Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-06
HOW TO EAT OYSTERS
Facts About the Bivalve and the
Proper Way to Serve 1t.
A SAD MANS HAPPY DISCOVERY.
The Sea Fruit Considered From Medical
and Culinary Standpoints.
SOME VALUABLE AND TIMELY RECIPES

"Once upon time, runs legeno OF an
apocryphal period, treating Of the discovery
of the oyster, ga man of melancholy mood,
walking by the sad sea waves, espied ven
erable oyster, hideous with clinging para
sites and sea weeds. So ugly was the OBJ
ject, and so uuklndly the mood of the man,
that he kicked it before him until, protest
ing at such unusual treatment, the oyster
gaped wide with amazement and wrath to its
own everlasting uudoing, for by this act it
laid bare the luscious, cream colored treas
ures within. Curiosity for the moment get
ting the better Of his gloom, the man in
serted his finger and thumb between the
shells and lifted the creature for closer in
spection. Prompt to resent this insult added
to injury, the outraged molusk snapped his
pearly door upon the intruder's fingers. Re-
leasing the wounded digit them naturally
put it to his mouth to soothe the pain, which
was quickly forgotten in the new sense thus
called into action"
Good" said he, and sucked his thumb
also.
"And then the fact of his great discovery
burst upon him, and then and there, with
no other condiment than the juice Of the
animal, with no roaming brown stout or
pale chablis to add zest, with no thinly-cut,
well-buttered brown bread, did that soli-
tary, anonymous, but no longer melancholy
man, inaugurate the oyster banquet."
RENOWNED OYSTER LOVERS.
Ever since the days of this legend, says a
iy,f fbo ifa
and poets, princes aud prelates, statesmen
and orators have feasted on oysters. Latin
poets sang its praises and the gilded youths
of Rome enjoyed the poetry over their BAN
quet just as less classic but more modern
fellows enjoy song over their convivial
oysters and ale. Greatest among oyster
gourmands was Vitellius, of whom it is re-
lated that he could eat thousand at one
sitting. Fondness for the dainty bivalve
was taste shared in common by Caligula,
the Roman tyrant, and by Calisthenes, the
philosopher of Olythus, the pupil and rela-
tive of Aristotle. The wisdom of Seneca
and the eloquence of Cicero were nourished
on oysters.
Since it is an established scientific and
medical fact that diet of oysters will ban
ish melancholy, how much of the humor Of
Don Quixote" may we not owe to Ger
vantes' love of oysters? Once year Louis
XL. nourished the brains OF the learned doc
tors of Sorbonne upon his favorite mollusk.
The chef of another Louis was made noble
as a reward for his skill in oyster cookery.
Marshal Turgot used to eat ga hundred or
two," says an indefinite historian, Gust to
whet his appetite for breakfast" Napoleon
the Great, doubtless with a sort of "see-Na-
ples-and-die" sentiment, always ate raven
ously of oysters before any great battle.
Over dish of oysters Voltaire lost his Gym
icism, and Danton and Robespi ere their
blood thirstlness.
INCIDENTALLY CONSIDERED.
Among later celebrities who have shared
this passion may be named Pope, Swift,
Thomson and the learned Dr. Richard
Bentley, who could "never pass an oyster
shop without indulging in few" OF
Scottish philosophers We have Hume, Du-
gald, Stewart and Cullen; indeed, who that
has read "Noctes Ambrosiana" need be
told what oysters have been to the intellect
of Edinburgh?
So great an authority as DR.. Lenao con-
sidered raw oysters the most's sDourishing
food in existence. DR.. Pasquier advocates
their extensive use in asylums for dipso-
maniacs. This is because these unfortunate
persons suffer from impaired digestions, de-
bIlity and lowness OF spirits, and for all of
these evils oysters are recommended as
affording great relief even ii they do not
prove a sovereign remedy. The strength of
wounded persons weakened by loss of blood
may be kept up by eating oysters, which
increase the blood without producing fever.
Where the nervous organs are affected
thev possess most remarkable viviIying
influence. Besides the valuable digestive
qualities of the oyster itself, the liquor they
contain is noted tonic. DR.. Leroy, the
eminent French surgeon, used to eat two
dozen before breakfast, and when pointing
to the shells would say, 'Behold the foun-
tain of my youthful strength"
VARIETIES OF OYSTERS.
Without having tasted oysters in every
quarter of the globe have no hesitation in
saying that the worst oyster in the world is
the dimInutive coppery native of the Pacific
coast on the principle that when thing is
as bad as it can be nothing else can be worse.
1 am told, however, by one who has trav-
eled in many lands, that the oysters of Ma
pies are the worst, because they seduce you
into fond expectations by having shells like
the American bivalve and then repel you by
their watery, coppery, English taste.
OF the merits of the English oysters the
less said the better, since the rival excel
lences of the oyster oi the two countries must
always be point of dispute between a loyal
Englishman and patriotic American.
Each may console himself with the truism
that there is no accounting for tastes. In
the United States we have two principal va
rieties-the Northern and Southern. A
Baltimore or Washington dealer will tell
you that while he does not deny the posi-
bility OF such thing as a good Northern
OYSTER still the oyster par excellence is
only to be found in the Chesapeake Bay,
while we have the assurance of our own
Fish Commissioner Blacktord that the best
oysters in the world are taken from the
Long Island coast.
SELECTING AND SERVING.
Ifeysters are to be eaten raw the medium
sized will be found finer favored. Amer
lean epicures prefer them served in the deep
shell, whence they are carried to the mouth
dripping with their own fragrant liquor.
An Englishman takes his from the fiat
shell, in which case, of course, the liquor
drains off and is lost. For a preprandisl
whet serve no more than six nor less than
four. Accompany them with thin slices OF
brown bread and butter and carpets of
lemons or lines. OF certain people possess
ing phenomenal capacities for the con-
sumption of raw oysters many big stories
are told, but the walters of a certain fashion
able New York hotel are quite willing to
accord the palm of victory in this respect to
a celebrated European prima donna, who, in
her ignorance of the dimensions of American
oysters, ordered hundred. Presently half
dozen walters entered, each bearing tray
containing huge dish of oysters on the
half shell. At glance she took in the
situation and understood what huge practi-
cal joke her ignorance had caused her to
perpetrate at her own expense. Quietly dis
missing the servants, she satisfied her
hunger, meanwhile meditating upon how she
could dispose of the numbers still untouched.