Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Meet Paris Oyster: A Love Affair with the Perfect Food

“As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.”― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast



Last winter I ate my first oysters in an oyster bar in Paris. We have lots of wonderful Gulf oysters here near Houston, but I've always stayed away from them.

But when I was in Paris, I couldn't resist.



The oyster bar is Calibré HuitrerieThe owner is from Brittany. He pampered us, first bringing out some free small oysters while we waited. Then he brought out free shots for us all. You don't say, "Salud!" when you toast in Brittany, we were told. Instead, you say, "Yec'hed mat!" (pronounced eeyermat). 

I tried both raw oysters and cooked oysters. To the raw oysters, the chef added caviar and sea anemones. The cooked oysters had lemon, spinach, and green Tobasco sauce. 

We drank champagne with our meal. Oysters and champagne. The perfect Paris meal.

When I returned home, I read Meet Paris Oyster: A Love Affair with the Perfect Food, an all-about-oysters book from author Mireille Guiliano. You sense her adoration of the oyster on every page. She shares reasons for eating them including the fact that oysters are low calorie---only ten or so calories an oyster, low fat, and, of course, delicious. She takes her readers to her favorite French oyster bar. She proposes wines to drink with oysters. She tells us about what she sees as the best oysters in the world. And, should you not wish to eat them her favorite way, raw, she offers recipes for cooked oysters.





For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

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17 comments:

  1. Yuck, sorry that is one thing I could not eat,just the thought makes me want to ???? sorry.

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  2. I doubt I can eat them but I do so like the ambiance in this post!

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  3. Oh, this is perfection.I've never been big on oysters but somehow I think with champagne in Paris I could have quite the change of heart. The book looks good.

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  4. I love those Paris restaurants that have a seafood setup outside in winter, where you can order a tower of platters of all sorts of shellfish including oysters. And they are so fresh! Beautiful memories, I hope you will return some day.

    be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  5. Not a fan of oysters myself but I would love to be at an outdoor seafood bar right now -- preferably one overlooking the ocean. I really hope to visit Brittany some day. I would love to just rent a car and drive around France.

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  6. Love champagne, but have cool feelings towards oysters! My husband loves them and is happy to eat all except one that is for me.

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  7. i can't eat shellfish of any kind, but mr wonderful would be loving these oysters
    sherry @ fundinmental

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  8. I've never had oysters and really don't have any desire to try them. I did try mussels once and they were delicious, but of course they were served in a wine, garlic, butter sauce with crusty bread. What's not to like about that? :) Did I miss you opinion on the oysters? Did you like them?

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    1. I thought they were okay. I didn't hate them; I wasn't wild for them. It felt like I drank a small cup of seawater.

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  9. Years ago, I tried raw oysters and thought they were disgusting, but I would try them again if they were cooked and looked like the photo you have here. :-)

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  10. I love seafood with one exception.....oysters!

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  11. To my chagrin, I confess that my first serious exploit into partying was at a New Years Eve bash where I drank FAR too much Black Russians along with raw oysters (for the first time in my life). Without too much detail, I will acknowledge that the experiment was NOT a success, and I have stayed miles away from both Kahlua and oysters ever since.
    Thanks for sharing your photos at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2020/07/sunflowers-beauty-on-stem.html

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  12. The only oysters I've eaten were the smoked oysters in a can.

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  13. It has been a very long time since I have eaten oysters of any kind. I used to live on the gulf coast of Florida and raw oysters were thought a source of hepatitis due to pollution. I did enjoy learning green Tabasco, I used to favor it, was used in Paris oyster bars.

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  14. Magnificent.
    I only learned to love oysters in my 30’s, but I’m a huge fan now. Japan has the most amazing oysters on miyajima - they were huge! And with so many tasty accompanying flavours. Now I know I can add an oyster experience to my next trip to Paris too!!

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