Saveur

Photo: Jorg Brockmann

What are your favorite condiments for oyster?

I actually avoided condiments for the most part so that I could compare the flavors of the oysters I tasted. When oysters are bland, I can understand condiments, but frankly, I'd rather just eat tasty oysters on their own. If I had to choose, though, lemon is number one, Tabasco number two. Oysters, saltines, coffee, and Tabasco sauce early in the morning are really good.

I like how you included recipes for all kinds of oyster dishes in the book. What are a couple of your favorites?

I really love that modified Tom Valenti oyster pan roast. It's kind of a cross between a pan roast and a chowder. The hangtown fry—oysters with bacon and scrambled eggs—is the quintessential West Coast oyster dish. When it comes to the Texas Gulf coast, the fried oyster nachos sum it up.

You do a lot of drinking in the book. I'm surprised the title of the book doesn't include the word alcohol!

[Laughs] I missed that one, didn't I?

What was your favorite drink-and-oyster pairing?

With the edulis oysters I was eating in London, the gin martini with a lemon peel and olive was just stunning.

How did you really feel after you ate 15 dozen oysters in one sitting?

I felt waterlogged. It was like I'd drunk way too much water. I went home and took a nap.

So, all those oysters didn't perform, from an aphrodisiac perspective.

Unfortunately, my wife and I had our teenage daughters with us on that trip.
 
I'm going to New Orleans next weekend. What is the must-try oyster place or must-try oyster dish in that city?

Well, unfortunately, it's not really the season to be eating raw oysters. New Orleans has the best cooked oyster dishes in the world, though. I'd certainly try oysters bainville at Arnaud's. They make six different kinds of baked oysters, and they're all pretty damn good. Galatoire's is always worth the trip. If you have a group, take 'em out to Mosca's. Mosca's is terrific: everything's served family style, so it's hard to go with just one or two of you. Oysters Mosca is fabulous.

Your wife, Kelly, doesn't seem to like oysters, and yet she accompanies you on many of your oyster travels. She must really love you!

She likes Gulf oysters. It's the European oyster that puts her off. It was just too bold a flavor for her. I've seen her knock back a dozen Gulf oysters by herself.

You mention that, in 1864, London laborers were buying four oysters for a penny. Even accounting for inflation, that price seems pretty low. Were oysters once the lobster of the East Coast?

They certainly were. With the advent of the railroad, oyster fishermen could suddenly sell as many oysters as they could haul. That led to a glut of oysters, driving the price down. For a period of 10 or 20 years in the late 1800s, oysters were really cheap.

In the book, you relate an interesting conversation you had about how the advent of smoked salmon has possibly killed the oyster business. Could that be the subject of your next book?

Yeah, that would probably be a pretty interesting book. Smoked salmon was once an artisan product, and it's become this mass-produced, ever cheaper product, so it would also be a sad story. The theory makes sense, though.

Cancale, France, gets your nomination for "world's best destination for oyster tourists". But Moran's Oyster Cottage, in Ireland, sounded pretty amazing, too!

You're right: sitting in that oyster cottage by the peat fire with a pint is one hell of an experience.

You call the Pacific Northwest the most exciting oyster region in the world right now. Can you tell us why?

Yeah, because they have so many species of oysters available and their oyster farming is clearly cutting edge.

You say you finally had your "perfect oyster" at Rodney's Oyster House, in Toronto. It was an oyster from Prince Edward Island. Does it still hold the title?

That was still the best one I've ever had, but I'm eagerly looking to knock it from its place.