enthusiasm is contagious

Celebrating & Eating the Ocean

My adopted hometown hosts an annual celebration of the bivalve that fed early america (and the natives) for many, many years. I only recently started swallowing these slippery mulloscs, these fine and tiny pearl makers, these filtration masters…and to be honest, I only eat them once every 600 or so days. But have been reading a book called 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in one New York Tenement about the regional and cultural food history of America. It was delightful to read about German regional food while hanging in a part of the nation (Wisconsin) that is heavily populated by German immigrants. Here is a recipe for Oyster Patties from the book (page 75):

Beard the oysters, and, if large, halve them; put them into a saucepan with a piece of butter rolled in flour, some finely shred lemon rind, and a little white pepper, and milk, and a portion of the liquor from the fish; stir all well together, let it simmer for a few minutes, and put it in your patty pans [resembling shallow cupcake pans], which should already be prepared with puff paste in the usual way. Serve hot or cold.

I like to look at Long Island Sound and think about this picture—the sound of a sailboat  is very different than the sound of motorboats. I find the texture of oysters strange, but the delightful sweetness they sometimes have is extraordinary, and they do good work, cleaning the waters all around us. I always feel when I taste them like I am swimming on the ocean floor, like I am tasting what it is to be the sea. Bless them. An oyster can filter up to 1.3 US gallons of water per hour.

Selected Bibliography:

97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman

The Big Oyster: History on the Half-Shell by Mark Kurlansky

Tears of Mermaids: The Secret Story of Pearls by Steven G. Bloom