Try the oyster you might like it.

10/31/2016

We are in the heart of oyster season so there is no time like the present to enjoy them . So off to the annual land a sea event at the Wellwood we go. Chesapeake Bay Oysters are a delicacy and provide a perfect opportunity to eat local with friends and eat well. We are lucky and love living in the Delmarva Peninsula or simply Delmarva, it is a large peninsula on the East Coast , occupied by most of Delaware as well as the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Although called a peninsula, it is technically an island after the digging of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The Wellwood is located in Historic Charlestown, Maryland and is a convenient one hour out of Baltimore and Philadelphia, and 35 minutes from Delaware. The Historic Wellwood is a beautiful water view venue that delivers elegant dining . The land and sea event is a all you can eat buffet we attend each year... So back to the Oysters . I know what a lot of people are thinking. How do you eat them? They look intimidating but once I tried one for myself I was hooked. Slurping is the wrong way to do it.....If you’ve never tried one, have your first one naked. I won’t even recommend lemon for your first. Any accoutrement will change the flavor and make it hard for your palate to know exactly what the oyster tastes like. Then proceed to the accoutrement...Otherwise known as sauces and condiments. Experiment whenever you can... Try a squeeze lemon...Rumor has it that lemon was originally used on raw oysters as a way to prove that it was shucked live, fresh, and served in its own shell. The acid was supposed to make the live oyster “quiver,” as proof it was just shucked . I Haven't actually seen this though. PLEASE no cocktail sauce. Cocktail sauce consists of two ingredients , horseradish and ketchup. Horseradish is great, but ketchup has no business on an oyster. This tradition I think began as a way to mask the scent and taste of bad oysters. Would you put ketchup on any fresh seafood? Maybe if it's fried.....Elegantly pour it in your mouth, then chew, because like a fine wine, an oyster must be aerated. Its flavor is just as much in the meat as the "liquor", the real flavors will be released as you break up those cells. Of all the ways to eat oysters, it turns out slurping is the wrong way to do it. Bon Appetit polled several oyster chefs who say that real oyster enjoyment happens when you treat it like wine: smell it first, pour it into your mouth with its “liquor,” or juice, and chew two-to-three times....What do you think? HEY, don't forget the wine. I like a dry wine , red or white . Here are a few pictures of the event .