Prime Time for Oysters

Now is the prime time for oysters. The textbook indicator is that November and December end with an "R". The more pragmatic indicator is that they are being sold everywhere. With the approach of the Christmas season and the opening of the Christmas markets, several seafood stands pop up outside local restaurants...especially around Place Broglie and Place Kleber. You can pick out your oysters and carry them home and shuck them yourself or you can dine inside and have them shucked for you. Also, the oysters are on sale in the groceries in the fresh fish sections. Theresa and I have acquired a bit of an addiction to raw oysters since coming to France. In fact, oysters have figured prominently in previous postings. So, needless to say we are happy with the current abundance.

The intro picture is a selection that we picked up at an oyster bar in Paris. The plate is a sampling of dozen oysters from six different areas of France. (You see, like wine, the oysters are supposed to pick up a distinctive flavor from the locality where they are raised.) The plate also includes six of the rare "number 0"size oysters from Normandy. These bad boys are very large...the biggest available. You can't just swallow them whole...you have to chew them. Served with a little lemon or shallot vinegar, they are truly a treat.As another example of oyster-madness, we submit to you the following: Last Tuesday I stopped by the grocery and got two boxes of oysters....that's four dozen. They were size #2 and #3, which is the typical restaurant size. Theresa and I shucked and ate all four dozen for dinner. This is not something I would recommend for every night, but as an exception it is a special treat. Serve them with a nice dry white wine from Alsace and some brown bread and butter. Life does not get much better as far as food goes.

The only problem with fixing oysters is that there are too many sharp things involved. The knife you use to open the shells is dangerous enough. But the shells themselves can be sharp as a knife if you catch them in the wrong place. The photo below is not of me giving a "thumbs up" for the meal. Rather, I am displaying my bandaged thumb which I sliced wide open the sharp edge of a shell.