Pickled Oysters

Crazy days in the time of covid, to say the least.  I hope everyone is staying safe and socially responsible.  And my thoughts are certainly with everyone afflicted by this pandemic.  Medically, financially, emotionally, mentally...everything.  The silver lining stories have really kept my spirits up.  Chefs mobilizing to make meals for healthcare workers and restaurant regulars leaving 1000% tips for soon-to-be furloughed servers.  Distilleries producing hand sanitizer instead of vodka, fashion designers shifting to PPE from their summer dress lines, and the innumerable videos of parents coming up with creative home entertainment for their kids.  The at home Splash Mountain was particularly cute.  With this unprecedented crisis, it's nice to see unprecedented community support coming forward to match.

I'll be honest though.  Sitting on the couch and watching TV is one of my favorite hobbies.  The isolation hasn't been that challenging, at least in terms of boredom and sanity, for me.  However, as the start of the fourth week of shelter in place in the Bay Area approaches, I can say that all my Netflix, Hulu, On Demand, and other viewing queues have swiftly been exhausted.  Watching a decade old BBC docuseries on the Peloponnesian War the other night felt like a new low.

Attempting to use my time more constructively, I tried to think of what, if any, would be an appropriate post on oysters during these times.  Well, this isn't really constructive per se, but writing a blog is definitely better than binge playing FIFA 20 on PlayStation or re-watching every single episode of Parks & Rec.   It seemed tough, though, as it's not like I could drive up to Tomales Bay and check out an oyster farm or try out innovative seafood dishes at the newest Bay Area restuarants.  However, with all the doomsday prepping, toilet paper hoarding, apocalypse is nigh happenings, preserved and shelf-stable foods are definitely "in" right now, if I'm being facetious.  Why not try my hand at pickling some oysters?  They're a thing, right?  Also, a new gimmicky and, quite frankly, terrible show on The History Channel, Eating History, provided a little inspiration.  I'm embarassed to say, but yes, I have watched every episode so far.  Like I said, viewing content is getting thin. 

Pickled oysters are by no means common fare these days.  People even wince or cringe just at the thought, as you still may while reading this.  However, that was not true of our past.  Oysters were ubiquitous on both sides of the 1800's Atlantic.  Rich or poor, high-brow or low, fancy or simple, oysters were everywhere.  And, given the absence of reliable refrigeration, oysters were preserved - smoked, dried, canned, and most popularly, pickled.

My Grandma's 1964 edition of The Joy of Cooking

James. A. Garfield's inaugural presidential dinner in 1881 boasted 100 gallons of pickled oysters as one of the culinary highlights, being an identifiable and treasured American food.  Victorian cookbooks are heavily peppered with pickled oyster recipes.  Cornwall and Wales made an industry of pickling and shipping oysters around the world, from Spain and Italy all the way to the West Indies.  The Dutch had an even larger shipping industry for pickled oysters.  Escoffier's Le Guide culinaire, published in 1903 and recognized as a culinary authority to this day, has a huîtres marinées (pickled oysters) preparation.  Half way around the world, records of pickled or fermented oysters in China and Korea go back even centuries earlier.  And you would have been hard pressed to find a tavern or bar without pickled oysters in 1800's New York.  People really liked pickled oysters.  Not sure what changed.  Well, refrigeration was the change, obviously.  But you know what I mean. 

The Joy of Cooking's Pickled Oysters Recipe

Even the horrifyingly amazing story of the indestructible Iron Mike Malloy included a homicide attempt with oysters preserved in toxic, denatured wood alcohol instead of the traditional pickle.  If you're not familiar with the Mike Malloy legend, I highly recommend reading about it.  Trying to make a long story short, a couple of depression era Bronx bar owners were connivingly cashing in with life insurance policies on unemployed and alcoholic patrons.  They'd give them open-ended bar tabs and basically allow them to drink themselves to death, subsequently filing for the payout claim.  Iron Mike wasn't exactly following the protocol and dying, but rather drinking the bar dry day after day with no apparent ill effect.  The bar owners tried to then speed the process up by serving him poisonous cocktails, the toxic oysters, rotten food with ground up glass and tacks, hitting him with a cab, and even leaving him blacked out, naked, and covered in water in the snowy subzero Bronx streets overnight.  However, Mike simply wouldn't die.  He kept showing up day after day for his free libations, even asking for second helpings of some of the noxious food.  It's a pretty crazy Rasputin-esque story, and I know you've got the time to read it with the quarantine, so give it a shot.

Anyway, to pickle my own completely edible and hopefully tasty oysters, first step was to head to the practically deserted Ferry Building farmers' market for some Hog Island Sweetwaters.  Sorry, I wouldn't trust Amazon Prime delivery oysters, if they even have them.  And don't worry, social distancing was well observed by everyone and I hand sanitized every ten steps I took.  Seriously though, all vendors and shoppers seemed to be taking the utmost precaution, and it was really nice to see that several stands were close to sold out at my noon arrival time.  Glad that people are still supporting them in these dire straits.  Quick trip back home, knife out, and I soon had three dozen plump oysters primed for the pickle.

Without going into the textbook long art and science of preservation, pickling is basically preserving something through fermentation or immersing it an acidic liquid, typically vinegar.  I feel like fermented oysters (굴젓 or guljeot) are deserving of their own, separate experimenting and exploration, so I knew I was sticking to the much less intimidating vinegar style of pickling.  Pretty straight forward and simple.  Make a pickling liquid with water, vinegar, salt, sugar, add in some spices, let it cool, and throw it over the oysters.  Pickled oysters, done.

And these are just the vinegars I considered

But while flipping through several cook books, old and new, and conducting a few deep Google dives, it seemed a lot of pickled oyster recipes were all over the place.  First, vinegar, as with most pickled items, ends up being the predominant flavor.  Doubly so with something like oysters, I knew.  But which one?  Some called for champagne vinegar, others for rice wine vinegar.  What about white or red wine vinegar, or even sherry vinegar?  The beverages themselves go so well with oysters.  The recipe for President Garfield's pickled oysters called for cider vinegar, and several of the other old recipes, like the aforementioned Joy of Cooking one, just said vinegar.  Thanks a lot, Irma.  I've got a lot of different vinegars.  Second, to cook or not to cook the oysters.  Admittedly, most of the recipes called for a quick poaching, just until they curled around the edges.  This would remove moisture from the oysters and preserve them longer.  But some said to immerse the raw oysters into a chilled pickling liquid, or even just pour the liquid over the oysters on the half shell, freshly shucked.   Seasonings?  Cayenne, tabasco, peppercorns, cloves, citrus, allspice, mustard seeds, garlic, and everything else under the sun came up.  The older recipes always call for some fun ingredients, like a blade of mace.  And what about all that flavorful oyster liquor?  Some said add to the pickling liquid, others made no mention of it at all.  A lot to consider, no?

With nothing but time on my hands, I said fuck it and tried three different preparations:

1) I'll admit, I was going to make this one from the start, regardless of what I'd read.  I really wanted to do a mignonette style pickle.  A classic mignonette is red wine vinegar, macerated shallots, and fresh cracked pepper, traditionally served over a raw oyster.  A restaurant I used to work at served the same style, but with malt vinegar, specifically Four Monks, and it's hands down the best I've ever had.  That flavor but in a pickled oyster sounded phenomenal to me.  I poached the oysters in their liquor until slightly curled, removed them and added in malt vinegar, a few tablespoons of salt and sugar, and whole peppercorns to the remaining oyster liquor.  The pickling mix simmered for 10 mins or so and once cooled, into a jar with the oysters and sliced shallots.  Then, off to the fridge to sit at least 24 hours.

2) I had to at least try and do portions of the President Garfield recipe, so I decided to go with a cider vinegar version.  Same process as the first.  Oysters slightly poached, removed from the liquor and pickling mixture added in.  Unfortunately, this was a shelter in place undertaking, so I couldn't casually scramble down to the market, let alone spice merchant, for cloves, allspice, and mace.  Poorly stocked cupboard, I suppose.  I threw in some serrano peppers, mandarinquat slices, and peppercorns and called it day.  Batch number two cooled, onto the oysters, and into the fridge to also sit at least 24 hours.

3) The last batch I wanted to test out pickling the oysters raw and without any of their liquor.  I was certain the texture would come out different, and they'd probably have a shorter shelf-life.  For this, I decided to go with a simple champagne vinegar, salt, sugar, and peppercorn pickling mix.  Heated, simmered, and cooled, into the jar it went with the raw oysters.  24 hours minimum in the fridge, as well.

Left to right - cider, malt, champagne

After patiently waiting 36 hours, I woke up to a pickled oyster Christmas morning, of sorts.  How'd they turn out?  The first thing I definitely learned was that pickled oysters aren't exactly the most photogenic preparation.  Not going to lie, they look like some 9th grade biology project or an oddity straight out of the Mütter Museum.  There's a reason I went with the smallest possible size of this photo.  Also, the oyster liquor definitely added to the flavor of the pickling liquid, but it made a cloudy and particulate riddled visual.  Whatever.  I'll cop-out and go with "taste is all that matters."  I tried each oyster individually with no accoutrement.  As expected, all very forward in flavor of their respective vinegars.  The malt vinegar won, by far.  The Four Monks malt vinegar was the best vinegar to start with, so it wasn't surprising.  But the added twist of brininess from oyster liquor and sweet crunch from the shallots made for a tasty bite.  The cider vinegar version was nice as well, with a good heat coming through from the serranos.  The cooked were also much better in terms of texture than the raw.  They had a nice firm and toothsome texture, similar to the meat of a fried oyster.  Much nicer in comparison to the creamy, almost slimy mouth feel from the raw pickle.  Some people like a creamier oyster though, so to each their own (yup, that's grammatically correct.  3rd person plural is acceptably used in the singular with the gender fluid times.  I stay woke).  The only thing I have yet to confirm is which version lasts the longest before, well, becoming inedible.  I don't really see any spoiling, given they're pickled.  But I do see the texture of the oysters deteriorating, making them very unpalatable at some point.  Only time will tell on that, so I'll have to report back.    

And for ways to enjoy the pickled oysters, the possibilities are endless.  Modestly on top of crackers with a little hot sauce or ornately back in the half shell adorned with fresh dill, caviar, and crème fraîche.  I could see them topping a caesar salad or a nice addition to a banchan spread while enjoying Korean BBQ, depending on the flavors you chose to pickle with.  And of course, they'd be a great bar pairing with an ice cold beer.  I enjoyed some for lunch one day on ciabatta slices with frisee, radishes, some of the pickled serranos and shallots, and a light spread of aioli.  Not half bad for a working from home during the pandemic lunch break, right?

I'm excited to see how the pickled oysters fare over the next few weeks and for different ways to enjoy them.  Hope you all stay safe and try passing the time with some fun culinary projects and experiments of your own.

Cheers,
The SF Oyster Nerd