The box of chipotle-almond chocolate bark I got from Expressions Fine Chocolate on Wilcrest may have been the best appreciated Christmas gift this year. I got it for my wife, but I am “helping” her eat it.

Judging by the front room at Expressions Fine Chocolate, it looks like the place [...]]]>

The box of chipotle-almond chocolate bark I got from Expressions Fine Chocolate on Wilcrest may have been the best appreciated Christmas gift this year. I got it for my wife, but I am “helping” her eat it.

Judging by the front room at Expressions Fine Chocolate, it looks like the place is going out of business–there aren’t any candies in the glass display cases. The chocolatier and owner, Valerie, has got so many wholesale orders that she doesn’t bother trying to be a retailer anymore. But that doesn’t mean she won’t sell you some outstanding handmade chocolate at a great price. You just have to order them first, and then come and pick them up. Give her a call if you want to place an order.

We took a break from blogging over the holidays while our crackerjack IT staff worked on transferring our online operations to a new server after we got hacked. Christmas was spent on Greer’s Ferry Lake in the foothills of the Ozarks with the Klaasmeyer clan. We shipped in some Totten Inlet Virginica oysters since we couldn’t get any Texas bivalves and I smoke-roasted a beef loin roast on the Weber with some hickory wood.

The day after Christmas, O Rufus Lovett and I took off on another Zen BBQ jaunt through Georgia and Carolinas. Check the twitter hashtag #zenbbq for a list of stops. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I’m working on some recipes for barbecued pork shoulders and hams using the techniques I learned on the road.

Today, November 1, is the traditional opening of the Texas oyster season. But opening day has been postponed due to a massive outbreak of “red tide.” The red tide bloom is one of several problems hampering the oyster business this season. This is particularly disappointing in light of the great gains we made [...]]]>
Today, November 1, is the traditional opening of the Texas oyster season. But opening day has been postponed due to a massive outbreak of “red tide.” The red tide bloom is one of several problems hampering the oyster business this season. This is particularly disappointing in light of the great gains we made last year.

For the first time since the early 1900s, Galveston Bay oysters were test marketed by their reef names in the Houston market last winter. The trial was a huge success and Texas oysters got kudos in the national press. This year promised to be the season when Texas oysters would finally take their rightful place among the country’s finest.

And then came the drought. There have been lots of dire predictions and stories in the press that might lead you to believe that the Texas oyster business was kaput. Yesterday, I emailed Lance Robinson, who supervises the oyster fishery as Regional Fisheries Director for Texas Parks and Wildlife and asked him when the oyster season would open and if we had any hope of eating good Texas oysters this year. Here’s what he had to say:

The opening of the Texas oyster season has been delayed indefinitely due to red tide. Blooms are occurring in every bay system along the coast. Galveston is usually spared from these events due to the amount of freshwater the system receives. The current drought the state is experiencing has changed this. Salinities in Galveston Bay are at levels not recorded since the 1950’s. This has resulted in optimum conditions for red tide. As of late last week, cell counts in Galveston were lower than other bay systems but the cell densities continue to increase. History suggests that without a significant rainfall event this bloom could last a long time.

Texas oyster populations are below average following increased harvest pressure last season. This increased pressure was due to the loss of beds in LA and MS due to freshwater kills resulting from oil spill diversions and this spring’s floods along the Mississippi River.

The good news is we had a tremendous spat set in just about every Texas bay system this spring and summer. If the drought breaks and we get enough rain to moderate salinities a bit it should bode well for the future.

So the bad news is we started out in a hole because the Texas oyster reefs were drastically overharvested last year. How does that happen? Texas Parks and Wildlife regulations require oystermen to throw back any oysters under three inches in length. But undersized oysters of two and half and even two inches were making it to the market last year. Game wardens attempting to restrict illegal harvesting were spread too thin. Captains forced to dump their undersized harvest overboard paid their fines, then turned around and did it again. And as a result, we have very few three inch oysters right now.

The good news is we have a lot of baby oysters out there. Oysters take somewhere between a year and 18 months to grow from spat to legal size. Right now we need a significant rainfall event to flush out Galveston Bay and save this oyster season. There will be Texas oysters this year, but they will be expensive and in short supply. We may have to rely on Florida and other Gulf states for our oysters.

But however bad things get, it is reassuring to know that the large spat set this summer holds out the chance of a really great Texas oyster season next year. If we get rain.

Rare Elm Grove Ruffle

On Saturday April 2, Tommy’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar in Clear Lake held a tasting of a dozen different Galveston oysters by appellation. All of the oysters were provided by Jeri’s Seafood of Smith Point as part of the Louisiana Foods marketing program called ” Jeri’s Hand-Selected Oysters by [...]]]>

Rare Elm Grove Ruffle

On Saturday April 2, Tommy’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar in Clear Lake held a tasting of a dozen different Galveston oysters by appellation. All of the oysters were provided by Jeri’s Seafood of Smith Point as part of the Louisiana Foods marketing program called ” Jeri’s Hand-Selected Oysters by Appellation.” Here’s a map of Galveston Bay oyster reefs.

The East Galveston Bay oyster reefs represented were Pepper Grove, Elm Grove, Ladies’ Pass, Drum Village, Whitehead Reef and Sheldon’s Reef. From Central Galveston Bay, there were Smith Pass, Redfish Reef, and Resignation Reef oysters. And from Trinity Bay we sampled Lone Oak Reef, Old Yellow and Lost Reef oysters.

The East Bay oysters, especially those from Pepper Grove, Elm Grove and Ladies’ Pass were the most popular among the tasters I polled. These were the southernmost reefs represented and the oysters were the briniest. Many of the Elm Grove oysters had beautifully scalloped shells. This “ruffling” of the oyster shell occurs among oysters growing in heavy currents at high salinity. Tracy Woody of Jeri’s Seafood puts together a few boxes of these for special events. They are marketed as “Rare Elm Grove Ruffles.”

Trinity Bay, the northernmost part of greater Galveston Bay, gets lots of plankton-rich fresh water as it flows in from the Trinity and San Jacinto rivers. This makes the oysters from Trinity Bay bigger, fatter and sweeter than the East Bay oysters. The Lost Reef and Lone Oak reef oysters in particular were creamy-colored and completely opaque. But the oysters were also less briny in flavor because of their distance from the Gulf’s saltwater inflow. The Central Galveston Bay oysters struck a lovely balance on the salty and sweet scales.

The oyster tasting benefited the Galveston Bay Foundation and honored Marine Biologist Dr. Sammy Ray. Look for more of these kinds of Galveston reef tastings next oyster season. I predict you will see some major stories in national food magazines about the rediscovery of Galveston Bay’s oyster reefs this coming fall. A few famous old Galveston Bay oyster reefs like Pepper Grove and Ladies’ Pass have already captured the attention of Rowan Jacobsen’s Oyster Guide.

P.J. Stoops

If you haven’t visited P.J. Stoops at his “Total Catch Market” yet, this Saturday (April 2) will be an excellent day to stop by. Stoops sells unusual fish that are part of the fishing fleet’s “bycatch.” He told me that a grouper boat is due to come in just in [...]]]>

P.J. Stoops

If you haven’t visited P.J. Stoops at his “Total Catch Market” yet, this Saturday (April 2) will be an excellent day to stop by. Stoops sells unusual fish that are part of the fishing fleet’s “bycatch.” He told me that a grouper boat is due to come in just in time for the Saturday morning (9am to noon) market.

Grouper boats fish with long lines with hundred of baited hooks and they accidently harvest a lot of seldom-sold species. They also have huge holds, so its easy for the captains to keep much of the bycatch. PJ told me to come early and get some “queen snapper,” a fish nearly identical to onaga from Hawaii. The market is located in the retail space in front of Louisiana Foods, 4410 West 12th Street
Houston.

Oops, I meant to photograph this sea bream from the Total Catch Market before I ate it. It sure was good.

Garden & Gun Magazine The Southerner’s Guide to Oysters

Whether you’re baking them, frying them, or eating them raw, there is nothing better than the sweet briny goodness of a Gulf Coast oyster…

I was surprised to find out that I was nominated for a James Beard Journalism Award today as one of [...]]]>

Garden & Gun Magazine
The Southerner’s Guide to Oysters

Whether you’re baking them, frying them, or eating them raw, there is nothing better than the sweet briny goodness of a Gulf Coast oyster…

I was surprised to find out that I was nominated for a James Beard Journalism Award today as one of several contributors to a series of stories about Gulf oysters in Garden & Gun Magazine. The fact that the famous Southern novelist Rick Bragg and popular author Francine Maroukian were the other two writers involved probably didn’t hurt our chances.

My part of the story was a guide to Gulf oyster bars.

Many thanks to Garden & Gun and the James Beard Foundation for the honor, and thanks to everybody who has sent their congratulations.

Seeing Gulf oysters sold by place names has long been a dream of mine. So the oyster panel discussion and the tasting at Gaido’s we did at the Foodways Texas symposium in Galveston was literally a dream come true. The tasting has created a lot of interest among oyster lovers. Select oysters from [...]]]>

Seeing Gulf oysters sold by place names has long been a dream of mine. So the oyster panel discussion and the tasting at Gaido’s we did at the Foodways Texas symposium in Galveston was literally a dream come true. The tasting has created a lot of interest among oyster lovers. Select oysters from Pepper Grove, one of the most famous Galveston reefs, are already being sold in boxes by Jeri’s Seafood. You can sample them at Reef, Branch Water Tavern, Bootsie’s and other top restaurants this weekend. Word is that they will also start appearing in the seafood case at Central Market sometime soon.

A recent post about these oysters titled “An Oyster by Any Other Name” by my friend Katharine Shilcutt at the Houston Press “Eating Our Words” blog drew a lot of negative comments. In short, many thought the oyster by place name thing was a marketing scam. Why would you pay more for the same oysters sorted by reef? And what guarantee do you have they really came from that reef?

If you read my book, Sex, Death & Oysters, you know that I am the biggest skeptic there is when it comes to oyster place names. Oysters finished in the Belon river account for a tiny percent of all the “Belon oysters” sold in France. Many of the oysters called Belons began their lives in Irish waters.

The East Coast uses Texas oysters the way France uses Irish oysters–to hoodwink consumers. Reef names like Pepper Grove and Ladies’ Pass that were common in Galveston restaurants in the 1800s disappeared because oystermen made more money shipping commodity oysters to restaurants in Maryland and Virginia. They don’t care about Galveston reef names over there because the customers think they are eating oysters from Chesapeake Bay.

Selling oysters by place names helps people understand what they are eating. It’s easy to find out where an oyster came from–raw oysters are required by Federal law have a tag attached that specifies the date and exact place of harvest. It would be difficult to pass off fake Pepper Grove oysters on consumers with this kind of info on the bag tag. And nobody is going to risk losing their business by putting fraudulent information on the Federal bag tag.

Here’s the big picture: We lost a lot more than just the reef names when we started selling Gulf oysters as a commodity product. We removed the incentive for Gulf oystermen to put quality oysters into half shell bags.

Allow me to explain. The one bushel sacks that come off an oyster lug are called “boat sacks.” I bought one once because I thought I was getting a bargain. You get around 220 oysters in an 80 pound boat sack versus 100 oysters in the standard retail sack. But you also get a lot of oysters stuck together in clusters, oysters covered with mussels, tiny oysters, misshapen oysters and oysters with weird shells. They are also filthy. Go buy a boat sack at an oyster dock and check it out.

IQF oysters on the half shell

Tracy Woody pulling a test dredge

At the Grand Central Oyster bar in New York, there are more than 30 place name oysters available. Oyster lovers enjoy comparing these side by side. That’s the way oyster bars are set up in Paris, London, Toronto, San Francisco and most of the rest of the oyster eating world. Eating an assortment of oysters from different places and comparing them is a practice that goes back to the Romans.

Is it a marketing scam? Are the place name oysters more expensive? Are the oystermen making more money? Yes Yes and Yes. Put a label and a place name on a bottle of wine and the price goes up–that’s marketing. If you don’t like it, stick with wine in a box. And yes the oystermen are looking for ways to make more money in an industry that’s running on empty.

The bottom line is that this weekend you have a choice: You can pay $20 a dozen to compare big, perfect Point aux Pins and Pepper Groves at Reef. Or you can pig out on $6 a dozen sack oysters at a restaurant that looks like a boat. Or you can do both. And if you ask me, that’s very cool.

At the Foodways Texas Gulf symposium P.J. Stoops spoke at a bycatch panel. He explained that somebody is interested in eating nearly everything caught in a fishing boat. For lunch, Chris Shepherd demonstrated the point by serving the sea snails variously known as “oyster drills, biganos,” or “whelks.” Shepherd boiled these in crawfish [...]]]>

At the Foodways Texas Gulf symposium P.J. Stoops spoke at a bycatch panel. He explained that somebody is interested in eating nearly everything caught in a fishing boat. For lunch, Chris Shepherd demonstrated the point by serving the sea snails variously known as “oyster drills, biganos,” or “whelks.” Shepherd boiled these in crawfish boil for an hour and a half. They were nice and tender with a flavor not all that different from escargot. I would have liked them in garlic butter sauce–but I applaud Shepherd for allowing us to taste them unadorned first. To eat them, you pull the sea snail out of the shell with a nail and then peel off the tough foot.

Oystermen find these in their dredges quite often. They are known as “oyster drills” because they bore into the shells of oysters and suck out the oyster meat. The oystermen used to throw them in the parking lot to kill them–they were delighted to find out that chefs were willing to pay for them. I have had these in France on fruit de mers platters and in the Virgin Islands where they are called whelks. In the Virgin Islands they quick cook them in a pressure cooker, then slice them thin and sautee them in a little garlic butter–the same way they serve conch.

The panel titled: “The Strangest Thing in the Nets: Bycatch, ‘Trashfish,’ and Gulf Sustainability,” was moderated by food writer Jenny Wang with panelists Bryan Caswell of Reef, Jesse Griffiths of Dai Due Supper Club, and P. J. Stoops of Louisiana Foods weighing in on the impact of current fishing practices in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Many don’t realize that the Gulf of Mexico is the second most productive fishery in the world,” said P. J. Stoops “However, unless we increase awareness and change our harvesting methods, access to seafood options we enjoy today will be drastically reduced in as few as 5 to 10 years.”

At the time of the Civil War, oysters from Pepper Grove Reef in East Galveston Bay were very popular in oyster bars. So were the oysters from Lady’s Pass and several other spots. Galveston Bay oysters were always identified by place name back in the late 1800s.

As promised in Greg Morago’s [...]]]>
At the time of the Civil War, oysters from Pepper Grove Reef in East Galveston Bay were very popular in oyster bars. So were the oysters from Lady’s Pass and several other spots. Galveston Bay oysters were always identified by place name back in the late 1800s.

As promised in Greg Morago’s story in last Sunday’s Chron, those oyster place names were revived on Saturday. At a festive dinner at Gaido’s, attendees of the Foodways Texas “Gulf Gathering,” the organization’s first annual symposium, got a chance to participate in an historic oyster tasting. Oysters from the famous old Galveston Bay oyster appellations were carefully harvested, shucked and displayed with their place names. The new Galveston oyster bar probably looks exactly like the Galveston oyster bars of the 1880s.

A Gulf Oyster Bar Photo by Jody Horton

Some of the Gulf’s top oyster producers were present at the dinner. Many thanks to Tracy Woody from Jeri’s Seafood, the Halilli family at Prestige Oysters, and Misho Ivic from Misho’s Oyster Company for donating the Texas oysters. And thanks to Bill Walton of Auburn University’s Shellfish Lab, and John Tesvich from Ameripure Oysters in Louisiana from bringing us some oysters from the other Gulf States.

The Oystermen's Table

Lisa Halilli samples the oysters Photo by Jody Horton

The assembled tasters talked about differences in “saltiness, sweetness, and creaminess” Some oysters were judged too small, some too big. Everybody had a favorite, but there wasn’t any one oyster that came out a clear winner. The variances in flavor were easy to discern. Even the oyster men who attended the tasting were surprised by how distinct each oyster tasted.

Where do we go from here? Three restaurants have already contacted Jim Gossen at Louisiana Foods to request help in setting up Gulf-appellation oyster bars. I will keep you posted about where you can buy Texas oysters by place name.

Many thanks to Greg Morago for the excellent article “Just Shuck It” in this Sunday’s Houston Chronicle on the subject of branding oysters by place names. And thanks to Brett Coomer for the awesome oyster photos.

The big oyster seminar and historic tasting of Texas oyster appellations are coming up this Saturday February [...]]]>

Many thanks to Greg Morago for the excellent article “Just Shuck It” in this Sunday’s Houston Chronicle on the subject of branding oysters by place names. And thanks to Brett Coomer for the awesome oyster photos.

The big oyster seminar and historic tasting of Texas oyster appellations are coming up this Saturday February 26 at the Foodways Texas “Gulf Gathering.” Check out the complete symposium schedule and buy your ticket now at FoodwaysTexas.com

For many years, Texas oysters have been sold as a commodity product–all of them dumped into the same shucker’s pile as it were.

Meanwhile, oysters from the Pacific Northwest, Cape Cod and Canada (as well as England and France) are marketed by place names. Northern oyster bars like Grand Central Oyster Bar offer consumers [...]]]> For many years, Texas oysters have been sold as a commodity product–all of them dumped into the same shucker’s pile as it were.

Meanwhile, oysters from the Pacific Northwest, Cape Cod and Canada (as well as England and France) are marketed by place names. Northern oyster bars like Grand Central Oyster Bar offer consumers as many as 32 oysters to choose from.

So why aren’t Texas oysters sold by place names? Well it turns out they were…in the late 1800s. In a few weeks, at the Foodways Texas symposium on Saturday February 26, you will be able to taste Texas oysters from 6 of those famous old reefs side by side. This is probably the first time in a hundred years that Pepper Grove oysters, once the most famous in Galveston Bay, will be offered by their place name.

Jim Gossen and Robb Walsh compare oysters

The oyster event is only a part of two days of excellent programming at our “Gulf Coast Gathering,” the first annual symposium of Foodways Texas. Four meals, a shrimp boil at the Seaport Museum (where we will drink Saint Arnold’s Elissa aboard the tall ship Elissa), and several impressive speakers are also in the line-up.

Check out the complete schedule and buy your tickets today at FoodwaysTexas.com.

Jon Rowley

Some of the most famous names in the oyster business will be on hand for the historic event. Marine biologist Dr. Sammy Ray; former Gourmet Contributing editor and international oyster expert, Jon Rowley; Louisiana Foods oyster maven Jim Gossen; and some of the top oystermen in Texas will be sitting on the panel–and eating oysters at Gaido’s afterward. There’s also an extensive fish dinner planned.

If you are coming in from out of town, check the hotel blocks, but do it today because our hold on these rooms is about to expire. If you want to stay in Houston, or you are going to the rodeo barbecue cook-off on Friday night February 25, you might want to buy the one day symposium pass and a ticket on the Bloody Mary Express, a bus that will take you down at 8 am Saturday morning and bring you back after the dinner at Gaido’s at 10 pm.

However you do it, please be there for this historic event!