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Japanese Oysters

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Oysters! One would be hard put to find a produce from the sea more internationally recognized as a gourmet’s choice! Moreover, it is the only shellfish you could survive on if you get marrooned on a desert island! It is a complete food in irself if consumed raw.
For a long time (that is before coming to Japan), I had thought that my country, France, was the place to eat them. Well, I must admit that it was a little pretentious from me, especially in the light that more than half of the oysters consumed back at home originated from Japan!

Now the Japanese have come with many ways of appreciating them:
-As in the picture above they would eat them as sashimi with a dash of wasabi and soy sauce.

-Or just a little lemon juice as in Europe, Americas or Oceania.

-Or in another Japanese fashion, with ponzu and momijioroshi (fresh grated daikon mixed with chili pepper. Succulent!)

-Or, and here Japanese and foreigners are simply crazy about them, as “kakifrai”, deep-fried oysters in batter and breadcrumbs with a nice tartare sauce!

-Or finally, and I would recommend the experience to all foreigners, as “kaki-gohan”, either with oysters steamed together with the rice, or cooked apart in light broth poured over a bowl of freshly steamed rice!

kaki-nigiri kakigunkan

Of course, any good sushi restaurants will serve oysters as nigiri or gunkan!

In Japan, oysters come from various areas, mainly Hiroshima, Iwate and so on.
As for Shizuoka Prefecture, oysters mainly come from Hamanako inland salted lake near Hamamatsu City.

11 thoughts on “Japanese Oysters”

  1. My hubbys brother owns a house off the ocean and we go clamming, and I like clams, oysters, and mussels…Yours look good! A little shallot and red wine to go with…

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  2. Dear Mononoke, Stacy and Allison!
    Greetings!
    Thank you so much for your compliments, but it was a bit of an overkill as so many peple love oysters!
    Cheers and great holidays to all!
    Robert-Gilles

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  4. I grew up eating oysters, 10 cent a half shell at Kay’s Corner, Papa (Grandfather) used to take my cousin and I to church then to Kay’s where he would display his remarkable grandchildren in their Sunday best sucking down oysters. Today at what used to be the Dairy Queen on Tuesday nights they’re 25 cent a half shell. Around here we eat them on a cracker: take cracker apply a dash of Cocktail sauce, then oyster, then horseradish and top with Tabasco sauce. Be brave this is not a method for the faint of heart. I don’t know if Apalachicola oysters are the best in the world and I’m not sure I’d try to pit them against Hamanako oysters, salty water is important for good oysters, but Apalachicola oysters are mighty fine.

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  7. Robert,

    Definitely the Japanese have the best oysters in the world. I used to eat some Japanese oysters (from the Pacific) produced in farms in South Brazil (In the Atlantic) for Japanese restaurants and they were amazing. Big, fresh and delicious. The South Atlantic oysters are smaller and delicious too but the big ones are really something out of this world. The environmentalists combat the farming of Pacific oysters in the Atlantic because they treat the South Atlantic fisheries with diseases but I could never stop eating oysters in the Japanese restaurants in Brazil. I love fresh oyster with a little lime and salt only. I can eat dozens. I had some fantastic oysters in Toronto (Canada) too, just couldn’t stop eating…

    Cheers from Norway!

    C.

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