Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-11-11
AS 10 OYSTERS.

| Chicago Record.
"Siegfrid says have no sense in select
ing oysters complained Laura Il never
| give them to him except in months con-
| tanning the letter r. and 1 always order
| strictly fresh ones; but often he says they
| returned from his trip to Boston he has
| been harder than ever to suit. He says
| the biyalve is not succulent and lacks
flavor"
There are several ways in which that
can be explained said Martha. ..Of
| course we all know that oysters brought
| from their native haunts to Chicago or
| any inland city suffer a certain amount
| of deterioration because of the length of
| time which necessarily must elapse dur
| ing their journey bulk oysters show this
| more than those left in the shell. The
longer the distance the greater the deter
icration. person who has the privilege
| of eating oysters fresh from the water
will naturally question the pedigree of
| the best we can get here; and, speaking
| of pedigrees there are quite a number
! from which you can choose your oyster"
Yes, there are the standards and the
| mediums and selects and blue points,
| 1.-THE selects, standards and mediums
] are sold in bulk and are the names by
which oysters here are generally classified,
| according to size without special regard
, to the PAGES from which they have been
| taken. There are, IN fact, a great many
| varieties of the bivalve which may be
| divided into two sections-those that grow
| in northern and those that grow in south
| ern waters The oysters sold in Chicago
| come mostly from the vicinity of New
| York and the Gulf of Mexico and differ
| decidedly in flavor, as do all the other
| varieties of oysters seldom or never seen
| here This applies to the oysters that
| come in bulk. Cotuit oysters are seldom
served on the half-shell at oyster houses.
These come from a bay on the south side
| of Cape Cod At few places Lynn
| haven bay oysters are sold; these come
| from Chesapeake bay in the vicinity of
| Norfolk Va. They are both excellent oys-
ters The cotuit is a plump fair-sized
OYSTER; the Lynnhaven bay is a very
| large oyster, but those sold a restaurants
are mostly the smaller ones of the kind,
for the shells are very large in proportion
to the oyster, being very thick and coated
literally with mud. 1 know of only one
place where the largest size are sold, at
double the ordinary price.
1.-THE oyster, although a salt water
mollusk, requires a certain quantity of
fresh water mixed with the salt-its food
comes from the fresh water and it only
fourishes in the vicinity of the mouths of
rivers. Hence Chesapeake bay forms an
ideal spawning ground. being long arm
of the sea with a comparatively narrow
opening between the capes and being the
outlet of a number of considerable rivers.
Three of our greatest luxuries flourish
there-the canvas-back duck, the dia-
mond-back terrapin and the Lynnhaven
bay oyster.
Although a great many people, from
habit and tradition of the months with
r., hasten go eat the first oysters of the
season on the LIST of September, the
bivalve is not at its best even by Novem-
Der l. Summer is the spawning season.
and, like fish without shells, it is thin and
favorless after spawning, and requires
some time to regain its fairness and
flavor, and does not reach its highest con-
dition until December. There is another
reason why shell oysters are not in first
class condition in this market until after
frost. Although they come packed in
sufficient ice to keep them alive and fresh
in warm weather the melting of the ice
on top, trickling through the mass, drips
the natural salt of the sea out of the oys-
ter, which has its shell open at intervals
to get what food and drink it can. That
is the reason why oysters deteriorate
very rapidly after arrival for, though in
first-class place a shell oyster will never
be opened for you that is not alive (this
can be readily told, for as soon as the oys-
ter dies the she'll opens itselfO, if it has
been kept some days it will be fiat and
favorless and will not go down without
great deal of salt, while a perfectly
fresh oyster does not require any salt to
suit the average palate and is really best
with only the addition of a few drops of
lemon juice, though the sadness of the
oyster varies with the amount of fresh
water with which the sea is modified in
its native bed. Liberal drenching with
horseradish, tabasco and similar hot con-
diments is a habit acquired in the en-
deavor to make deteriorated oysters
palatable. The juice of the fresh oyster
is the best sauce, and to get this you must
order them opened on the deep Every
oyster has one convex shell and one fat
or slightly concave. II the oyster is
served on the convex shell, which is nat
urally concave inside, the juice is pre-
served in a natural cup, from which it
can be slipped after the solid part has been
eaten. Unless this order is given the oys-
ter will come to you on the other she'll
as the convex center will support the mid
die and the edges will spread out from
their own weight, making it appear much
larger; in the other shell it is huddled to.
gether by the same force of gravity, 50
the oyster vendors have acquired the
habit of serving on the shallow shell to
give a fictitious appearance of size"
How can L open oysters at the honse?'
asked Laura.
1t is difficult for most people to have
shell oysters at home, because few cooks
know how to open them, and VIXEN they
are served it requires the attendance of
man to open them, which, of course,
adds considerably to the expense. Open
ing is comparatively a simple process, but
it takes some little time to serve family.
One must have an oyster knife, which
costs about IS cents. The makeshift way
of breaking off the end Of fne shells With