
Recipes and Traditions from
the Falmouth Oyster Festival
Falmouth, Cornwall is
a port town on the River Fal in the south of England. For centuries,
it has held an important place in the United Kingdom's maritime
history. The city's name is even derived from that of the river on
which it sits, inextricable linking the town to the water and to a
maritime lifestyle. Today, the Falmouth Oyster Festival pays tribute
to that lifestyle and to the delicious Falmouth oysters.
Every October since 1996, Falmouth has held an Oyster Festival in
order to celebrate the tradition of dredging oysters and the
countless recipes that showcase the oysters' versatility and
desirability. The festival has been steadily gaining in popularity
and attendance since its inception. In fact, the 2009 Falmouth
Oyster Festival was by far the largest and most successful festival
to date.
Did you know that it is possible
to buy
car insurance short time rather
than for a full year? Looking for a good insurance
company? Check out
short term car insurance or if you've been a bad boy try
disqualified driver insurance. Need
discount car insurance? Skint? You'll need
cheap low deposit car
insurance then.
Over 28,000 people attended the four-day
festival in 2009; a remarkable number considering the population of
Falmouth hovers just around 24,000 individuals. The droves of
attendees ate over 20,000 oysters while learning about the history
of the town's oyster cultivation, which is quite unique. Cornish
fishermen traditionally dredge oysters using the sail and hand punt
technique.
Every year, the Falmouth Oyster Festival opens with a master-chef
class and book signing from a famous culinary professional. Through
this experience, festival attendees can learn recipes that make use
of the delicious Falmouth oysters. These recipes are numerous and
varied, but several of the more traditional recipes are not out of
the reach of an average cook in his or her own kitchen.
Many prefer to eat their oysters raw, which is truly the only way to
appreciate the exquisite saltiness and unique texture of an oyster.
Various techniques are employed by those who eat raw oysters, but
the most important thing to remember is that they must be ice cold.
A room temperature, raw oyster sliding down the throat is likely to
cause some degree of revulsion in even the most experienced oyster
eater. Therefore, raw oysters are typically served on the half
shell, on ice.
Whether or not to add condiments to the raw oyster is completely a
matter of taste. Many enjoy their oysters with cocktail sauce, horse
radish, or hot sauce. However, purists insist that the best way to
enjoy a raw oyster is unadorned, whole, without chewing.
For those who cannot stomach the raw oyster due to the slimy texture
or overwhelming saltiness, countless recipes involve cooking oysters
in extensive and delicious manners. Oysters may be baked, fried,
boiled, grilled, or smoked. Below are two very different cooking
techniques that were employed to showcase the oyster's versatility
in 2009 at the Falmouth Oyster Festival.
In 2009, Chef Mat Follas, winner of Masterchef 2009, delighted
festival attendees with a variety of oyster dishes. One was a steak,
stout, and oyster pie. Meat pies are traditionally British dishes
that were altered to include seafood in maritime areas such as
Cornwall. This particular steak and oyster pie features dozens of
oysters baked with chunk steak, vegetables, broth, and an Irish
stout in a pastry shell.
The result is a golden pastry filled with soft, salty oysters and
chunks of steak which have absorbed the flavours of onions,
mushrooms and other vegetables, as well as the subtle sweetness of
the stout. It is a comforting, warm, homey dish that is familiar
even to those with extremely limited experience with oysters.
Chef Follas also created a smoked oyster dish that was vastly
different from the broth laden, baked oysters in the pie. Smoked
oysters possess a completely unique flavour that food enthusiasts,
especially seafood fans, go wild over. They take on the qualities of
the material which they are smoked over, which may be sea grass,
apple wood, cedar, grape vine or tea leaves.
The preparation of smoked oysters is exceedingly simple. They must
simply by shucked, by separating the two sides of the shell and
severing the ligament with a shucking knife, before they are placed
above a burning, smoking substance on a grill. The smoke is then
absorbed by the oysters' flesh, lending them a delightful,
smouldering flavour; warming them; and toning down the slimy and
salty qualities.
Smoked oysters may then be served on their own or with condiments.
They are often paired with a variety of crackers or small pieces of
bread. This is a purist's way to enjoy oysters without going all in
for the raw-on-the-half-shell variety.
All in all, Falmouth Oysters are a versatile and delicious way to
enjoy Cornish seafood. Falmouth is intractably linked with its
maritime history, as demonstrated by the Falmouth Oyster festival,
and by the delicious recipes that chefs create in order to showcase
Falmouth oysters. There is an oyster dish for everyone, and the
people and cooks in Falmouth are making it a point to prove it every
October. |