Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with oysters

"He was a bold man that first ate an oyster," observed Jonathan Swift. He was undoubtedly right, but what Swift didn't say that might be just as true is that the first oyster eater might very well have been, like him, of Celtic origin.

Certainly the first person who thought of pairing oysters with beer, most notably stout, must have been Irish. In the Emerald Isle oysters and Guinness is an age-old combination and you can be sure that there will be plenty of both consumed there tomorrow, St. Patrick's Day.

The Irish are not alone. Each year some two billion pounds of the mollusks are consumed around the world, and we Americans eat our fair share, something like 50 million pounds annually.

This has been going on for some time. As M.F.K. Fisher, the so-called "poet of the appetites," put it, "Men have enjoyed eating oysters since they were not much more than monkeys."

The cultivation of oysters began with the Romans more than 2000 years ago in places like Whitstable in England and the French seaside resort of Cancale, which later supplied Louis XIV the oysters he served at the palace at Versailles. The first significant oyster merchant was a Roman engineer named Caius Sergius Orata who became rich partly as a consequence of his development of a sophisticated system for breeding oysters involving channels and locks to control the tides.

Pasta with Smoked Oysters and Guinness, essentially a deconstructed version of Oysters Rockefeller, would be a more suitable dish to serve on St. Patrick’s Day than corned beef and cabbage in the eyes of many residents of the Emerald Isle. (TOM HARTE)

Up until the 20th century the oyster beds of New York Harbor provided the largest source of oysters in the world. Eventually, however, water pollution led to the closing of the city's last oyster beds.

These days many believe the best oysters come from Florida, specifically the region called the Panhandle. Having dined on oysters there recently in the little town of Apalachicola, the last place in the United States where wild oysters are still harvested from small boats using tongs (the old-fashioned way as opposed to dredging) I cannot disagree.

I sampled the famed Apalachicola bivalve at Boss Oyster, a little dive of a place with open-air rooms built on pilings above the water. It has been voted among the top 10 oyster houses in the country. Their specialty is baked oysters and they prepare close to two dozen varieties, including two versions of Oysters Rockefeller, probably the most famous oyster dish of them all.

Invented by Jules Alciatore, the proprietor of New Orleans' famed Antoine's Restaurant, the dish got its name because it was, as one customer is alleged to have exclaimed after taking a bite, "as rich as Rockefeller," and because the purée of green vegetables that tops it gives it Rockefeller's favorite color, the color of greenbacks.

That color, by the way, makes it, or any variation (the original recipe is still a secret), a perfect and, frankly, more authentic alternative to corned beef and cabbage (which is really an American invention) on St. Patrick's Day.

An array of oysters baked with a variety of toppings, like these served at Boss Oyster in Apalachicola, Florida, would make a great centerpiece for a celebration of St. Patrick's Day. (TOM HARTE)

Ireland, after all, is the home of the World Oyster Opening Championship or Oyster Olympics, held each year in Galway. It's a country where oysters are prized far above corned beef, let alone cabbage, any day.

---

Essentially a deconstructed Oysters Rockefeller laced with Guinness stout and served over spaghetti, this recipe, inspired by several on the web, is a wonderful way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, especially if accompanied by Irish soda bread. It calls for canned smoked oysters, which unlike fresh oysters, are always easy to find. What is more, canned oysters obviate any concerns you might have about safety.

Pasta with Smoked Oysters and Guinness

8 ounces thin spaghetti

Traditional Oysters Rockefeller, like these served at Boss Oyster in Apalachicola, Fla., is probably the most famous oyster dish. (TOM HARTE)

2 tablespoons butter

2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 cup panko crumbs

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

6 cups spinach

1/3 cup Guinness stout

1/4 cup cream

2 cans smoked oysters

dash of lemon juice

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, sauté one clove of garlic in one tablespoon butter over medium heat until fragrant. Add panko crumbs and fry until brown and crisp. Cool and combine with Parmesan. Sauté remaining clove garlic in remaining tablespoon butter until fragrant. Add spinach and sauté until just wilted. Add stout, cream, oysters with juice, and lemon juice and cook until warmed through. Add to pasta, toss, and top with Parmesan/panko mixture.

Tom Harte's book, "Stirring Words," is available at local bookstores. A Harte Appetite airs Fridays 8:49 a.m. on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Contact Tom at semissourian.com or at Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699.