Harts of Stur Kitchen Issue 6, spring & summer 2018 | Page 56

The Kit
The Seafood Expert
Pearly King
Nigel Bloxham, owner and chef at the Crab House Café and the
Fleet Oyster Farm, gives us an oyster lesson.
How do you farm your oysters?
We farm our oysters a unique way – most in the northern hemisphere grow their oysters on metal racks
which rust in the sea water. We grow ours in baskets on wooden rails and posts, and this makes
a dramatic difference to the taste. Oysters can filter up to 18 litres of seawater a day if sat on rusty
metal racks – that’s a lot of rusty water. How often have you heard about oysters having a metallic taste?
Not ours.
What are the best varieties of oyster and where should people buy them from?
There are two varieties of oysters available from UK waters – the native (aka the European flat oyster)
has been fished from at least Roman times in the UK, but they are much rarer now due to disease and
overfishing in the past
The other is the Pacific oyster, sometimes known as the rock oyster or ‘rocks’. It’s a species that was
introduced in the 1960s as an alternative as it’s easier to farm in coastal regions and is hardier against
disease. These are the oysters that we farm at the Crab House Café.
I think the best oyster to buy at home is the Pacific or rock as they can be bought year-round, while the
native has distinct seasons.
They should always be bought from reputable suppliers. Do not buy wild caught. We always purify our
oysters for 42 hours before sale to make sure there is no E.coli traces left in the oyster. If there is E.coli in
the water, those grown in the wild may not have been purified.
What equipment do you need for shucking oysters?
A good tea towel and a pointed, blunt knife is a good start. The towel is to wrap round your hand that
holds the oyster to stop the shell from cutting you, and if the knife slips you stab the towel and not
your hand.
What’s your number one top tip for shucking oysters?
It’s technique not brute strength that opens the oyster. Put the knife into the edge of the oyster and twist
the knife to lever the oyster open. Do not be tempted to lever the oyster open with the tip of the knife as
you will snap the end of the knife off and this can be dangerous.
What are your favourite ways to eat oysters?
I like my oysters raw and cooked. Raw, I like them with shallot vinegar or just naked (nothing on them)
for a pure taste of the sea. I also love them cooked in many different ways, but my favourites are as a
wonderful natural favouring in a steak and oyster pie or as a stuffing for roast lamb – this makes run-of-
the-mill lamb as good as the expensive salt marsh lamb.
You can buy oysters to take home from the Crab House Café in Weymouth, and they are available by
mail order from crabhousecafe.co.uk.
The Crab House Café, Ferrymans Way, Portland Road, nr Weymouth, DT4 9YU.
STEIN TIME
Master Class Deluxe Polished
Oyster Shuck
Harts Price: £8.99
The Crab House Café farm their oysters in baskets on
wooden posts to avoid too much rusty water.
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