Oysters, Sushi and Sashimi

[serious crayons]

  So basically, like the comedian said, people don't really like the taste of the oyster, they really just like the taste of the sauces.

It's not that the oyster tastes bad (except, I mean, when it's "bad"). A good oyster tastes briney and fresh, with an interesting slippery texture. But yeah, mainly it's a vehicle for sauce.

[MaineWriter]

But yeah, mainly it's a vehicle for sauce.

Not in my world. I can eat any of the things we talked about plain, without sauce. I have. Heck, I grew on on the Great South Bay of New York and dug clams with my toes. Brought them home, pried them open, ate them. No sauce at all...just pure clam.

Sauce sauce and wasabi enhances sushi, sure...a little lemon and horseradish on a clam, great. But to call them a vehicle for the sauce....that's a sacrilege in my world. LOL

L

[Brown Eyes]

Hey everybody, get this -- I have actually eaten sushi WITH AMANDA! Yup, when we met the first time, in Pittsburgh, she took me to a shushi place. I joked that we ate elk sushi, but of course it was just regular sushi.

That sure was fun Bud! 

For those who can't get enuff of fish polls, here's the original "Who Loves Fish?"

http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,2598.0/all.html

Amanda, I think it's great that you took your new friend to a fish taco place, and you took Katherine to a sushi place!! Makes me want to hop on a plane to Pittsburgh this instant!!

Please do hop on a plane!  It would be fun.  I now know several other good places to get sushi in addition to the place where I went with K.  And, actually, the pub where I had fish tacos was on my list of places to maybe take K back when she came to visit... but the place where she was staying was pretty far away from the fish-taco-pub... so sushi it was! 

I'm glad folks are enjoying this poll.  I'm becoming encouraged about trying raw oysters one of these days.

[David In Indy]

That sure was fun Bud! 



Please do hop on a plane!  It would be fun.  I now know several other good places to get sushi in addition to the place where I went with K.  And, actually, the pub where I had fish tacos was on my list of places to maybe take K back when she came to visit... but the place where she was staying was pretty far away from the fish-taco-pub... so sushi it was! 

I'm glad folks are enjoying this poll.  I'm becoming encouraged about trying raw oysters one of these days.

Raw oysters are good Amanda. I'm not a big fan of chewing them though. I put some hot sauce on them and let them slide down my throat.

[serious crayons]

Sauce sauce and wasabi enhances sushi, sure...a little lemon and horseradish on a clam, great. But to call them a vehicle for the sauce....that's a sacrilege in my world. LOL

I've never had a raw clam one way or another. But oysters and sushi ... well, I've eaten them sauceless, but to me that's kind of like eating popcorn without salt or a baked potato without butter and/or sour cream.

I guess "vehicle for the sauce" is a tiny bit of an exaggeration, though. When the oysters are gone (always too soon), I might have a little sauce on a Saltine, and when the sushi is gone (again too soon) I consume any stray rice with the sauce. But neither is a decent substitute.

[MaineWriter]

Raw oysters are good Amanda. I'm not a big fan of chewing them though. I put some hot sauce on them and let them slide down my throat.

I think chewing them is against the rules. Sliding is the operative word and preferred technique...

[MaineWriter]

I've never had a raw clam one way or another. But oysters and sushi ... well, I've eaten them sauceless, but to me that's kind of like eating popcorn without salt or a baked potato without butter and/or sour cream.

Yes. Exactly...


All this clam talk has made me think of FRIED CLAMS and I am reminded that someday summer will be here and it will be fried clam season. Here in New England there are huge debates about fried clams in batter vs. crumbs. I am a crumb girl, 100%. With homemade tartar sauce. Lots and lots of it. Now there is a situation where I won't eat the food without the sauce. I also think it is easier to get a "bad" fried clam than it is a raw one (or oyster). If they haven't been cleaned properly they can be all gritty and sandy. Yuck. I am very picky about where I will eat fried clams and really only have 2 places here in Maine that I trust.

L

[southendmd]

OK, raw oysters are NOT vehicles for sauce.  Sacrilege in my book. 

I think all that tabasco, horseradish etc. nonsense was to "hide" the taste of poorly refrigerated oysters in the old days.  "Months with Rs" is also a throwback to the days before good refrigeration.  Up here in Cape Cod, summer oysters are just fine.  They actually taste better in the winter, though.

I had several TONIGHT, Wellfleets at their best, sweet, a little briney, and all I use is one little drop of lemon juice.  None of that sauce nonsense.  I want to taste the poor little mollusk that gave its life!

Plus, with the right tool and a little experience, it's real easy to open an oyster. 

[delalluvia]

Raw oysters are good Amanda. I'm not a big fan of chewing them though. I put some hot sauce on them and let them slide down my throat.

A great many people do this.  Another piece of evidence that people don't actually like the taste.  I swallow pills so I don't have to taste them.

Since some people on this board may be immuno-suppressed for whatever reason, just a reminder of why they put warnings on the bottom of seafood restaurant menus that warn against raw seafood and shellfish:

http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC3663.htm

[David In Indy]

A great many people do this.  Another piece of evidence that people don't actually like the taste.  I swallow pills so I don't have to taste them.

Since some people on this board may be immuno-suppressed for whatever reason, just a reminder of why they put warnings on the bottom of seafood restaurant menus that warn against raw seafood and shellfish:

http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC3663.htm

I remember watching my parents eating raw oysters when I was a kid. My maternal grandfather (is that the right way to say it? My mom's dad) was from Louisiana and I have many relatives down there. We'd travel to the New Orleans area a couple of times each year when I was a child. And all that time, I never thought to equate raw oysters with sushi! I guess it is, sort of. Oysters are a water animal, but they really aren't fish. They are a shell animal. But if they serve them in sushi restaurants, I guess maybe they are.

Del, I think it would very difficult to chew a raw oyster. I've never tried to do it, but they are very slippery and squishy. It would be like trying to chew a semi firm egg yolk. Or something like that. Maybe I'm wrong, but I've never tried to do it. Around the teeth and past the gums, look out stomach here it comes!