O ST EH 



A Royal Royster with the Oyster 



Let us royster with the oyster — in the shorter days and moister, 

 That are brought by brown September, with its roguish final R, 

 For breakfast or for supper, on the under shell or upper, 

 Of dishes he's the daisy, and of shellfish he's the star. 

 We try him as they fry him, and even as they pie him; 

 We partial to him luscious in a roast; 

 We boil and broil him, we vinegar-and-oil him, 

 And he is delicious stewed with toast. 

 We eat him with tomatoes, and the salad with potatoes, 

 Nor look him o'er with horror when he follows the coldslaw; 

 And neither does he fret us if he marches after lettuce 

 And abreast of cayenne pepper when his majesty is raw. 

 So welcome with September to the knife and glowing ember, 

 Juicy darling of our dainties, dispossessor of the clam! 

 To the oyster, then, a hoister, with him a royal royster 

 We shall whoop it through the land of heathen jam! 

 Anonymous, The Detroit Free Press, Oct. 12, 1889 



I his poetic verse written more than a hundred 



years ago pays tribute to the delectable oyster. Obvi- 

 ously, the author fancied these sweet but briny mol- 

 lusks, no matter how they were cooked or when in the 

 meal they were served. 



And the same can be said for many a man, woman 

 and child in coastal North Carolina. When the breeze 

 turns to the north, the leaves fall from the trees and the 

 waterfowl are on the wing, it's time to light the fire for 

 a good all-you-can-eat oyster roast. 



Many a family and community gathering has 

 centered around the time-honored traditions of roasting 

 or steaming oysters. Dipped in butter, splashed with 

 lemon juice or dabbed in cocktail sauce, the oysters are 

 consumed bushel after bushel. 



But for some, steaming the mollusks is a gastro- 

 nomic sin that ranks alongside grilling a T-bone steak 

 until it is well-done. They want 'em raw, savoring the 

 briny liquor, the marshy aroma and the glib way the 

 plump oysters slide down the back of the throat. 



Raw oysters have another appeal — sex appeal. 

 For centuries, these raw mollusks were the equiva- 

 lent of virility on the half shell. 



Louis XTV was said to consume a hundred or 

 so at one sitting. Casanova reputedly ate 50 or more 

 every evening. And Byron's Don Juan attributed 

 some of his success with the ladies to this amatory 

 food. 



Unfortunately, this aphrodisiacal attribute of 

 the oyster is mythical. 



Perhaps people assumed that the oyster's own 

 fruitfulness could be transferred to those who ate it. 

 After all, one oyster is capable of producing about 

 500 million eggs in a single spawning season. 



Another possibility may be the mollusk's 

 cholesterol level. At one time, oysters were labeled 

 high in cholesterol. Since cholesterol is a basic 

 building block for male and female hormones, 

 some thought that oysters boosted their bedroom 

 abilities. 



SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1993 



