Considered a delicacy. They are relatively expensive, and because of their cost and taste, they are associated with wealth and luxury. The high cost of this product, in addition to its excellent taste, is also due to a decrease in the population of this species of living organisms.
Before moving on to the question of how to cook oysters, let's talk a little about how they look and where they live. As a rule, an oyster is a shell that has a mother-of-pearl color, with a mollusk and juice inside. As for the taste of oysters, it is very versatile and depends on many factors, in this it can be compared with wine. Depending on where they are harvested, they can be saltier, sweeter, have a slight melon flavor, and also have a mineral taste. The main habitat is the Pacific coast and the bulk of oysters are mined in France and England. In addition, due to their slow recovery of the population, oyster farms have recently begun to actively develop, where the product is grown artificially.
Before you figure out how to cook oysters, you need to know how to choose them. The main rule: they must be alive, and the shells must not be open. A very important point: if the wings are at least a little ajar, it is strictly forbidden to use an oyster! In most cases, oysters are eaten alive. You can determine whether the mollusk you have chosen is alive or not in the following way: shake the shell near your ear, if you hear a gurgle - the mollusk is dead, if no sounds are heard, then it is alive, as it clings well to the walls of the shell. Live oysters, as a rule, are not cooked, they are eaten raw or served with certain cocktails. And the clams in canned added to salads or soups.
How to cook oysters? At the very beginning, it is necessary to rinse the sinks very thoroughly with running water in order to completely wash off all the algae. Then it is necessary very carefully, better with a special knife, to open the shells of the mollusk. You can eat them completely raw, as already mentioned, as well as smoked, fried, stewed, canned, pickled, baked and cooked in a double boiler.
There are many ways how the main thing is to try to save everything as much as possible. useful material product. There are quite a lot of them, since oysters are rich in iron, copper, B vitamins, and the shine of an oyster is not due to fat, as it might seem at first glance, but to a huge amount of glucose. It is for this reason that oysters are so useful.
Theirs is simple enough. The most common method is steam cooking. To do this, oysters in a colander should be placed over boiling water and held for about 10 minutes, until most of them open. Those that for some reason did not open should not be eaten. The secret of this preparation is that various components can be added to the water that boils under the oysters, the taste of which will then be reflected in the taste of the oysters. For example, you can add a little ginger, garlic, pepper, lemongrass, it all depends on desire and preferences.
Many rightly consider the oyster a storehouse of energy and health. And therefore, when the question arises of how to cook oysters, the answer suggests itself that cooking in relation to this product can kill all the best. That is why many true connoisseurs of taste and gourmets do not recognize any culinary treatments for oysters. They eat a very fresh product, emphasizing the unsurpassed taste only with lemon slices.
this universal food product? Why universal? Because they can be baked, fried, boiled in water and steamed, and even eaten raw, straight from the shell!
Everyone, for sure, knows that it is oysters that create beautiful precious pearls, but besides this, they also have a great nutritional value. For centuries, oysters have been remain a source of protein and other nutrients. Delicious and flavorful, they can be an appetizer, an independent dish or an ingredient in many other dishes that require seafood or shellfish.
How to eat raw oysters
It is in their raw form that these mollusks are considered a delicacy. Therefore, the answer to the question "how to cook oysters" is very simple - no way! Many connoisseurs of oysters prefer them "half-shell", which means eating them raw with seasonings such as hot sauce, lemon juice or cocktail sauce. "Oyster shooter" - a cocktail that is raw oysters served in a small glass with vodka, Tabasco sauce and lemon juice.
Sometimes oysters are served as an appetizer with various sauces. Raw oysters are always served cold and usually straight in the shells and with coarse salt. Different regions of the world have their own variations of preferred seasonings and sauces for raw oysters. Many people even consider raw oysters to be a natural aphrodisiac. However, you can eat them raw only if the oyster is alive. To make sure of this, you can drop a little lemon juice on it or sprinkle with salt. The clam in the shell should begin to contract. If such movements do not occur, then use this product in raw form is impossible, as it becomes life-threatening.
They eat live oysters, as a rule, without chewing, but swallowing them whole. Some connoisseurs first remove the gills (the fringed part) and the muscle that brings the shell valves together on the mollusk. What is left for food? Basically, this is a large liver and it is she who has all the useful elements and is easily digested.
Why can these mollusks be eaten raw? The reason is that the oyster is able to "digest itself". As we have already said, the liver is its big tidbit and it is it that contains a large number of glycogen and diastase enzyme. When we eat a raw oyster, diastase reacts with glycogen, which is immediately digested in our digestive tract. Oysters prepared in any of the following ways are much more difficult to digest in our body.
Boiled, steamed or smoked oysters
How to cook oysters if you don't want to eat them alive? Oysters can be steamed or smoked. Different kinds wood when smoked or seasonings when boiled will help to give the oysters the special taste and aroma needed in this recipe. Put the spices in the water in which you boil the oysters. Alder or apple wood will give the oysters a characteristic aroma when smoked. Certain spices and woods are used to enhance the flavor, which often depends on the area where the oysters were caught.
Baked oysters
Some recipes call for baked or fried oysters. Rockefeller oysters, for example, are prepared by frying or roasting oysters directly in shells with various additives (for example, butter with onions or just cheese). You can also take the oysters out of the shells, arrange on a baking sheet, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, garlic and butter on top, then bake. Or, alternatively, roast them over an open fire with butter and Worcestershire sauce. You can also add oysters to seafood casseroles or pasta dishes.
Oysters in soup and stew
Oysters are also often added to soups, mashed soups and seafood stews. Bouillabaisse - fish soup, in which, in addition to other seafood, they also put oysters and terminals right in the shells. Thick clam chowder is a seasonal favorite along the New England coast, and oysters play into it. leading role. At home, frozen oyster meat can be added to soups, broths, and seafood stews for added flavor. They are especially pleasant in tomato and creamy stews.
Along with red and black caviar, foie gras and champagne, oysters are a sign of elitism all over the world, despite the fact that they do not always look presentable from the outside - the shells are more often dark from dirt. Clam meat is very juicy and tasty, it has a beige color and is surrounded by a transparent fragrant broth.
There are two types of oysters - regular and giant. The former are usually very inexpensive, while the latter are much more expensive.
These clams are sold fresh, boiled or canned.
How and when to buy?
In the northern hemisphere of the globe, in many countries there is a rule to eat oysters and other seafood only in those months of the year in which the letter “r” is in the name, so shellfish are eaten from September to April.
During the summer months, oysters multiply and their meat becomes uncomfortably soft and crumbly.
Most best taste, of course, have shellfish bought live. If you do not like to open the shells yourself, you can ask the seller to do this when buying, but remember that after this you need to eat the oysters as quickly as possible.
Oysters grow very slowly. It takes them 3 years to reach a length of 5 cm. In general, oysters can be eaten when they reach a length of 1 cm. However, the larger the mollusk, the more taste and pleasure the one who eats it experiences.
Oyster meat is both sweet and salty and slightly oily. The larger the size of the shell, and the more even and flawless it looks, the greater the opportunity to eat the mollusk, not only raw, but also cooked.
Use in cooking
Scrub sinks with a stiff brush under running water cold water; those shells that are damaged or cracked should be discarded. If the shells are half-open or don't close tighter after being tapped, they should also be discarded, as the clams in them are already dead.
Now wrap your left hand in a towel and take the sink into it. Take a sharp knife in your right hand, gently slide it between the shells and start moving it from side to side to open the shell wider and remove the mollusk. Also, with the help of a knife, free the oyster from the shell so that it just sits there in its own juice. If there are any shell fragments inside the shell, they must be carefully removed with the tip of a knife. Be careful not to spill the juice.
Frozen oysters should be thawed by first transferring them from the freezer to the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. You can then take them out and eat them right away.
Place ice on a plate and top with oysters if you are going to eat them raw. They can be served with lemon juice, French shallot vinegar, Tabasco sauce or mirin, a Japanese rice wine.
Oysters can also be grilled. To do this, they must be removed from the shells in advance, sprinkled with breadcrumbs, herbs and grated Parmesan cheese, and then grilled for 2-3 minutes. They can be pan fried or steamed. This will also take 2-3 minutes.
Other dishes are also made from oysters. For example, they are used as a filling for a pie or wrapped in bacon, pancetta or Parma ham, and then fried for 6 minutes.
Instead of oysters in cooking, you can use mussels or other shellfish.
Storage
Wrap the shells in a damp towel and refrigerate. So they can lie for up to 3 days, but the sooner you eat them, the better they will taste. Peeled oysters should also be stored in the refrigerator, but they should be eaten on the day of purchase.
Oysters are a rare guest in our house. Someone does not understand their taste at all. But real connoisseurs of the taste of the sea, iodine with sourness and exotics will not skimp on the pleasure of eating an oyster. This mollusk was once brought to the Russian table by Peter the Great, since then it has been one of the most expensive and fine dining taken from french cuisine.
There are several ways to cook oysters. The perfect dish considered raw seafood. The shell is opened with a special table knife, the sashes are lifted, the fastening muscle is cut off. A live oyster is poured with lemon juice and swallowed without chewing.
Cooking with heat treatment occurs in different ways, but it is important to follow the recipe exactly. It is very easy to spoil a clam. The jelly-like product is fried, boiled, steamed, baked in the oven. There are many recipes, the sea delicacy is combined only with certain products, for example, with vegetables and onions.
Seafood's constant friend is lemon juice. For cooking, you can take both fresh and frozen, store-bought product.
Choosing a seafood delicacy
The taste of oysters is influenced by the time of their capture and habitat. Tastier are those that live in the North Seas and are caught in the winter.
Choose sinks without damage and unclear origin of stains, good shellfish sinks are closed.
The impact of two shells should resemble the sound of impacting stones.
Proper packaging is bags that contain a small amount of shells, or a seaweed wrap.
Pure meat without casing is sold in a special marinade.
The body of the mollusk is transparent, white or cloudy, which means that the mollusk is dead and should not be eaten.
Slightly move the shutters, a live oyster will immediately slam them shut.
Shellfish thawed in shells room temperature, but they are not stored for a long time, so they must be prepared immediately after opening. In shells, a frozen product should be stored for no more than three days, clean meat with juice - up to three months at sub-zero temperatures.
You can cook oysters at home that have been frozen in any way that involves heat treatment. Bake, boil, fry, etc. One of the most famous recipes It's called Rider Angels.
Seafood meat is taken out, peppered, wrapped in a slice of bacon and fried in a pan or grill.
What is the right way to drink oysters
Complement the taste of the wine delicacy. First of all, dry varieties of champagne. White wine with a mild bouquet. Some connoisseurs of this dish love seafood with vodka.
How to eat oysters
Squeeze a lemon on the body of the clam. With the left hand we take the sash with the contents, with the right - a special fork with short and wide teeth. You pick up the contents with the device, put it in your mouth. If you don’t know how to eat oysters correctly, you don’t know how to use a fork, you can suck out the fish delicacy carefully from the sharp side of the sash. Enjoy the unique taste of the mollusk by holding it in your mouth and then swallow it without chewing. Wash down with the juice left in the sink.
Cooking
How to steam oysters
The shells are brushed off dirt, undamaged whole individuals are taken. The result depends on the taste of the steam. It is not water that is poured into the container, but a combination of beer and wine. This steam is impregnated with transparent meat. Seafood is cooked in a regular colander over boiling liquid under a closed lid. Cooking time - 5-10 minutes. Readiness is determined by the open doors.
Oysters are fried in a frying pan in oil along with straws from bell pepper and onion rings. Spicy lovers can add a crushed clove of garlic. 7 minutes is enough. Don't forget to add lemon juice.
If you want a pure taste - fry without vegetables, in batter. Dip each clam in the egg mass, sprinkle with flour and deep-fry. It is better to eat this dish hot.
You can fry the delicacy on the grill. Either take the seafood meat out right away or fry it right in the shell. To add seasonings, you need to open the sink. For this recipe you need butter with garlic and soy sauce. It will take no more than 7-10 minutes. The juice will boil, the meat will wrinkle a little.
Among popular recipes- Californian baked oysters, seafood soup, fried with honey and shallots. With this product, there are many original recipes, each chef prepares oysters with his own twist.
Baked oysters
- 7 sinks
- Red salad onion - 1 pc.
- Butter - 120 g
- Goat or sheep cheese - 120 g
- Dry white wine - 320 ml
- Leek stalk
- Lemon juice - tbsp.
How to cook a delicacy? We boil the contents of the shells in wine, take out the meat, and clean the hard shell itself from dirt.
We pass both types of onions with a piece of oil, evaporate with a small amount the remaining wine.
In half an oyster shell, as in a boat, we put vegetable stew, put an oyster on top. We rub the cheese chips on top, sprinkle with lemon and put in the oven until the cheese floats.
Harm of seafood and contraindications to its use
Poor quality or dead marine life can significantly harm human health. Therefore, it is important to choose the product carefully. If the shells do not open during heat treatment, it is better to throw them away.
Allergy sufferers are at risk. Marine inhabitants have a specific composition that affects immune responses and can cause swelling of some organs.
A large amount of protein contained in jelly-like seafood causes poisoning in large doses.
Pregnant, nursing mothers, children and people with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, thyroid gland are not recommended to eat marine life.
Increasingly, a modern person has the opportunity to get acquainted with the cuisine of other countries. If earlier French dishes in the form of snails and oysters were considered something almost fabulous, today you can enjoy them not only in the corresponding restaurant, but also at home by buying chilled seafood in a large supermarket. However, cooking them is half the trouble: it is much more difficult to figure out how oysters are eaten.
What is the right way to eat oysters?
You should know that oysters can be consumed in several ways. The main and most unfamiliar to a person far from French cuisine is practiced only when this seafood is the main dish, supplemented only with sauce. It is this ritual that raises a huge number of questions. If only meat is used from oysters, combined with other ingredients, then it is consumed cold through the use of dessert appliances, and hot - canteens.
The main emphasis should be on how to eat oysters according to the rules of French etiquette. In its pure form in restaurants, oysters are served with closed doors, arranged in a circle on a dish, often with lemon slices between them. To keep the product fresh, a thin layer is poured under it. crushed ice. In addition to the oysters, there is a bottle of white wine, which can be replaced with champagne. Moreover, taking into account the fact that this seafood is exotic in itself, all attention is given to it, and the accompanying alcoholic drink is selected so that it only sets off the taste of oysters, and does not interrupt it. Therefore, you should not order expensive wine with a long aging period: classic dry white is enough.
The oyster is removed from the tray with your left hand, if you are right-handed, the sharp end of its shell turns towards you, after which you need to take the knife served with the dish in your right hand. They should open the shell doors by inserting the blade flat and turning it 90 degrees clockwise. When opening the valves, it is important to keep the horizontal position of the oyster, since there is some sea water inside it, which provides the mollusk with a light spice. After such an action, a thin film located in the very core will be visible inside. It must be removed with the same knife, carefully cutting it in a circle, and removed to the edge of your plate (not a common tray!).
Now the knife is put aside, its place in the hand is taken by a slice of lemon, the juice of which must be squeezed into the doors themselves, falling on the mollusk. Lemon juice is sometimes replaced with vinegar in which shallot rings have been soaked. Last step the contents of the oyster become drawn out through the lips folded into a tube, which should be done very quietly. In this action, it is worth practicing at home, because it is at this moment that the main difficulties begin. Therefore, in most restaurants, oysters are served immediately with the doors open, from which the meat is removed with a special oyster fork, which has 2 long prongs.
Depending on how many people oysters are designed for, their number on a tray varies from 6 to 24 pieces, but always a multiple of 6. In addition, the larger they are, the less they will be. The menu of most restaurants often suggests 3 oysters in their pure form, while larger ones (up to 00) or small ones (up to 5) go as components to other dishes. The same should be considered if you are going to implement any recipe that contains oysters among its ingredients. For sandwiches and other cold snacks, their small types (4-5) are suitable, and for casseroles, soups, etc. 00 oysters are purchased.
The period in which this marine life was caught is also important. In France, the use of oysters is practiced in the period from September to April, since they actively breed from May to August. At this time, the clams become more fatty, which will not be to the taste of every gourmet. In addition, fishing for oysters in late spring and summer is prohibited by law, which was originally aimed at protecting these marine life from decline in their numbers.
It should also be noted that among the oysters there are also species that are not suitable for human consumption. Therefore, when purchasing frozen seafood in a store, pay attention to the data from the supplier or manufacturer. The table can be served with Portuguese and Adritic oysters, as well as their rock species. However, they can all have different type shells - concave or flat. You can also clarify the issue of salinity of the water in which oysters lived. If the indicator exceeded 30‰ (ppm), the meat of such a seafood is harsh, so it has to be soaked in sauce for a long time and subsequently heat-treated. The standard value of water salinity, at which the optimal growth rate of mollusks and the taste of their meat is observed, is 25‰.
How to cook oysters at home?
It was previously mentioned that you can enjoy the masterpieces of French cuisine even at home, and you do not need to have the skills and talents of a chef. In particular, with regard to the preparation of oysters, there are almost no difficulties with them. The menu of most restaurants offers living inhabitants of the sea for consumption, which means that before eating heat treatment they don't need to.
At home, already frozen specimens are usually purchased, which you just need to defrost, make a sauce for them, and you can serve the product to the table. However, baking oysters is also practiced, as well as frying and steaming them. This turns a light snack into a full-fledged second hot dish, which is much easier to consume.
After removing the seafood from the bag, it is washed and a soft brush is passed along the outside of its flaps. Then excess moisture must be removed with a towel or napkin with gentle touches. After that, the oysters are laid out on a dish with fine ice to fix them in a horizontal position by creating recesses in the surface. And they prepare a separate sauce for them, or add slices of lemon.
The classic sauce recipe for fresh oysters is as follows: 1 tbsp. red onion or shallot, which should be carefully minced. Pour 2 tbsp there. sherry vinegar and add a pinch of sugar and white pepper. All these components are thoroughly mixed, the container is covered with glass or a lid and set aside in a cool place for 1-1.5 hours.
On the basis of the same vinegar, you can prepare a more exotic sauce for oysters, if you combine 100 ml of lime juice and wine vinegar, pour 2 tsp into the mixture. soy sauce and 50 ml of white wine. At your request, you can add your favorite seasonings here: a pinch nutmeg, basil or cardamom and pepper. This sauce is infused for 30-40 minutes.
A full-fledged hot oyster dish, which is easy to cook at home, will take about 1-1.5 hours to create.
Compound:
- Oysters (without shells) - 2 tbsp.
- Onion - 1 pc.
- Bulgarian pepper - 2 pcs.
- Celery root - 0.5 pcs.
- Hard cheese - 300 g
- Garlic
- Parsley - 1 bunch
- Baton
- Spices - to taste
Cooking:
- The pulp taken out of the shells must be washed and laid out on a paper towel to get rid of excess moisture. At the same time, the liquid that was in the oysters is drained into a glass: it will be needed in the future.
- While the clams are drying, you should take care of the vegetables with which they will be baked. In a thick frying pan, butter is heated, in which you need to fry chopped onion, slices of yellow bell pepper and celery root.
- After 3-4 minutes, when the vegetables become soft and darken, they put a chopped clove of garlic and add a pinch of red pepper. The mixture is given another 2-3 minutes so that the garlic also goes through the softening stage.
- Now you need to pour 100 ml of warm boiled water into the pan, wait until Vegetable mix boil, reduce the power of the burner and throw a chopped bunch of parsley into the pan. Under a covered lid and on low heat, the vegetables should sweat for another 5-7 minutes.
- At this time 300 g hard cheese passed through a grater, half a white loaf is broken into cubes and thrown into a frying pan. Sea water is also poured there, oysters are laid.
- The dish is sprinkled with cheese on top, and the pan is removed into the oven preheated to 150 degrees. At this temperature, oysters are baked for 45 minutes, after which the indicator increases to 200 degrees, and the dish is given another 15 minutes to form a cheese crust.
After a little training at home, the correct handling of oysters in a restaurant will not be difficult for you, even if they are served closed. And, it is quite possible that such an exotic product will become your favorite, and soon, cooked at home, it will taste no worse than in an expensive French restaurant.
