.
Sydney Rock: Found in Australia and New Zealand, these oysters are a favorite for restaurants and oyster bars for their long shelf-life. It’s a meaty oyster with a clear zinc taste.
Olympia: Native to the west coast of America, the oyster may be small in size but big in taste with a coppery note.
Fines de Claire: Not a species, this term describes a method of harvesting, where a Pacific oyster is finished in salty claires (shallow salt beds) turning their shells green and giving them a salty taste. The most famous are from Marennes-Oleron.
Drink This
White wine, sparkling wine or champagne. These wines are high in acid and low in alcohol. It’s an oil and vinegar relationship, the acidity of the wines complement the fattiness of the oyster.
Seasonings
For a fresh oyster:
Lemon (just a drop)
Mignonette (a dollop the size of a satang) a French sauce of either red or white vinegar, diced shallots or sweet onion and ground pepper.
Tabasco (just a drop)
Warning
Local oysters are mainly from Surat Thani, but without water certification you may be slurping unclean seawater. Besides the risk of flesh-eating diseases from contaminated seafood, be extremely wary of the oysters at your hotel buffet. A lot of the buffets use frozen oysters since they’re much cheaper to buy and maintain (they’re dead). It’s risky business eating raw, dead animals. If you get an oyster that’s already been lathered in Thai chili sauce, fried onion and shallots be afraid, be very afraid.
Where To Get Your Fresh Oysters
Colonnade
The Sukhothai, 13/3 South Sathorn Rd., 02-344-8888. Open daily 6am-midnight
Every Tue-Fri, from 6-10:30pm, for an all-you-can-eat buffet of American oysters. Here you can try out virginicas and American farmed kumamotos to your heart’s content.
Witch’s Oyster Bar and Restaurant
Ruam Rudee Village, 20/20-21 Soi Ruam Rudee, Phloen Chit Rd., 02-255-5354. Open daily 11-1am
Here you can get your Fines de Claire, Sydney Rock and Tasmanian oysters.
Lord Jim’s
Mandarin Oriental Bangkok, 48 Oriental Ave., 02-659-9000. Open daily noon-3pm, 7-10:30pm
For dinner you can get your French oysters Fines de Claire #2, Belon and Tsarskaya and your Australian varieties including Coffin Bay, Smoky Bay and Tasmanian. Bill Marinelli (US importer and founder of Marinelli Shellfish Company) is opening his Oyster Bar early next year. Watch for the latest news on its opening in our New and Noted column.
