Part of our gang here home was at the gulf last week & brought home 2 bushels of them in the shell. He got home last Saturday & we had plans for a Sunday shucking. Things came up, then the holidays, & now the feed is scheduled for tomorrow.
Not this guys first time with these, & I know he keeps them iced down well. He, I, & a few others know to throw away any that have opened. But I'm still a bit guarded over the meal. Food poisoning ain't fun, been there.
I'll keep my eyes, taste buds, & nose open. Easy button would be to pass on the meal, but dammit, turning them down is like turnin down strange. Sometimes ya should, but it's a tough decision.
If you store them (edit: in a refrigerator) in a cardboard box (on crinkled up paper)... CUP SIDE DOWN... 3 weeks is fine). If you store them on ice not paying attention to cup side DOWN... better get moving on that shucking.
Food poisoning is pretty durn rare unless you do something stupid like:
1) Keep an oyster that is open AND SMELLS BAD.
2) Don't cook an oyster that is open AND SMELLS BAD.
Pretty damn good (unless you have a heart condition).
The timeline is IMPORTANT... so everything comes out HOT at the same time at the end.
Oyster Pasta
Shuck a quart of oysters (about 20-25 oysters)... save the liqueur (oyster juice). 2 quarts is also OK.
*Add the liqueur (oyster juice) .to cheese/butter sauce pan at about 0:20 minutes.
Start times are given in minutes.
Start times matter so that the final mixing of all ingredients are hot and will blend well at the end of the recipe.
Start Time 0:00 2 quart saucepan on LOW (1/10 or 2/10): - 1/2 stick of butter - 3 packs of neufchatel or cream cheese (each is 8 oz.) DO NOT RUSH/PUSH or it will stick or burn... expect 40 minutes to become a sauce/liquid. Once sauce is going to a liquid, season sauce with small amounts of cayenne, black pepper, whatever you like... personally I use 1/8 to 1/4 cup of garlic... 1/8 to cup of Texas Peter or Tabasco (you are not looking for heat, just flavor). (NO OLD BAY seasoning or Habanero/Ghost)... oyster/pasta/cheese recipe it is a delicate flavor. Too much heat will overpower everything. Old Bay overpowers everything. I never use with oysters.)
Time - 0:20 Start 2-3 gallons of water (salt and oil added) at the 20 minute mark on the sauce in a separate stock pot. Add oyster liqueur to the cheese sauce that is still cooking in the cream cheese sauce pan. Chip/chunk 1/4" nuggets of Country ham (8 ounces to 2 lbs (your call... a little or a lot)). Open and drain a can of Le Sueur Early Sweet Peas. Kernel corn works also... OR baked/roasted green beans... asparagus etc. Any vegetable you like… about 1 cans worth… two at the most. You get the idea.
Time 0:35. - With water boiling, cook 2 pounds of Angel hair pasta. ONLY use Angle hair. - Turn up heat on butter/cream cheese/oyster liqueur to 4/10 or 5/10 and stir some. Add liqueur (oyster juice) if you have not already done so
Time 0:38 Sauce is a smooth even liquid add the quart of oysters and dial back to LOW 2/10. (DO NOT let oysters sauce/cheese cook more than 2-3 minutes AT MOST... NEVER overcook an oyster). Drain pasta and put in a large mixing bowl (12-15 quart) while HOT... Pour the sauce in and stir completely immediately for 1+ minute. - Plate pasta... then add peas/ham/corn/bacon etc. after.
SERVES 6-10 PEOPLE...
Tupperware leftover in 1/2 quart plastic. Eats cold the next day very well. Freezes great also. Mussels, smoked fish, shrimp, scallops, or any type of chunked seafood works well also. Shrimp not so much, unless you dice them up small or saute the hell out of them.
Ice on Pacific oysters is not the best for long keeping. Stable temps, high 30's to low 40's with wet (avoid chlorinated tap water) burlap or cotton canvas top and bottom in your cooler.
You can’t eat a bad oyster is our old saying. I seen a couple of people try to swallow one drunk and not paying attention but they came right back up. Like before they’d really finished swallowing the oyster !
The ocean is loaded with bacteria and some of them are nasty for humans. Oysters grown in shallow warm waters with low salinity are apt to carry lots of bacteria. They are particulate filter feeders and will have bacteria inside as well as on the outer shell. Many states have health requirements on how to handle new harvested oysters when they are taken out of the water and delivered to a purchasing dealer.
Fresh oysters can be rinsed with a Clorox solution or 3% hydrogenperoxide to get rid of "most" of the outer shell but not all. What to do with left over live fresh oysters? Either covered with icecubes or in a container in a refrigerator will work to **reduce** bacterial growth but not stop their growth or kill them. You can reduce bacterial numbers on the outer shell but can do nothing about those inside the shell. So they need to be fresh and clean when purchased and handled going home.
japan has developed a technique that does a good job of killing outer bacteris and viruses outside and also inside. This technique will also make its way inside the oyster tissue and killing the inner tissue bacteria as well as virus. In fact Japan has switched from rinseing processed seafood from Clorox to this new thing called "Nanobubbles". This technique is not presently used in shellfish sanitation. The last I knew. I tend to ramble about some stuff. s Older people who have some health conditions are deathly succeptable to one type of bacteria usually found in the warmer culturing areas down south. Most common bacteria that is managed for is called "Vibrio" though therre are numerous others.
But having said all this you should know that back in the late 1800s and on into the 1900s oysters were harvested, packed live in barrels and shipped all across the US of A. People who bought them in barrels put them in cellar storage rooms/areas. Common sense tells me that there was no where near the concern for bacteria as there is today. There may have been bacterial problems then but I've never run across any information about them.
So..... If you have kept the oysters in an ice cooler all day, replentishing the ice over night, that most likely will strongly reduce bacteria from increasing "much". They ought to be ok to ear for weeks if they are kept in the low 30s F.
Each state has marine departments that manage shellfish culturing and wild harvesting. There are university marine extension programs with people who ought to have or can direct you to where handiling and storage information of oysters for consumption are located.
DO NOT EAT RAW OYSTERS THAT HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO WARM AIR OVER NIGHT AND ON INTO THE AFTERNOON! They may or may not be healthy to eat raw but it is not worth testing them along with beer.
I want to let you know that what you hear about oysters being good for really enhancing your sex life is not true. Two weeks ago I had a dozen of them with some cold beer and only eight worked. :o)
You can’t eat a bad oyster is our old saying. I seen a couple of people try to swallow one drunk and not paying attention but they came right back up. Like before they’d really finished swallowing the oyster !