When I was growing up, my parents always ate oyster stew together on New Year’s Eve. To me, that wasn’t romantic, it was yucky.
Later, as a student at Florida State, though, bushels of wild oysters from Apalachicola Bay and a keg of beer was a ready-made party I learned to love.
In July, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted to shut down the Apalachicola Bay oyster fishery for five years, with the hope that the beds can come back after being devastated by years of drought and runoff.
The good news is that what’s been called “oyster mania” has accelerated into a much wider appreciation for sustainable, high-quality farmed oysters. You can witness that at restaurants like Kimball House in Decatur, where oyster happy hour became both a celebratory and educational occasion.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Kimball House’s resident oyster expert and purveyor, Bryan Rackley, has been a big part of that — bringing in oysters from farmers in multiple regions, and working with Oyster South, the nonprofit that works to expand the environmental and economic benefits of oyster farming in the South.
Recently, we asked Rackley and Kimball House executive chef Brian Wolfe to come up with some recipes for cooking with oysters. They obliged by creating a mini oyster fest that Wolfe called “a composed meal.”
It progressed from grilled and wood oven-roasted oysters topped with herb butter, to a rich shellfish escabeche with oysters, clams, mussels and blue crab, and finally, a hearty but bright oyster stew with parsnips, celery root, and leeks.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Not surprisingly, like most restaurants, Kimball House has suffered during the pandemic. Dining at the bar is no longer an option. But business in the dining room and on the patio has been picking up. And the takeout menu offers at least a dozen different raw oyster appellations to take home and shuck yourself, along with herb butter for grilled oysters, and even oyster knives.
“Bryan working directly with oyster farmers has meant me not having to order a single oyster at Kimball House, because he’s got it covered,” Wolfe said. "He goes to the airport three times a week to pick up shipments from farmers, and that makes a huge difference with the freshness and flavor. That’s what’s harder for home cooks. But if you can find a farmers market or fish market where the product is coming in fresh, that’s the best thing.”
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
“I’m currently working with 12-16 farmers on a weekly basis,” Rackley said. "We’re selling oysters from Louisiana up to Maine, and then from Northern California up to Washington state. There’s a farm in Alaska we’ve been working with for years. And there’s a co-op in Rhode Island.
“With the pandemic, we went into selling oysters to go, not with the idea that we’d make any money. We did it to keep those relationships with those farmers. We needed to do that because I think people expected us to. And now we keep doing it because it helps us move product and keep it fresh.”
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Ultimately, Rackley said he wants everyone to eat more oysters, whether they’re raw or cooked.
“There’s a very gray area sometimes between my Oyster South work and my Kimball House work,” he said. “I want people to eat oysters for dinner. Whether they’re at a raw bar is irrelevant to me. People consuming oysters means there’s someone who has to grow more oysters. And because oysters have such a positive impact on marine ecologies, it’s a commonsense food for anybody who wants that world to continue to exist."
RECIPES
These oyster recipes from Kimball House can be served on their own or all together to make “a composed meal.”
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Grilled Oysters on the Half Shell
The only difficulty with this easy and delicious recipe is that you must shuck the oysters and sever their adductor muscles in order to open the shells and loosen the oyster. You can find tutorials online, but practice, and a good oyster knife, makes perfect.
Note: Oysters are delicious roasted in an oven or on a gas grill. But if you have access to a wood-burning grill, it will produce a flavor that cannot be surpassed.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Shellfish Escabeche
Shellfish Escabeche is a mixture of cooked shellfish in a rich sauce made with olive oil, vegetables and herbs. It can be served either hot or cold. And it’s great for home cooks because you can use any kind of fresh shellfish you can find, including oysters, crabs, clams, scallops or shrimp. Serve the escabeche on grilled bread with a crisp white wine.
For the pickled mustard seeds:
Note: Make the pickled mustard seeds 1 day in advance.
1 cup water
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 cup mustard seeds
In a medium saucepan, bring water, vinegar and sugar to a boil. Once boiling and the sugar is melted, add the cup of mustard seeds. Boil for 2 minutes, let cool and put in the fridge.
To poach the shellfish:
2 cups white wine
In a lidded saucepan, bring 2 cups of the white wine to a boil. Add 1 pound cleaned shellfish (oysters, crabs, clams, shrimp, mussels, scallops) and poach for 1 minute. Strain and cool. Cut into smaller pieces, if desired.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Oyster Stew
This bright oyster recipe has a lot of steps, but it’s really easy to execute once all the prep is done. Poach the oysters and roast the veggies first. Plump farmed Gulf oysters are a good option for stew because they tend to be more mild.
Where to buy fresh oysters
Locally, Kimball House has the best selection of sustainable farmed oysters, but you can shop for oysters and seafood at markets like Whole Foods, Your DeKalb Farmers Market or Buford Highway Farmers Market.
Online, Hama Hama Seafood Co. in Lilliwaup, Washington, offers a variety of oysters in the shell, hamahamaoysters.com, and Island Creek Oysters, which has its own farm in Duxbury Bay, Massachusetts, offers oysters by the bag and in seafood packages, islandcreekoysters.com.
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