Chicago is a town that can be proud of its food festivals. From the lively gatherings in our ethnic neighborhoods to the massive celebration that is Taste of Chicago, anyone with a transit card and a map of the city can socialize and dine well through the year on victuals touchingly familiar or teasingly exotic.
If it were necessary for me to choose one of these events as my very favorite, I would hem and haw and then choose “Royster With the Oyster,” an annual tribute to one of nature’s most revered shellfish.
Over the centuries, it should be noted, the oyster has benefited from homages in both prose and poetry. And it has needed them.
After all, this bivalve mollusk–to address it formally–is a soft grayish blob confined inside an often craggy, off-white casket. As Jonathan Swift once observed, “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.” Even opening one can be a daunting task.
But well worth it. Not only is the unique briny flavor of the sea magically encapsuled in the oyster more than any other creature, but–on occasion–a pearl is born. Also, along with caviar, another classic indulgence food from the sea, it may be consumed in seemingly infinite quantity.
The week-long oyster festival, created by Shaw’s Crab House in 1988, is currently in full flight. Last year an estimated 10,000 roysters consumed more than 62,000 oysters.
Surely some who attend the festival will attempt to approach infinity in their consumption. Others will simply sample several and be pleased that demand for oysters remains high and the speed of modern transportation means Chicago receives fresh product regularly from both East and West Coasts and beyond. Others will be content to royster (carouse) with or without oysters.
This year management is hoping to open even more lures such as half-price oysters (more than 30 varieties from Atlantic and Pacific), a daily oyster slurping contest and live entertainment in the Blue Crab Lounge. The dining room menu will list daily oyster specials. During the week, there will be a lecture and dinner based on the Art Institute’s “Monet and the Sea” exhibition (Monday); an oyster and keg beer party (Tuesday); Oyster Hall of Fame induction (Wednesday); Oyster sampling (Thursday), and the grand Royster, a tented block party featuring oysters at Kinzie and Clark Streets (Friday).
Determining the best way to prepare and eat oysters has been an incendiary subject since man first pulled them from the sea. Cooks poach, pan- and deep-fry, bake and grill them; they add them to soups, sauces, stuffings, sandwiches and the occasional beef steak (carpetbagger steak).
When serving them raw in French restaurants, tradition calls for a mixture of shallots and vinegar to flavor raw oysters with bread and butter served on the side. In New Orleans, the diner may add a drop or two of Tabasco sauce on each oyster. Some add a little lemon juice as well. When consuming oysters, I avoid cocktail sauce, something oyster expert and festival consultant Jon Rowley calls “the red menace.” Save it for clams or calamari.
Here is a contemporary approach to marinating and flavoring oysters that will be served raw. (I offer a recipe for cooked oysters as well.) It comes from chef Eric Ripert in “Le Bernardin Cookbook,” who likes “the way the relish complements the flavor of the oysters.” His partner in the restaurant, Maguy Le Coze, responds: “Poor grandpapa, if he were still alive, he’d think we’d gone crazy with a recipe like this. He liked his oysters straight out of the sea, cracked open on the dock [and] squirming as they went down.”
Try well-chilled oysters plain and fancy during the course of “Royster With the Oyster” and determine your preference.
MARINATED OYSTERS WITH TOMATO-CUCUMBER RELISH
Four servings
24 small oysters, such as Kumamoto, Malpeque or Chilean
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup shallots in tiny dice
1/3 cup fennel in tiny dice
1/3 cup sherry vinegar
Fine sea salt to taste
Freshly ground white pepper to taste
1/4 preserved lemon or 1 lemon
1/2 cup peeled, seeded cucumber in 1/8th inch dice
1/2 cup peeled, seeded ripe tomato in 1/8-inch dice
24 fresh coriander leaves, very thinly sliced
Crushed ice, to cover 4 dinner plates
1. On the day you plan to serve, open the oysters or have your fish store do it. Use a small knife to loosen the oysters from their shells. Put the oysters in a non-reactive, shallow dish large enough to hold them in a single layer. Refrigerate. Wash the bottom of each oyster shell and store these in the refrigerator. Discard the tops.
2. Heat half the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and fennel and cook until softened but not browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1/3 cup olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and pour over the oysters, spreading the shallots and fennel evenly over the top. Let cool slightly, cover and refrigerate 4 hours.
3. If using preserved lemon, scrape off all pulp and pith from the yellow peel. If using a fresh lemon, use a vegetable peeler to remove a quarter of the peel, yellow part only, in long strips. Blanch in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and refresh under cold running water. Cut the lemon peel into tiny dice. Set aside.
4. Up to 30 minutes before serving, take the oysters out of the marinade and place each one in a shell. In a small bowl, combine the cucumber, tomato, lemon peel into tiny dice. Set aside.
5. Strain the marinade and mix in 1/3 of the liquid part. Spoon 1/4 teaspoon of the shallots and fennel over each oyster. Spoon 1/2 teaspoon of the cucumber and tomato relish over each oyster. Refrigerate if not serving immediately.
6. To serve, cover 4 dinner plates with crushed ice and arrange the oysters over the ice. Sprinkle each one with coriander.
OYSTER AND ARTICHOKE CAKES
Four servings
Artichokes: 4 large artichokes, stems trimmed
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Sauce: 1 1/3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 medium shallot, diced
4 green onions, sliced thin
3/4 cup Pernod or other licorice-flavored liqueur
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 pint shucked oysters, with their liquid
Kosher salt and black pepper freshly ground, to taste
Cakes: 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 medium shallot, diced
1 cup assorted chopped wild mushrooms, cleaned
2 green onions, sliced thin
1/2 pint shucked oysters, with their liquid
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 large egg, beaten lightly
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1. Arrange the artichokes upside down in a large steaming basket set in a large pot over two inches of water and the kosher salt. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to moderate and steam until they are tender when pierced with a knife, or until the large leaves pull off easily, about 25 minutes. Drain, then run the artichokes under cold water and transfer to a platter. When cool enough to handle, remove and discard the artichoke leaves. Scrape out and discard the hairy chokes. Cut each artichoke bottom into eighths, like a pie.
2. For the sauce, place a medium skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add 1 teaspoon of butter and melt. Add the garlic and shallot and cook for 30 seconds, or until golden. Add the green onions and cook for about 1 minute. Add the 3/4 cup of Pernod (it will flame) and cook for 30 seconds, or until flame dies. Add the cream and boil the mixture until it is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add the oysters and cook until the edges curl, about 1 minute. Remove the skillet from heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter, stirring until butter is completely melted. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Set the sauce aside and keep warm.
3. For the cakes, place a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the butter and melt. Add the garlic and shallot and cook for 30 seconds, or until golden. Add the mushrooms and green onions and cook for about 3 minutes, or until cooked through. Add artichoke pieces and cook for 30 seconds. Add the oysters, and cook until the edges curl, about 1 minute.
4. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and chill in the refrigerator until cool, about 30 to 45 minutes. Stir the bread crumbs and the beaten egg into the chilled oyster mixture.
5. Place the flour in a shallow bowl. Divide the cake mixture into four balls and press the mixture into disks about 1inch high. Dredge the cakes in flour.
6. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add the olive oil and heat until hot but not smoking. Add the cakes and cook for about 1-1/2 minutes per side, or until golden. Drain.
7. To serve, divide the cakes among four appetizer plates and top with the poached oysters and sauce.
–From “Winning Styles Cookbook: Recipes From the James Beard Foundation Award-winning Chefs”.
