The ancient Romans valued our native oysters
even as we do now, and must have held them in
higher estimation than those of Italian shores, or
they would not have brought them so far for their
luxurious feasts. Juvenal records the exquisite
taste of the epicure
Who
At the first bite each oyster's birthplace knew,
Whether a Lucrine or Circaean he'd bitten,
Or one from Rutupinian deeps in Britain.
Essex and Suffolk are the most celebrated
localities in England for them, where they are
dredged up by means of a net with an iron scraper
at the mouth, which is dragged by a rope from a
viii INTRODUCTION.
boat over the beds. As soon as they are taken
from their native beds, they are stored in pits,
made for the purpose, furnished with sluices,
through which at the spring tides the water is
suffered to flow. This water being stagnant soon
becomes green in warm weather, and in a few days
afterwards the oysters acquire the same tinge,
which increases their value in the market. They
do not, however, attain their perfection, and become
fit for sale, till the end of six or eight weeks. They
are not considered proper for the table till they are
about a year and a half old, so that the brood of
one spring are not to be taken for sale till at least
the September twelve months afterwards.
The more delicate and smallest kinds are called
natives, and are used for eating; the coarser kinds
are called the deep-sea oysters, and are dredged for,
and are used for cooking. There are several kinds
of oysters. Of the former, which we receive from
Milton, Colchester, and the vicinity of those places,
the Ostend, Anglo-Dutch, Arcachon, and the cele-
brated Rocher de Cancale and Burton Bindons
Red Bank are the best.
A very singular circumstance, not generally
known, is that the finest oysters we have in Eng-
land and Ireland both come from a place with the
same name, viz. from Burnham, Essex, in England,
and from Burnham, co. Clare, in Ireland. Of the
deep-sea oysters those that are unfed are the best,
as their flavour is stronger and their flesh is firmer.
Real lovers of oysters maintain that no oyster is
worth eating till it is quite two years old. Their
age is known by their shell, just the same as the
age of a tree is known by its bark, or a fish by its
scale, and the smaller the oyster the finer its flavour
INTRODUCTION. ix
Many esteem the Colchester Pyfleet as the best,
though the native Milton is reckoned the fattest
and whitest. They are known to be alive and
vigorous when they close fast upon the knife, and
let go as soon as they are wounded in the body.
The oyster fishery in Britain is esteemed of so
much importance that it is regulated by a Court of
Admiralty, and, according to law, oysters come into
season on August 4, and go out the beginning of May,
which justifies the old saying that they are to be
eaten whenever there is the letter R in the month.
In the month of May the fishermen are allowed
to take the oysters, in order to separate the spawn
from the cultch, the latter of which is thrown in
again to preserve the bed for the future. After this
month it is felony to carry away the cultch, and
otherwise punishable to take any oyster between
the shells of which, when closed, a shilling will rattle.
Page 1
Presented as published in 1888. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The ancient Romans valued our native oysters even as we do now, and must have held them in higher estimation than those of Italian shores, or they would not have brought them so far for their luxurious feasts. Juvenal records the exquisite taste of the epicure
Who At the first bite each oyster's birthplace knew, Whether a Lucrine or Circaean he'd bitten, Or one from Rutupinian deeps in Britain.
Essex and Suffolk are the most celebrated localities in England for them, where they are dredged up by means of a net with an iron scraper at the mouth, which is dragged by a rope from a
viii INTRODUCTION.
boat over the beds. As soon as they are taken from their native beds, they are stored in pits, made for the purpose, furnished with sluices, through which at the spring tides the water is suffered to flow. This water being stagnant soon becomes green in warm weather, and in a few days afterwards the oysters acquire the same tinge, which increases their value in the market. They do not, however, attain their perfection, and become fit for sale, till the end of six or eight weeks. They are not considered proper for the table till they are about a year and a half old, so that the brood of one spring are not to be taken for sale till at least the September twelve months afterwards.
The more delicate and smallest kinds are called natives, and are used for eating; the coarser kinds are called the deep-sea oysters, and are dredged for, and are used for cooking. There are several kinds of oysters. Of the former, which we receive from Milton, Colchester, and the vicinity of those places, the Ostend, Anglo-Dutch, Arcachon, and the celebrated Rocher de Cancale and Burton Bindons Red Bank are the best.
A very singular circumstance, not generally known, is that the finest oysters we have in England and Ireland both come from a place with the same name, viz. from Burnham, Essex, in England, and from Burnham, co. Clare, in Ireland. Of the deep-sea oysters those that are unfed are the best, as their flavour is stronger and their flesh is firmer. Real lovers of oysters maintain that no oyster is worth eating till it is quite two years old. Their age is known by their shell, just the same as the age of a tree is known by its bark, or a fish by its scale, and the smaller the oyster the finer its flavour
INTRODUCTION. ix
Many esteem the Colchester Pyfleet as the best, though the native Milton is reckoned the fattest and whitest. They are known to be alive and vigorous when they close fast upon the knife, and let go as soon as they are wounded in the body.
The oyster fishery in Britain is esteemed of so much importance that it is regulated by a Court of Admiralty, and, according to law, oysters come into season on August 4, and go out the beginning of May, which justifies the old saying that they are to be eaten whenever there is the letter R in the month.
In the month of May the fishermen are allowed to take the oysters, in order to separate the spawn from the cultch, the latter of which is thrown in again to preserve the bed for the future. After this month it is felony to carry away the cultch, and otherwise punishable to take any oyster between the shells of which, when closed, a shilling will rattle.