Breton Island Salts

 

6' Gulf Oyster from Breton Island, LA

Large "Breton Island Salt"

Brandy of Reef Restaurant with "Breton Island Salt"

1/2 Dozen Breton Island Oysters

Bryan Caswell - Reef Restaurant

 One of the advantages of my job is finding and having the opportunity to try many  wonderful and interesting food products whether it be crabs, crawfish, shrimp, oysters or whatever fin-fish is in season.  Today happen to be oysters, which in fact is one of my favorite foods.  I  never turn down a chance to eat oysters.


Last week  fourth generation oyster farmer John Tesvich, with Port Sulphur Fisheries Co., called me and said "a couple of weeks ago I put out 600 oysters in 12 cages off of Breton Island to begin testing salt-water relaying as a treatment for cleansing and enhancing Gulf oysters.  We harvested the oysters yesterday, after a 15 day soak, and I was impressed how the oysters looked and tasted."


John sent me 3 boxes of his Breton Island Salts to test.  I was having a lunch meeting the day they came in with Chef Bryan Caswell, author and food critic Robb Walsh and Dr. Jeff Savell from the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University and figured who better to help taste these Breton Island Salts than these guys.


These were beautiful thick shelled mature oysters that were plump and both salty and sweet at the same time.
The taste got better as I chewed and after eating  left a wonderful taste at the back of my tongue.  These oysters if given the chance could rival any that I  have eaten and would be a prize for any oyster bar anywhere to serve on the half-shell.  We checked the salinity with a refractometor that showed the salt level of 45 parts per thousand.  I think that oysters with a salinity of between 35 ppt and 45 ppt taste best.


Here were some of the comments from some of our tasting panel:  

Dr. Jeff Sabell "Wow, they can't get better than this!"

Robb Walsh  "Your Breton Island Salts are phenomenal!  Love the jumbo size, sweetness and the high salt!"

Bryan Caswell "I would like to echo Robb's remarks, your Breton Island Salts are one of  the sweetest, briniest I've ever experienced.  Jim gave us a box to test out on our oyster-loving clientele and the response has been phenomenal.  It makes me beam with pride to serve a Gulf oyster of that caliber.  My only question is how can I get more?" 

I have been a proponent for many years of the oyster men pulling out their best tasting oysters from their best reefs and trying to market them with specific names as the East and West Coast oyster dealers have been doing.  Every oyster man has his favorite reef and oysters and the time has come for them to separate them on the boat before they are mixed with the sacks going to the shucking shops.

  People now more than ever are wanting to eat local products and know where their foods come from.  With the renaissance of the oyster bar it just makes sense  for our fishermen to harvest their best tasting half shell oysters, name the reef they come from and market them at a price they deserve.  After all we have some of the best tasting oysters in the world and everyone in the United States should have the chance to eat a Breton Island Salt, Diamond Reef, Galveston Point or Apalachicola oyster.  

I personally feel that the offshore suspension relay system if approved by the FDA would be great for the Gulf Coast oyster and may give them the chance  to be enjoyed again in all the oyster bars across America as they once were. 


A study was done by Miles L. Motes and Angelo Depaola some years ago titled  "Offshore Suspension Relaying To Reduce Levels of Vibrio vulnificus in Oysters" (Crassostrea virginica)  ( This was the process that John Tesvich used to treat these oysters.)


Their findings were the following "Relaying of oysters into high-salinity offshore waters during the warm months reduces V. vulnificus to levels typically observed during January and February, two months in which food-born V. vulnificus illness has never been reported.  Thus, offshore relaying is a relatively simple process that the shellfish industry may employ to reduce V. vulnificus  levels in raw Gulf Coast oysters.  

Give Gulf oysters a chance!

Grand Central Oyster Bar

One Dozen Please

Grand Central Oyster Bar prior to opening

Executive Chef Sandy Ingber

Carlos Arenas

Oyster Pan Roast

Kettles in kitchen

Having lunch with Sandy Ingber at Grand Central Oyster Bar, one of the greatest oyster bars in the world, was one hell of a treat and one that I will not forget.

We arrived early before opening and got to walk through the place before the crowds came. We picked the best seats at the oyster bar and got Carlos Arenas working on a list of things that we wanted to eat that day.

Before the rush started Sandy took us on a tour of the facility going through the kitchen down below the restaurant through all of the prep rooms, bakery and numerous coolers for each different protein. Walking through the bowels of this 96 year old restaurant brought to mind how things must have been done 100 years ago. Everything was made on premise and to run a restaurant of this magnitude took a huge kitchen. Keeping up with the current $16,000,000.00 a year sales takes every inch of this enormous place.

Grand Central Oyster Bar is stunning with its famous tiled, vaulted ceilings, making it one of New York's most spectacular restaurants even today.

We arrived back at our stools when we finished our tour and got ready to sample what Carlos had put together for us, oyster pan roast, fried whole belly clams, Nantucket Bay scallops and more oysters than we could shake a stick at. Thanks Carlos for taking such good care of us and special thanks to Sandy for giving us the royal treatment while in New York last week, we will never forget this trip.

Char-grilled Oysters

Oysters Rockefeller

Char-grilled Oysters

Oysters can be enjoyed so many ways but baked and char-grilled are some of my favorites. Baked, turns a simple oyster on the half shell into a special treat. Oyster's Rockefeller were created in New Orleans by Jules Alciatore, son of the famous Antoine Alciatore, owner of Antoine's Restaurant. He named them after John D. Rockefeller, who was the richest man in America at that time and have been serving them since 1899.

I first ate char-grilled oysters many years ago at Drago's restaurant in Metairie, LA. The first time I tried a dozen of them I could not get enough. I went back to the restaurant three times before leaving New Orleans. When I go back I have at least 2 dozen of these wonderful cheese, butter and garlic laden jewels while in town.

Eat oysters often, they are one of the greatest prizes we reap from the sea.

Oysters

Oyster Plate

Oyster Po'Boy

Raw Oysters on the Half Shell

It's oyster time and during the season raw oysters on the half shell and fried oyster po'boys, are two of my favorite ways to eat them. I love them cooked any way, but to sit at an oyster bar and order a couple of dozen raw oysters then follow that up with fried oysters on a crispy, light loaf of French bread makes me excited just thinking about it.

Oysters have been my passion for over 35 years and I have made a life long quest searching for areas and people that produce great tasting ones. I have traveled far and eaten many an oyster.

About 30 years ago, I started collecting oyster plates and over the years have added several hundred to that collection, which some of them can be seen at http://www.louisianafoods.com/oysterplates/

Tonight I am going out and eating charbroiled oysters and oyster soup. Oysters will be at their best for the next few months, so get a few friends together and get out and enjoy these great oysters that we are so lucky to have in our area.

Oystering on The Captain Wilbert

Bushel of Oysters

"Captain Wilbert" with Camanada Bay Oysters

Capt. Wilbert and Jeff

The typical day for an oyster man is a long and arduous one. Usually they are up a couple of hours before the sun and during the winter months when daylight is short, they are driving home well after dark. The work is hard and when the demand is there his job is seven days a week.

Captain Wilbert was oystering on Thanksgiving day because he said "people were waiting in line and we can't get enough". He has always had a demand for his oysters and anyone that knows him will tell you he has some of the best around.

The Saturday my brother Jeff and I met Wilbert Collins the weather was perfect, sunny, cool and calm. He had a three man crew with him that day and fished for 10 hours. The oysters that were landed were salty, round and had mussels or eyes as big as fifty cent pieces and just as rare.

After the truck was loaded, the boat tied up, we watched the sun setting over Barataria Bay, and could see Wilbert was proud of the oysters he had caught that day.

We left with a couple of sacks of oysters and headed to camp "Eat Out" for a great oyster supper that night.

Oyster Sandwich

Fried Oysters on Bun

The day after Thanksgiving Diane and I headed to Grand Isle to get work done on camp "Eat Out". We had been needing to take care of things that were damaged as a result of Gustov and Ike but we secretly wanted to get on the oyster boat, check out the oysters in the bay and most of all eat some of the great Crassostrea Virginicas of Barataria Bay.

We had oysters on our mind and knew we could get a great oyster sandwich at the Cajun Twist. It's know in that area for their Fried Chicken, but I knew that they could pile oysters high on a bun.

After turkey and pork roast and all the great dressings the previous day, I could not wait to spend the next few days eating oysters and eating is what we did.

Tommy Ward Comes Through with Apalachicola Bay Oysters!

Tommy Ward packing his famous "13 Mile Oyster Brand", at his plant in Apalachicola, Florida.

Thanks Tommy and T.J. Ward for their efforts after Gustov and Ike raveged the Louisiana and Texas gulf coast.