Every week I treat myself to a dozen oysters already shucked in there shell .
I seem to never make it home before I've eaten the lot .
Being out bush they are so expensive
What I want to do is take a holiday based on eating huge numbers of affordable fresh oysters , this has been on my bucket list for ages now .
Just the thought gets me salivating !
Ok... something I did purely by (lucky) chance with a workmate one night - and each of us must have downed 3-4 dozen
1. Find out where the annual oyster growers convention is to be held (a hotel somewhere).
2. Arrange to stay there for a night or two coinciding with the convention. Any excuse will do and take the wife if need be.
3. There will be a tasting early evening. Guests staying at the hotel are typically offered a ticket, but not blow-ins off the street.
4. Spend the evening tasting oysters from all around Australia - aided by a few pieces of bread & butter and several flutes of bubbly to wash it down.
What was really interesting was the variety in flavours depending on their origin - which isn’t noticeable unless you have several dozen different ones to try all at once.
Coffin Bay in South Oz.
Make sure it’s the right time of season, so they’re not spawning.
You can book a tour with a guide who can tell you everything you want to know about them, while you sit on a reef in waders sipping wine and eating freshly shucked oysters. Heading down that way on holiday this week so I might be able let you know more later!
Ok... something I did purely by (lucky) chance with a workmate one night - and each of us must have downed 3-4 dozen
1. Find out where the annual oyster growers convention is to be held (a hotel somewhere).
2. Arrange to stay there for a night or two coinciding with the convention. Any excuse will do and take the wife if need be.
3. When you arrive ask for a ticket.
4. Spend the evening tasting oysters from all around Australia - aided by a few pieces of bread & butter and several flutes of bubbly to wash it down.
What was really interesting was the variety in flavours depending on their origin - which isn’t noticeable unless you have several dozen different ones to try all at once.
Nirvana !!!
Fantastic idea !
That's what I'm going to look for .
The other thing we do occasionally is take a holiday at Hyams Beach, in Jervis Bay (not hard to see why).
The motive is the nearby oyster farms at Greenwell Point (east of Nowra) - collect several dozen (they will open them on the spot) plus prawns and fresh fish and settle in for a looooooong seafood lunch with the extended family (we have quite a few in-laws), with a walk on the beach and perhaps a swim to finish off.
You could do similar at many coastal hamlets where oysters are grown from Narooma to Coffs. Makes a great weekend away, IMHO. North
Assuming you are in Broken Hill I'd choose a place with a regional airport you can fly to, to minimise the driving. Time it to avoids the crowds (school hols and long weekends).
I'd rather chew used boot leather than eat an oyster. It's a taste I just can't like, cooked or raw. Then again, seafood leaves me cold anyway - even fish isn't high on my list of culinary delights.
If you are willing to have a go at shucking your own oysters, it is cheaper to buy them unopened. Shucking oysters is not hard at all. First few are tricky until you figure out the knack
Many fish shops offer bags by the dozens this way, much cheaper than shucked. I stuffed myself with 40 oysters this way in Batemans Bay a few years back. Bag of oysters was a bargain, a shucking knife costs bugger all and lasts just about a lifetime - I still have the knife I bought then, and gets used regularly And the flavour of those oysters you shuck, without being rinsed in freshwater, oh me, oh my...
Another way to do this is shucking oysters along the shoreline. Not necessarily something you would want to do too much of in Sydney Harbour anywhere west of Rose Bay, but fine along the other oyster growing estuaries.
It all then comes down to where you would like to go where oysters are farmed. The Oz coastline has many, MANY fine oyster fisheries! This also opens a lot more accommodation options.
A lot further afield is Cap Ferret. It's a narrow strip of land between the Bay of Arcachon, Sth East of Bordeaux, France and the Atlantic Ocean. Along the bay side it's all oyster farms. The oyster farmers have shacks setup selling their goods. You can walk through these shacks to the beach where they serve oysters and wine. Spent a whole afternoon at one of them.
If you are willing to have a go at shucking your own oysters, it is cheaper to buy them unopened.
Alex.
Hi Alex ,
I've shucked them when I was getting the free ones off the rocks at a place called Patonga last century , I'm a bit slow at it with a screw driver but the price was right.
I spent a week rounding the Eyre Peninsular and surviving on champagne and oysters. Bliss. Visit the local farms for a dozen unshucked for about $10, I was amazed at the variety of flavours and textures in such a short distance.
Ceduna oysters were awsome deep fried in light tempura batter, Coffin bay are lovely raw; and stop for a legendary Oyser Pie when you get the the southely tip
