Book Review: Shucked: Life on a New England Oyster Farm

What did I know about oysters? In retrospect, next to nothing until I read Shucked, by Erin Byers Murray. In fact, my only experience with harvesting shellfish was limited to a couple of hours spent digging clams at a beach behind my sister’s apartment in Winthrop, Massachusetts. The only thing that I remember was the pain in my lower back and the relief that I felt when the tide finally rolled in and we had to call it quits for the day. It’s hard work! Yet the author of this book left her comfortable 9 to 5 job at Daily Candy to work for an oyster farm in Duxbury, Massachusetts for 18 months! Not since George Plimpton has a writer been this “imbedded” to cover a story and learn all that there is to know about delivering oysters from farm to table.

During her work at Island Creek Oysters, Murray did everything from separating and sorting oysters according to size and shape, a process known as culling, to washing and bagging oysters, to even working in the company’s front office. She was also responsible for managing the “seed” or baby oysters that would be nurtured until they were big enough to be planted in the company’s leased oyster beds in Duxbury Bay. A mistake made during this phase of her assignment could have cost the company its future crop of oysters, an error that could have been devastating to the company financially. Despite the mental and also physical challenges that came with this undertaking, Murray was able to capture a unique insider’s view into oyster farming and its place in the growing farm to table, slow food movement.

I’ve read this type of story many times before and each time I read it I love it even more. The Hero’s Journey, when an unlikely hero faces daunting physical and mental obstacles. With perseverance and a little help from mentors along the way, the hero becomes a master in their own right. Through the course of the book, the author takes this journey from oyster culling novice to “momma-seeda,” master of the “seed” to confidant of the company’s founder. Against this backdrop, Murray gives us an inside look at what it is actually like to work on an oyster farm – from production to marketing to customer relations. She also provides a historical account of the company itself from its modest beginnings to one of the most sought after brands of oysters today. In addition to having its oysters on the menus of marquee restaurants such as Per Se and The French Laundry, Island Creek now has its own restaurant in Boston, a venture with Boston-based Harpoon Brewery, and a philanthropic arm raising money through its annual Island Creek Oyster Festival for a business development project in Africa.

Murray has masterfully recounted this story along with her own experiences to create an intriguing look at what it takes to get oysters from farm to table. And if this were not enough, the book also includes an oyster or clam recipe at the end of each chapter. We tried one, Berg’s Baked Oysters, and it was fantastic. We give this book four out of five stars.

Berg's Baked Oysters Recipe

From Shucked, by Erin Byers Murray....

Berg's off-the-cuff cooking methods came in handy a number of times that summer. This is his riff on the classic Rockefeller; it can be pulled together in minutes flat. Though Oysters Rockefeller might seem like the first course to some staid sit-down dinner, these are best eaten outside, on someone's deck, under the fading summertime sun - preferably near the water.

Ingredients:
2 dozen Island Creek Oysters                                              
1 cup baby spinach, chopped
3 tbsp minced garlic
3 tbsp butter
Couple handfuls of shredded Parmesan

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Shuck the oysters, making sure to separate the bottom muscle but keep the meat intact in the shell.
3. Top the meat with a couple pinches of spinach, 1/4 teaspoon garlic, a small pat of butter, and a couple of pinches of Parmesan.
4. Arrange on a baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes or until Parmesan is melted.

Serves 6

Recipe courtesy of Shucked by Erin Byers Murray

United States [ print this recipe for Berg's Baked Oysters ]

Book Review: Ramen To The Rescue Cookbook

I have to admit, I haven’t cooked ramen noodles since my college days at Oregon State University when time and more importantly money were in short supply. I remember that when I was ready to graduate, I was completely sick and tired of eating ramen. So when I was asked to review the book, Ramen to the Rescue by Jessica Harlan, I approached the task with some trepidation. Anyway, the book begins with a brief history of ramen noodles and how the instant version is made. Harlan then draws upon her experience as a kitchenware writer for about.com and Clean Eating Magazine to recommend “must-have” kitchenware as well as suggesting pantry items needed to prepare her ramen based dishes.

This book is rather small as cookbooks go but is packed with over 100 recipes. Most, including the two that we tried, use only the noodles from the ramen noodle package and do not include the sodium laced flavor package. Instead, each recipe builds its flavor from fresh vegetables, seasonings, and other ingredients that are combined with the noodles to create fast, healthy, great tasting meals.

In our review, we made Pad Thai and Cold Sesame Noodles. Both dishes were incredibly easy to make. In fact, we didn’t even need to buy any additional ingredients other than the ramen noodles in order to make them. We liked the fact that the book includes both small recipes (1 to 2 servings) and extremely large recipes (8 to 10 servings). This is a great little cookbook for large families or anyone who wants to learn how to make faster, easier, and more economical meals. We give Ramen to the Rescue three out of five stars.

Hangtown Fry Recipe

This recipe was developed in California during the Gold Rush. Apparently a miner had just "struck it rich", discovering a substantial amount of gold on his claim. To celebrate after a night of celebration, he went into a restaurant and asked for the best breakfast that money could buy. The cook made up what is now known as the Hangtown Fry, named after the preferred sentence by the town's law enforcement community of the day.

Ingredients:
6 fresh, shucked oysters
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup bread crumbs
6 eggs, beaten
3 tbsp milk
4 strips of bacon
2 tbsp unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste
cilantro

Preparation:

1. In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour and bread crumbs. Set aside.
2. Shuck 6 oyster; Place oysters and liquor in a bowl. Set aside
3. In another mixing bowl, beat the 6 eggs. Whisk in the milk and the liquor from the oysters.
4. In a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until it is crispy. Remove the bacon and set aside. Discard all but about 1 tbsp of bacon fat and add the butter to the skillet.
5. Dip the oysters in the egg mixture and then roll them in the flour and breadcrumbs.
6. Fry the oysters in the skillet over medium heat for about 30 seconds each side or until lightly brown.
7. Move the oysters to one side of the skillet and pour the egg mixture on the other side.
8. When the egg begins to thicken, crumble the bacon onto the egg and move the oysters onto the egg as well.
9. Fold the egg over like an omelet allowing any uncooked egg to cook.
10. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot with cilantro garnish.

Serves 2 to 3

United States [ print this recipe for Hangtown Fry ]

Cold Sesame Noodles Recipe

At once sweet, spicy, nutty, and cool, cold sesame noodles have always been one of my favorites on Chinese take-out menus. This is ideal picnic fare. The noodles will stay fresh for a few hours even if they're not refrigerated, and there's nothing in the dish that will spoil.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tbsp + 1 tspn rice vinegar
1 tspn soy sauce
1 tspn brown sugar
1/4 tspn minced garlic
1/2 tspn grated fresh ginger
1/2 tspn sesame oil
1 package ramen noodles, any flavor
1 tbsp sesame seeds plus more for garnish
1 scallion, green and light green parts, thinly sliced
1/4 cup diced peeled cucumber

Preparation:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and sesame oil. Set aside.
2. Cook the ramen noodles in boiling water for 2 1/2 minutes (discard the ramen seasoning). Drain in a colander then return the hot noodles immediately to the pot. Add the sauce and stir to coat completely. Stir in 1 tbsp sesame seeds. To serve, place the noodles in a bowl and top with the scallions, cucumber, and additional sesame seeds. The noodles will keep, covered and refrigerated, for 2 to 3 days. If the noodles clump together, break them up a little with a fork before serving.

Serves 2

Recipe courtesy of Ramen To The Rescue Cookbook by Jessica Harlan

China [ print this recipe for Cold Sesame Noodles ]

Pad Thai

This traditional Thai noodle dish is usually made with long, chewy rice noodles, but ramen noodles make a fine stand-in. You might be surprised to learn how few ingredients the sauce contains, considering it achieves such a complex-tasting balance of salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. Look for tamarind paste and fish sauce in the Asian section of your supermarket, and refrigerate what you don't use for this dish; both ingredients last for months.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp tamarind paste
3 tbsp fish sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tspn soy sauce
1/2 tspn Thai chili paste
1 package ramen noodles, any flavor
2 tspn vegetable oil
3 oz. baked tofu, Thai flavor
2 scallions, light green and white parts, thinly sliced
1 large egg

Garnishes:
2 tbsp chopped peanuts
1/4 cup mung beans
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
2 lime wedges

Preparation:

1. In a small saucepan, combine the tamarind paste, fish sauce, and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook until thickened and the brown sugar is melted, about 5 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce and 1/2 tspn chili sauce or to taste. Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. Break the ramen noodles into 4 pieces and cook in boiling water for 3 minutes, or according to the package directions (discard the ramen seasoning). Drain.
3. Heat the vegetable oil over high heat. Add the noodles, tofu, and scallions, and stir-fry for 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and break the egg into the pan. Stir the egg into the noodle mixture until the egg is scrambled, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Pour the sauce into the pan and cook until all of the ingredients are heated through, 2 to 3 minutes, stirring to combine all the ingredients.
4. To serve, transfer to a serving bowl. Garnish with the peanuts, mung beans, cilantro, and lime.

Serves 2

Recipe courtesy of Ramen To The Rescue Cookbook by Jessica Harlan

Thailand [ print this recipe for Pad Thai ]

Book Review: 300 Best Rice Cooker Recipes

If you’re like me, you think of rice cookers as somewhat one dimensional – they cook rice. After reading 300 Best Rice Cooker Recipes, by Katie Chin, I realized that this is simply not the case. Rice cookers can be used for a wide range of culinary applications from cooking healthy grains and legumes, soups, steamed dishes, desserts, and one pot (slow cooker type) meals. Katie Chin draws upon her experience as a private chef and food consultant specializing in Pan-Asian cuisine, to create a diverse set of delicious recipes specifically designed for slow cookers.

Chin provides detailed descriptions of the three major types of rice cookers including simple on/off cookers, fuzzy logic cookers with complex self-monitoring capabilities, and induction heat models) as well as instructions on how to use them with her recipes. She also explores the different types of rice, grains, and legumes available along with cooking charts that describe how to prepare them. Each chart includes the type of rice, grain, or legume along with the amount of liquid, cooking time, and recommended settings to use for each type of rice cooker.

During our review of this book, we chose two Thai recipes, Thai Fish Curry on Jasmine Rice and Chicken with Fresh Mint and Basil. We also chose two European recipes, Risotto Milanese and Buttery Smashed Kohlrabi. Both Thai recipes were easy to prepare and had a perfect balance of sweet and spicy flavor. The choice of Risotto Milanese was a difficult one because Chin’s book includes seventeen different risotto recipes! All of which looked amazing and I’m sure we will try many of them in the near future. Anyway, the Risotto Milanese turned out great, had perfect texture and flavor along with a dramatic presentation with a bright yellow hue with crimson accents from the saffron. We pared this dish with Italian Meat Balls topped with a velouté sauce paired with a 2000 Chateau Pomerol – the dinner was 5-star! Risotto has a reputation as being rather labor intensive in its preparation, however, Chin’s recipe only involved adding the ingredients to the slow cooker and stirring the Abrorio rice three times during the 30 minute cooking cycle – SO EASY. We also wanted to try a recipe that involved steaming vegetables so we chose the Buttery Smashed Kohlrabi. This dish tasted similar to mashed potatoes and it could be used as a lighter, healthier side for a steak or chicken entrée.

We give Katie Chin’s 300 Best Rice Cooker Recipes five stars out of five. The recipes that we tried seemed very well tested. We followed the measurements and instructions explicitly and all four recipes that we tried turned out perfect without any need for minor adjustments. Even more impressive, we achieved these results despite the fact that we were using a crude, 20 year old, on/off type rice cooker (see below). The book includes so many tempting, delicious recipes that it should appeal to most cooks regardless of their preference in cuisine. Katie Chin has drawn from both Asian and European classics to create the definitive collection of rice cooker recipes.