Carbonara...

[taxlady]

I'm a big fan of beef tartar. I have had it in Denmark, as well as in Canada, as a smørrebrød (Danish open faced sandwich). It's called "løvemad", which means lion food. It's usually served with a raw egg yolk in a half an egg shell which is nestled into the top of the steak tartar. I have also enjoyed an Ethiopian steak tartar on many occasions, while my favourite Ethiopian resto was still open in Montreal. I really wish I could find pasteurize eggs at the supermarkets around here.

 

[taxlady]

This dragn walks around a lot in human form. Must be just a phase I'm going thru.
Steaks medium rare - Beef Wellington better be medium rare as well - too often it is pictured and with times given it is always waaay too rare. Serve me tuna? better be from a can!
AND I don't care what the science says - lemon or lime juice does NOT cook fish - any of them.

Do you eat pickled herring? I admit that's a bit niche. What about graved laks (AKA gravlax)? Is vinegar more okay than citrus juice to "cook" raw fish? Or curing with salt?

 

[taxlady]

If we are going to discuss meat that is "too raw", I have to tell my Newfoundland story. I was in a resto in Saint Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador. I ordered a steak "blue" and they got it right. The guy sitting next to me (Seating was at communal tables.) looked at my steak and said, "Quick! Call the vet. I think we can save it." I nearly peed myself laughing.

 

[dragnlaw]

@taxlady
Pickled herring, no. Dad used to eat that - I had to leave the room.

Gravlax, depends. I never knew there was a difference between that and smoked salmon. It is the texture that is different and that squishy feel of raw salmon either gravlax, cold smoked, hot smoked - if it passes my eye inspection, I'll test in my mouth, but it if doesn't pass there, out it comes to pass no further!

Maybe try some aquavit on the oysters! LOL, but if the oyster, when opened, doesn't have any of its own natural juice around it - pass, quickly!

 

[dcSaute]

we have - per season . . . - fresh raw oysters from Chesapeake Bay north to the coldest Canadian grounds.
cold water oysters are different in taste than warm water oysters - I/we prefer the cold water types...

as to declining oysters with no liquid. . . shucking oysters is an artform. I strive to keep as much 'oyster liquor' in the shell as possible . . . but the ding-dong towel is almost always more wetter than I'd like.
oyster types with a deeper pocket work best; some type with rather flat shells do often spill out most of the oyster liquor.

beef tartar is also a fav - but I only go for that in a higher end resto where I have asked if it is prepared to order . . . consuming raw ground beef that's been four days in the fridge . . . nah, don't wanna go there.
carppaccio is a similar 'passion' - a recent repeat visit to a very good resto proved how things can go to 'not really so good.' previously served ice cold on an ice cold plate with minimal garnishments - capers, a bit of cress.... last time, presented on a warm plate over-done with grated parm + other misc. stuff . . . not the same, and definitely not 'as good' and more definitely 'not better' . . .

long time back, had frequent business trips to Sweden - where the executive dining area had a 'herring bar' - herring in every / any / sauce / prep you can imagine.... I usually made the entire lunch of herring . . . I still drool just thinking about it.
never seen that type of herring offering in USA . . .

 

[jennyema]

LOL... caught me! Yeah, I can slurp a few oysters. Maximum 4, maybe. 2 or 3 are fine.

Love my oysters. I can eat 6 dozen if I’m hungry

And love my herring. Pickled and otherwise.

 

[dragnlaw]

AKM (as can my) BIL and a good family friend.

 

[taxlady]

@taxlady
Pickled herring, no. Dad used to eat that - I had to leave the room.

Gravlax, depends. I never knew there was a difference between that and smoked salmon. It is the texture that is different and that squishy feel of raw salmon either gravlax, cold smoked, hot smoked - if it passes my eye inspection, I'll test in my mouth, but it if doesn't pass there, out it comes to pass no further!

Maybe try some aquavit on the oysters! LOL, but if the oyster, when opened, doesn't have any of its own natural juice around it - pass, quickly!

Hot smoked doesn't fall into the same category. Hot smoking cooks the salmon. It's definitely not the same colour or texture as cold smoked.

And no, I'm not going to use akvavit for raw oysters while it's hard for me to get akvavit. I'm not going to buy oysters to eat them raw. I don't want to deal with shucking them and what would I do with the rest of them if I still didn't like the texture?

 

[dragnlaw]

Several of our grocers sell individual oysters. My DIL loves oysters. So once, when her mom was visiting, I bought 3 types, 3 each. Made each of us a platter with 3 different types.

Ice bed had melted by this time, LOL.
on the side was another platter, mini mozza balls, tomato, drizzle basalmic. The following picture is another time of a similar presentation. I know that dressing looks rather out of place but in reality it wasn't, served on a bed of lettuce, deliziousa!

 

[dragnlaw]

Of course, all that was to say that you sometimes can get oysters individually but yeah... when you are out of practice and don't have even a screwdriver around - they are a challenge to open.

 

[onedaychef]

Of course, all that was to say that you sometimes can get oysters individually but yeah... when you are out of practice and don't have even a screwdriver around - they are a challenge to open.

I had a nice Opinel folding oyster knife, leant to a colleague who claimed to be an ex-yacht chef, he managed to bend the tip!!

 

[pictonguy]

I had a nice Opinel folding oyster knife, leant to a colleague who claimed to be an ex-yacht chef, he managed to bend the tip!!

I have one of those.

 

[Kathleen]

I love raw oysters and I love them prepared other ways. If the oysters are good, I'll like them..

 

[onedaychef]

I have one of those.

that be the fella!

maybe get myself another, but I like this Japanese one...

 

[pictonguy]

that be the fella!

maybe get myself another, but I like this Japanese one...

Yeah, lol, I have that one as well. Use that one for the restaurant, I like the handle, it allows for pretty decent pressure without it jabbing into the palm too much, I have modified the point though, making it more of a weapon.

 

[FrankZ]

<snip> making it more of a weapon.

Before you eat an oyster, you have to convince it to give up.

 

[jennyema]

Living on Cape Cod, we have a bunch of oyster knives. But I like going out to eat them.

 

[pictonguy]

Living on Cape Cod, we have a bunch of oyster knives. But I like going out to eat them.

You eat oyster knives?

 

[taxlady]

Of course, all that was to say that you sometimes can get oysters individually but yeah... when you are out of practice and don't have even a screwdriver around - they are a challenge to open.

Out of practice? You have to have done it to be out of practice. I have never shucked an oyster, but I do have a screwdriver or two.

When you get oysters in singles, does it say where they are from? Do they say how they were harvested? I know I'm weird, but I always want to know that stuff about food I buy. Okay, I don't really worry about how fruit and veg or grains are harvested, but I do care when it's critters.

 

[pictonguy]

Out of practice? You have to have done it to be out of practice. I have never shucked an oyster, but I do have a screwdriver or two.

When you get oysters in singles, does it say where they are from? Do they say how they were harvested? I know I'm weird, but I always want to know that stuff about food I buy. Okay, I don't really worry about how fruit and veg or grains are harvested, but I do care when it's critters.

We normally sell anywhere from 500 to 1000 oysters a week during our peak season, which is now. Anyway, there are strict regulations regarding selling oysters in Canada.

in Canada, oysters delivered to restaurants must come with shellfish harvest tags that detail:

• Date of harvest
• harvest location
• Type of shellfish
• Processor and distributor information.

These tags are part of the strict "traceability and food safety regulations" (SFCR)
and we're required to keep the original tag with the product we're selling and we also need to keep these tags for 90 days.

This system ensures that if there's a foodborne illness or contamination issue, health authorities can quickly trace the oysters back to their source and take action.

We've never had an issue, but then again we take oysters seriously and the discard rate is about 10% and this just reminds us that nature isn't always trying to feed us, sometimes it's trying to kill us, lol.