Chesapeake Chef

CHARGRILLED OYSTERS

CHEF MATTHAIS MAIHOEFER

Saltine, Norfolk, Va.

The Main, the Hilton hotel in Norfolk, is a go-to for locals and visitors alike, due in no small part to their ground-floor restaurant, Saltine. “Saltine features a raw bar that showcases the region's finest oysters, clams and shrimp,” says restaurant manager Michael Cubilete. But that’s not all. “Saltine isn't just another restaurant with a raw bar. We also specialize in craft cocktails that feature curated ingredients, high technical skills to execute, and thoughtfulness behind every recipe.” Cubilete recommends pairing their chargrilled oysters with their signature Pushing Up Daisies cocktail, which is a spin on a 1930s drink called Corpse Reviver #2. “This drink is bright, crisp and balanced. The house-made white wine simple syrup neutralizes other ingredients and doubles as a palette cleanser after every sip. The buttery notes pair exceptionally well with Chef’s chargrilled oyster recipe.”

INGREDIENTS

1 lb full-fat butter

2 tbsp minced shallot 4 tbsp chopped Italian parsley 1 tbsp furikake (a Japanese condiment) ½ cup shredded parmesan 2 tbsp Kosher diamond salt 1 tbsp fresh cracked black pepper 4 oz kombu (edible kelp) 10 oz water

PREPARATION

1. Start by bringing water to a boil, then turn off the burner and steep the kombu in the water like tea for 45 minutes. 2. While the kombu is steeping, allow the butter to come to room temperature. 3. Once the kombu dashi (tea) has come down to room temperature, whip the butter until it has become light and fluffy. Then slowly mix in the tea in while the butter continues whipping. 4. Combine the rest of the ingredients until fully incorporated. 5. Smear the butter on your favorite oyster, grill or broil until desired done-ness and enjoy! 6. Store any extra butter in the fridge in a covered container for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Chef’s Note: “We use James River Oysters for our house oyster, although any oyster would work. I prefer a slightly larger oyster, something that will hold a good amount of butter in the bowl of the shell. The recipe has a good bit of salt in it, so people who are sensitive to salt should choose a less briny variety; Mobjacks, Rappahannocks, Skipjacks, Little Wicomicos would all be good. We have been sourcing some awesome oysters from Laughing King and Ragged Island as well; these are on the saltier side but I’m a huge fan.”

SHOT TOWER GIBSON

Baltimore Spirits Company

The Gibson, not the martini, is the perfect oyster cocktail. Just like oysters, it’s meant to be had fast and ice-cold. The celery bitters and cocktail onion garnish lends just the right amount of savory sweetness to the mix. Add 1/4 oz of the onion pickling juice if you want to kick it up to the next level!.

INGREDIENTS

2.75 oz Shot Tower Gin

.25 oz Dry Vermouth 1 shake Celery Bitters PREPARATION

Stir over ice and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with 2-3 cocktail onions and enjoy while it’s ice-cold.

TONGING

for OYSTERS

BY ROBERT GUSTAFSON

Few images evoke the history and culture of the Chesapeake Bay more than a waterman standing on the washboard of a small boat, harvesting oysters with a set of long-shafted tongs. Independent, self-reliant and, if pushed, willing to fi ght to protect their way of life, hand tongers were the Bay’s version of the cowboys of the American West.

Fleets of locally made log canoes sailing into the Bay for a day of tonging have gone the way of the great cattle drives. Disease, parasites and overharvesting have cut oyster populations in the Bay to a small fraction of their historic highs. More e cient means of gathering the remaining oysters have largely replaced commercial hand tonging.

But recreational tonging remains the ideal way to gather enough fresh, wild oysters for a hearty feast or two. Just as in the Golden Age of Oystering in the Chesapeake (roughly 1870 to 1920), all you need to tong a mess of oysters today is a small boat, a pair of tongs and an oyster bar, known around here as a rock.

Both Virginia and Maryland have an open season for recreational oystering. No license is required, with the caveat that oysters can only be taken by hand tonging or gathering by hand from open rocks. Maryland allows state residents to gather 100 oysters a day; Virginia permits a daily catch of a bushel. Additional rules apply, so be sure to check the state websites before dropping tongs into the water. [See “Resources” on page 36 for additional information.]

If tonging seems daunting, I am living proof you can do it. I was introduced to hand tonging for oysters over a decade ago when two men whose families landed on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the early 1600s invited me to “go get some Christmas oysters.”

We motored out of a small fi shing village on a bright, very cold winter morning. The captain cut the engine at a place that did not look that special to me. We drifted. His friend hauled out a pair of rusty oyster tongs with long wooden handles and dropped the end with the metal baskets overboard. He tapped them gently against the bottom, testing.

Kicht, kicht. I heard metal scrape against oyster shells. He spread the

CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM

tong handles apart and began to open and close them while churning them up and down against the bottom. He gradually closed the tongs, hauled them up hand over hand, and dumped the contents into a platform on the boat. A mass of muddy shells.

He looked at me over his shoulder as he dropped the tongs back into the water to make another lick. “Grab that hammer,” he said. “Separate the big oysters from the little ones and empty shells—eatin’ oysters in the basket, everything else goes overboard.” That was my introduction to culling oysters.

A few frigid hours later we went home with almost two bushels of

ROBERT GUSTAFSON

Hand tonging for oysters was once a way of life for thousands of watermen on the Chesapeake Bay. Today, recreational tongers can use hand tongs in season to gather oysters for themselves in both Maryland and Virginia.

ROBERT GUSTAFSON