I refuse to eat warm-water oysters raw, the varieties from the cold waters in the Pacific I think produce a much cleaner flavor with a broader range of salinity tastes. French oysters from Brittany are another fantastic range of goodness. You're best move to go with the many cooked/grilled/fried options for warm water oysters and reduce the chance of any issues.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I enjoyed going to Bodega Bay where there’s an oyster shack. They would put the oysters over an outside grill for less than 30 seconds. Mmmm….

That's a nice slice of heaven we have, go down to nearby Tomales Bay, where all the oyster beds are...and the great whites are offshore spawning their kids.

Oysters Bienville are my favorite. Or oyster stew. Used to love raw, but know too many people who have gotten very sick.

When I was a kid we lived right on Hood's Canal in Washington state. We would walk down to the rocky beach and pick up oysters all over. We often ate them raw but I learned over the years that by far the best way was to fry them in butter (low heat) in a cast iron skillet.

In my area of eastern N.C. We visit a local oyster bar where they steam the oysters . My choice of light, medium, or well-done. I usually get the lightly steamed . Nothing better with horseradish and Texas Pete hot sauce on a saltine cracker. Expensive for just a half peck but well worth it.

Ahhhh...Earl Abels! They also had the sign over the entrance counter that said "Eat here and Diet home". What a great place so thanks for the memory. (Trinity Grad).

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Originally posted by Redleg06:
"It was a brave man who ate the first oyster."

Sign above the lunch counter at Earl Abel's in San Antonio, Texas...that was before they moved away from Broadway & Hildebrand.

Maybe just soak them in bleach for 1min prior to consuming them?

Reminds me of a thick load of phlegm with a mix of pencil erasures and a touch of lemon and a couple of drops of hot sauce, but then again I do not have a developed palate. Bon Appetite.

When I was a grad student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in the early 1990’s, my advisor told a story about a colleague who was a Professor of Marine Biology (hereafter PMB) who constantly warned people about the health risks associated with eating raw seafood, especially filter feeders like oysters.

On and on he’d drone about how viral pathogens like Hepatitis A was possible to contract because oyster habitats are the very places where Hep A viruses in untreated sewage wash ashore and get taken up by filter feeders.

So, after years of this, he went to a conference in New Orleans and met up with a bunch of friends from his days at university.

They went out in the French Quarter, and for a group of late-30’s academics, proceeded to party. Hard.

In a seafood restaurant, half in the bag, PMB let his friends badger him into eating one raw oyster. Just one. No more.

You guessed it. He contracted Hep A.

The moral of this story is of you are going to eat raw oysters, do them as Mexican oyster shooters, with a tequila sidecar.

The alcohol might disinfect them just enough to keep you from getting sick from the oysters.

My college roommate got some from a dude in a truck on way back from FL, circa 1984. We served them to a large group of friends at a gathering before a concert right at the end of the quarter.

When we made it to the Medical Clinic the next afternoon they mentioned there had been 10+ people there with same issues and they were trying to figure out who had provided all these oysters.

We damn near killed another of my roommates, and he only had a couple....

I've eaten them since, but for raw limit that to NE or NW coast oysters instead of the Apalachicola variety!

I've eaten enough raw oysters to kill all of us. It's been a little while, but I probably will have some, soon. If they're not raw, I prefer them fried.

I have been interested in these comments. My folks used to cook oysters for dinner on occasion. I recall liking them. I think they boiled or steamed them. Then we dunked them in melted butter. Every now and then I consider getting some, but never follow through due to price and the fact that my wife won't eat them.

I'm not eating anything raw from the Gulf of America .

Man... I spend a lot of time working in Charleston, Savannah, and on the Gulf Coast. I eat me some oysters... raw, steamed, fried, rockefeller, etc.

Mostly raw, though. Nothing like sitting around a makeshift table at duck camp shucking oysters and eating them out of the shell.

I remember consuming a dozen on the half shell on a date back way back when. I also remember her disappointment when only eight of them worked. Poor poor pitiful me.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
I remember consuming a dozen on the half shell on a date back way back when. I also remember her disappointment when only eight of them worked. Poor poor pitiful me.

You weren’t holding your mouth right.

Many years ago my mother requested some raw oysters for a birthday present.... Well she was presented with a gallon can (like a paint can) size.. Purchased from a oyster processing facility........IIRC the count was 22 dozen in the can.... We had oysters in so many different forms for a while.... One of my favorite ways is in a good seafood gumbo or at holiday season a oyster dressing.... Damn making me get hungry. .................................. drill sgt.

Loves me some raw oysters...

Thanks for that heads up, never heard of Vibrio. https://www.cdc.gov/vibrio/about/index.html

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jimb888,

Whenever we are near the ocean, my wife and I order oysters every chance we get. We usually stop in a local hole an int ewall mid afternoon for a beer and a dozen on the half shell. More at dinner.

We also love smoked oysters.