Oysters : A Celebration in the Raw

A nicely done book, Oysters is likely to have rather limited readership among home cooks—probably limited to oyster lovers. Nevertheless, if you are in a position where a source for fresh oysters is available to you, and you are interested in expanding your cooking horizons, this hardback is a good choice, though don’t expect recipes. Jeremy Sewall and Marion Lear Swaybill covered everything you need to know about oysters: history of production (with historic photos), current production the many problems oyster growers face (severe overharvesting, diseases), and of course the more practical aspects in the kitchen, teaching you how to shuck them through small step-by-step photos. They provide an amazing forty descriptive adjectives suitable to describe an oyster’s taste. They describe the five North American species and where they grow. In the main section, the authors briefly describe thirty-nine East Coast, twelve West Coast, and three Gulf Coast oysters, each illustrated with four color photos having four different views, their growing location, who grew it, and a brief taste profile. The book ends with notes, a glossary, and an index. This is a good general reference book on oysters, just not for the home cook.