Day eighty seven

Oysters for today, just one variety

Oysters - the R month fallacy.

Today was oyster, mussels  and  clams day. We have a few type of oysters and clams, and mussels from Price Edward Island, Canada (PEI - is a common abbreviation).

What I did not know about oysters, is the fact that in case of rain, harvest is interrupted for three days (here in Tamales Bay). This is because rain water brings to the lagune area many undesirable thing (washes some fecal from farms around for example). Oysters are gastropods, which literally means stomach-foot, and therefore absorb all dirt very quickly. That will make impossible to pass inspection, since the flesh will have choliform level above limit. What farmers do is
harvesting oysters in advance and keep them in tanks with fresh water. That will also allow oysters to clean up themselves.

The R month fallacy is quite interesting thing. Many people believe that you can not eat oysters during the months where the letter R is not present in the name of the month (May, June, July, August) because oysters are poisonous. This is actually is not true, as these months are reproductive period for oysters, they are so busy producing eggs and sperm, that the flesh is too thin and watery (creamy). So oysters can be eaten, however the taste is not the best during that period of time.

We also have clams and mussels today. To open clams is a pain the ass, especially a big one. The two shells are so tightly closed, that it makes very difficult even to find where to insert knife. The good thing  is that usually you do not need to open them, as they are rarely eaten raw. When you cook them, like mussels, they will open during cooking.

Clams

another type of clams

What you should be careful about is that mollusks are fresh and live. Mussels and clams have to be closed completely. During cooking they suppose to open. If some of them are open even before cooking, or did not open during the cooking - through them away, as they might be dead and poisonous. With oysters you should also be careful, they should have intact shell (not broken), when you open them they should be with fresh smell and juicy. Dry oysters or with off smell are not good and should be discarded.

Big half tuna for demo

Today in addition to our class in the CIA was lecture with demonstration how to break down an entire tuna. Executive chef from Morimoto and his assistant came to show us his way of doing it. They brought small tuna, like we had before. They also brought huge half of a tuna (approximately 200 pounds one side). Everything they were doing was so easy to watch. Literally, for the small one, there were two cuts and a quarter of fillet was taken off. They also demonstrated some techniques of making sushi and sashimi.

Sushi and rolls made. The mosaic one is really amazing