What start as sustenance eventually fuel Commerce Department . learn any history of Long Island ’s huitre industry and you ’ll find out that by the turning of the ( last ) century , in New York City filter feeders were as prevalent as hot hot dog are today – moreso , because even the bad parent would n’t feed their children hot dogs an average of three time a week . The source of that supply stretched from New York Harbor to North Fork , employing thousands of farmers and baymen .
As you may belike guess , pollution commingle with over - harvest to give New York Harbor ’s oysters inedible ( the last bottom close in 1927 ) , but elsewhere on Long Island harvest prosper for decades until a series of calamities – hurricanes , salinity shifts , parasitic escargot , and brown tides because of algal blooms – repose the huitre universe crushed . That declivity set in motion a evil cycle : one adult oyster can dribble 50 gallon per 24-hour interval , prepare the H2O more inhabitable for … well , oyster . Fewer oysters meant no natural anti - pollution processes , which meant even fewer oysters . At least by the 1950s , and surely by the 1970s , there was n’t much of an manufacture go away .
Many of those oeuvre with 10 or few Akka . Some plots are in camera owned , though on the South Shore the Suffolk County Shellfish Aquaculture Lease Program has add dozens of small farmers into the biz . Between heightened demand , better pee quality , and modern harvest home techniques that can cut down on ontogenesis fourth dimension , we could be front at just the beginning of the boom .
Freshwater and Marine Image Bank/Wikimedia Commons
All East Coast oysters are technically of the species Crassostrea virginica , but as with wine-coloured even tenuous difference in mature areas can have dramatic essence on the final product , resulting in a legion of discrete Long Island types . These chain of mountains from celebrated newcomer Widow ’s Hole ( grown on a short few acres off Greenport ) to the timeless Blue Point , which by law must be cultivated in the Great South Bay ( marketers have been neglect that law since it was passed in 1908 , but today ’s Suffolk County producers are making a serious campaign to apply it ) .
To get a handle on the dissimilar varieties , we intercept Rowan Jacobsen , author of the Modern bookEssential Oyster : A Salty Appreciation of Taste and Temptation .
And because oysters go down even easier with a feeding bottle of beer ( well , not easier – that ’d be impossible – but certainly more satisfyingly ) , we ’ve included coupling from Long Island ’s own Blue Point Brewing Co.
Freshwater and Marine Image Bank/Wikimedia Commons
Dark - shelled , gnarled , and a fiddling bit dirty . Their taste is unsubtle with moderate seawater and lots of earthy Connecticut blue funk . PAIR WITH : Toasted Lager . The crispy American - style Amber play well with the temperate brine of Blue Points . The pleasantness of the malts complements the meatiness of the huitre while the subtle hops prune through the brininess .
mark by a burnt - orange algal shading over a smutty and white shell . The loving cup can be deep ; shells can be brickle . Their gustatory sensation is risque and intensely piquant ; undergirded by iron . PAIR WITH : Hoptical Illusion IPA has plenty of hops to stand up to the salt . The hops are added to this brew in five unlike means , allow their gist to collapse through .
Teardrop shaped , impersonal slanted shells and intricate flute along the cupside . They are the purest expression of the ocean you ’ll find , with the cleanest aftertaste . Most oysters have a land constituent , but Fisher ’s island are n’t earthbound . PAIR WITH : The crisp , sessionable Blueberry Ale really complements the frosty , clean aftertaste of a Fisher ’s Island .
Courtesy of Blue Point Brewing Company
firm , irregular , and broad . Outside they are black and browned , inside they ’re a Kandinsky schmear of charcoal , amethyst , agate and sepia . They ’re as earthy and piquant as a potato check with a rich and fruity finish . PAIR WITH : West Coast - style Mosaic Session IPA . Its immense tropic flavors and serious citrus / grapefruit olfactory property will bring out the copious fruity golden raisin coating .
A medium - sized , nicely cupped , hoar , brown and black huitre . powerfully salty and savory , with a hint of edamame . PAIR WITH : This salty and brisk oyster with a smoky atomic number 26 tang is complemented by the roast chocolate notes of the Blue Point New York Oyster Stout . The intermediate - bodied stout has slight espresso preeminence , mineral hints from the oyster shell , and a slight salinity that is accentuate when paired with raw Peconic Pearls .
Grand Central Oyster Bar
New York , NYThis white wine-colored sauce is an important “ mother sauce ” at the Grand Central Oyster Bar . Chef Sandy Ingber say it ’s an integral part of his huitre Rockefeller , but would also be a great sauce for oysters on the grill .
Get the whole formula , right here .
Prime Meats
New York , NYThis ingenious , brackish sauce from Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli could n’t be uncomplicated : grill oysters in their own liquor until they pop open , then add together a drop of Elmer Leopold Rice wine vinegar , a squirt of lemon juice , and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt . It ’s the thoroughgoing accompaniment to the natural flavor of the oysters .
Courtesy of Blue Point Brewing Company
Drew Swantak/Thrillist
Drew Swantak/Thrillist
