How to cook oysters

Oysters are bivalve molluscs, considered a delicacy. They are relatively expensive, and because of their value and taste are associated with wealth and luxury. The high cost of this product, in addition to its excellent taste, is also due to a reduction in the population of this species of living organisms.

Before turning to the question of how to cook oysters, let's talk a little about how they look and where they live. As a rule, an oyster is a shell with a mother-of-pearl color, with a mollusc and juice inside. As for the taste of oysters, it is very versatile and depends on many factors, in this it can be compared with wine. Depending on the area in which they are harvested, they can be more saline, sweeter, may have a light taste of melon, and also have a mineral flavor. The main habitat is the coast of the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, the bulk of oysters are mined in France and England. In addition, due to their slow recovery of the population, oyster farms have recently begun to develop actively, where the product is grown artificially.

Before you figure out how to cook oysters, you need to know how to choose them. The main rule: they must be alive, and the shells should not be open. A very important point: if the leaves are slightly ajar - the oyster is strictly forbidden! In most cases, oysters are eaten alive. To determine whether the shellfish you live is alive or not, it is possible in the following way: to shake the shell near the ear, if the gurgling is heard, the mollusc is dead, if no sounds are heard, then it is alive, since it holds well to the walls of the shell. Live oysters, as a rule, do not cook, they are eaten raw or served to certain cocktails. And mollusks in a canned form are added to salad or soups.

How to cook oysters? At the very beginning, it is necessary to thoroughly wash the wash basins with running water in order to completely wash away all the algae. Then it is necessary very carefully, preferably with a special knife, to open the shutters of the mollusk. You can consume them in food completely raw, as already mentioned, as well as smoked, fried, stewed, canned, pickled, baked and cooked in a double boiler.

There are many ways how to cook oysters, the main thing is to try to keep all the useful substances of the product to the maximum. There are a lot of them, as oysters are rich in iron, copper, B vitamins, and the shine of the oyster is not caused by fat, as it may seem at first glance, but by a huge amount of glucose. It is for this reason that oysters are so useful.

The recipe for cooking them is quite simple. The most common way is steaming. To do this, the oysters in the colander should be set over boiling water and hold for about 10 minutes, until most of them open. Those that for some reason did not open up, should not be eaten. The secret of this preparation is that in the water that boils under the oysters you can add different ingredients, the taste of which will later affect the taste of oysters. For example, you can add a little ginger, garlic, pepper, lemongrass, it all depends on the desire and preferences.

Many rightfully consider the oyster as a storehouse of energy and health. And therefore, when the question arises of how to cook oysters, then the answer is that the culinary treatment for this product can kill the best. That is why many true connoisseurs of taste and gourmets do not recognize any culinary treatments for oysters. They eat very fresh product, emphasizing the unsurpassed taste only with lemon slices.