Oysters (Raw)

My family in the Philippines never ate raw oysters and oysters are not bought already shucked there. We bought them at the market still in the shells. They are washed at home and we made sure most of the mud are brushed and rinsed off the shell. Just before the dinner is served, the oysters are dipped in boiling water for a few seconds. It’s not supposed to cook the oysters completely but this process kills the oysters in the shell and they are easier to pry open. The shells are pre-pried before serving but not completely opened. But because of the nature of the Philippine oysters, one large oyster shell, that looks like one single oyster can have a double of the same size attached to the back side and also smaller ones all around it, to some really tiny ones. Whoever is doing the shell prying in the kitchen also looked for the extra oysters attached and pries them too, all but the very tiny ones that would be negligible to even bother.

Sometimes they are shelled in the kitchen and the shelled oysters are served soaked in a dip of vinegar concoction (recipe below) so as to finish cooking them in the acid from the vinegar, like “kinilaw” or “ceviche”.

My sister and I were fascinated to look for these tiny oysters from the main shells. Kids don’t normally like to eat this kind of food but because it was a game with us, we ate as many of these baby oysters as we could find.

They are not that way with the oysters sold here and they are usually large because of size regulations and are commonly just a single oyster. I am not very fond of eating a very large oyster unless it is cooked or fried. The smaller oysters are a whole lot tastier and less objectionable to chew and to pass down the throat.

And if you would like to know, you can only buy oysters caught in Texas during the legal months. They are controlled seasonally to harvest and to sell. Even if they did not prohibit harvesting them From May through August, they only taste good when the month has an R in it, like from September through April. You can still buy them on other months but they are not from Texas and may not taste as good.

For oyster dip:

1” ginger root pounded or grated
2 shallots (preferred) or ¼ regular onion sliced thin
½ c vinegar
Dashes of Tabasco (as hot as you can take) or 1 or 2 crushed labuyo peppers
Salt to season the vinegar mixture

Dip or drop a few oysters you will eat in the vinegar mixture, include some of the onions with the oyster when you eat it. The longer it stays in the vinegar the more seasoned and better it is. And the vinegar’s acid helps eradicate some bacterial contamination in the oysters, if any.

My husband uses cocktail sauce with Tabasco when he eats them. I never ate raw oysters before but it was my husband who started me to eat them this way and I’ve liked it since then except I use the vinegar dip above. This dip is what I learned from my family when we had them.