Oyster Geek.com

“It is harder to be a good winner than a good loser.  One has less practice.”                                                                                                     J.O. Wintzell

Thank you, Senator Landrieu

            Certainly happy to be a winner on this one, we all need to raise a glass to Louisiana’s Dem. Senator Mary Landrieu for her persistence on including language in food safety bill S.510 that limits the FDA authority on the treatment of post harvest oysters. 

            Long story short, the FDA is trying to require post harvest treatment of gulf oysters that are harvested from April through October. California has banned the sale of gulf oysters all together.

            For the sake of all oyster eaters I would encourage we all band together. For the sake of all oysters I would encourage everyone to consider what future ramifications may be if it were allowed that any oyster anywhere be classified as unfit for its shear potential to be unsafe. For further investigation read Landrieu

Wellfleet Oyster Festival Shucking Great Time

William (Chopper) Young & Tres (Oyster Geek) Hundertmark

            I have had the pleasure to attend many different oyster festivals. There are many things that they have in common and things they do differently. One thing that I really liked about the Wellfleet festival is the number of raw bar locations.  While many festivals have one center area for raw or steamed oysters, at the Wellfleet festival they are scattered throughout the event area, and are operated by the folks who grow and harvest the oysters. I had the pleasure of shucking for Chopper Young, winner of the 2008 world shucking championship and just about every shucking contest he enters. Working a table with my son Kat, the two of us shucked 4,400 of Wellfleet’s finest in roughly ten hours over the two day event while the booth sold a little over ten thousand oysters by 3:30 on  Sunday afternoon.

            The shucking contest was a great deal of fun; being able to make it to the second round and shucking on the second day against my friend Antoine from The Union Oyster house in Boston was a treat. Not a good enough treat to claim any of the prize money this time out, but to be able to compete with this crew makes you feel pretty good.  Shucking shellfish and the ability to do so is a way of life in Wellfleet. Congrats to Kyle Morse who was the winner of the 2010 Wellfleet contest and good luck in Maryland next year.

Brilliant

The road to Galway, the Guinness world shucking championship

Mike Martin 2010 NationalOyster Shucking Champ

            Competitive oyster shucking has been a wonderful way to meet a great deal of folks from diverse walks of life all over the country.  This was the first year in the last five that I did not attend the National Shucking Contest since it occurs on the same weekend as the Wellfleet festival. However, thedistance between the events did not keep us from being there in spirit.  2010’s National Oyster shucking champion is Mike Martin from Dusty’s Oyster Bar in Panama City, FL with a shucking time of 2min. 04 sec. for 24 oysters and an adjusted time of 2:41 with penalty assessments.  While this will be Mike’s first trip to Galway, Dusty’s now brags two national champions behind the oyster bar. Scotty O’lear, the general manager, has made the trip across the pond four times. Friend Dusty's on facebook and tell Mike "Congrats"

Ancient Oysters

              As part of the Wellfleet oyster festival I was asked to do a cooking demonstration. It was not hard to decide that the perfect oyster geek recipe to do would be something a little old school, ok really old school. The recipe came out fantastic and had a wonderful flavor with the brininess of the Wellfleet oysters.

Roman Oyster Sauce

It is a recipe from Apicius De Re Coquinaria, the first cook bookin recorded history from 4th century AD

Makes sauce for 24 oysters on the half shell

Ingredients

1/8 tsp. black pepper

2 Tbl. sp. Lovage, chopped (celery leaves can be substituted)

1 Tbl. sp. ver jus (sherry vinegar may be substituted)

1 Tbl. sp. garum (nauc maum) fermented fish sauce

1 Tbl.sp. wine wine

2 each egg yolks

6 oz. olive oil

Procedure

{This process is very similar to making Bearnaise sauce}

Place all ingredients in a sauté pan except yolks and oil. Reduce till half the volume. Allow to come to room temperature. Mix ingredients in stainless steal mixing bowl with egg yolks. Place over heat and whisk till doubles in volume(may wish to use a double boiler). Remove from heat, slowly add the oil in a steady stream while still whisking. The finished product will be the consistency of mayonnaise.

What’s New on Oystergeek.com

*     Lee & Rick's Oyster bar in Orlando was added to the oyster bars to visit area, thanks to Ryan White. Friend them up on thier facebook page. Check them out when you are in town.

*     The Roman oyster sauce has been placed in the oyster recipes archive.

*     Three new albums have been added in the photo gallery.