OYSTERS, FOOD OF THE GODS

I forget, is it months with R's in them that we're supposed to eat oysters, or months without R's?

we have great refrigeration now, it really doesnt matter any more. You can eat pink pork too. (Unless youre in Mexico)

on another thread I posted a local favorite...Apalachicola "dirty" oysters...

"Food critics and restaurant owners from Miami and New Orleans say Apalachicola Bay oysters are among the finest in the world, if not the finest.

Chefs of fancy restaurants in Charleston, S.C., where mediocre seafood will be sent back, prize them above oysters from their native coast. Even some Easterners prefer their taste to oysters from the waters of Chesapeake Bay and Long Island Sound."

Dirty Oysters

shucked oysters with caviar, sour cream and minced Bermuda onion on top

Although...

I've read in a couple of places that trichinosis is a worry again with free range porkies. I don't think I saved the links, nor do I testify the articles are right.

Had an oyster po'boy at Cafe Pontalba, looking out at Jackson Square.

<catching up on this thread by reading backwards>

re the first person to eat oysters being very hungry -
that's what I think is true.. not only of oysters, but most foods..

that's how I ate my first stuffed mushrooms, fer sure.

then stay away from "free range " pork. I have no idea how this is accomplished other than letting pigs roam free on your pasture. With that in mind, pigs are very destructive and will turn a nice looking farm into a shithole. Pigs dig and burro and dearly looooove making mud and dust holes to cool off.

This is one animal that Id like to see kept in suitably roomy confinement cages . The best pig houses around here are about 80'X 250' airconditioned cement floor lounge pens with auto feeders and cp senosors for environmenta and health . They have T sensors that can scan the pigs routinely tosee that theres no illnesses going around and the swill is all collected in a liquid manure system that catches and stores the manures in large holding tanks. This is then spread on fields twice a year. A pig farm will, for 355 days a year, give off no odors at all and the other 10 , the smells come from spreading manures on the fields. I have 2 neighbors who raise pigs for "finishing" and one with a "farrowing " opeartion. These systems are way less objectionable than a "grass fed" free range operation(IMHO)

I'm not knowledgeable enough to argue on that; you make a convincing case. I'll remain indecisive until I read a bit more.

The only way I like oysters is kilpatrick.

We love oysters, especially raw. I was always scared on which ones you can actually buy at the grocery store to use. Does anyone have any tips on which type and how to purchase them? Also, I know that people like to throw it on the grill for a little while. Hints? Suggestions?

re pig odor...I don't care what anyone says, they smell bad.

my former boss had one of those potbellies that lived in the house and was bathed and all that stuff.

she would bring it to work, and to me, it stunk. She claimed she couldn't smell anything, but there was no taking that barnyard smell out/off of it.

pigs have a BO thats unique to the species. Just like a skunk, if youre ever indeep woods , you can smell wild pigs amile off. Domestic pigs, if raised like I said, (confined in modern houses) will give off very little odors because they are collected and adsorbed onto activated carbon. However, when the liuid manure is spread on the fields "HELEN GET ME MY GASMASK".
We had a picnic here yesterday and I told the guy that uses some of my fields in share cropping to wait till this week to spread his liquid pig shit. He did it today and we have all the windows shut and the AC on. When you go outside for the next 2 days itll smell really bad.

BUT, as I said to Ms F "Id rather have that smell for 5 to 10 days a year rather than a bazillion suburban Mickeymansion homes around us"