MikeMooreMedia

NC Oyster Month, Debbie Moose 10.15.24

Steamed, fried, raw, Debbie talks about different ways to enoy this flavorful shellfish, supporing our state's important seafood industry and the North Carolina Oyster Trail. Her book, 'Carolina Catch, Cooking North Carolina Fish and Shellfish From Mountains to Coast' is available in book stores and at Amazon.com
Facebook.com/DebbieMoose

Broadcast on:: 15 Oct 2024
Audio Format:: other

Mike Moore media friend Debbie moose in Raleigh is on the line food writer cookbook author and yeah checking in with her today hey hey Debbie how you doing fine how are you I'm doing just great yeah well we're we're talking about something very special today so set that up for us well you know we've you know we finally got a little bit of cool weather here it's finally acting like fall there's not nice yeah and a lot of people start thinking about oysters when it turns off in the fall I think about oysters all the time yeah a lot of people know there are those who do not feel the same way yeah I've heard that but a lot of people yeah I have some good friends all I love oysters oh yeah some of your best friends like boys that's true it's so true but you know it's okay I mean it's definitely they're definitely different kind of seafood I mean even them are always true that's a whole different thing which times I really they're not my preferred way of eating them but I and once a while if they're super fresh I will want to roll them you know but steamed or fried they have a particular temperature their particular case they can have some of them can have a rather strong taste and you know it's something that you know people even love them where they hate them they're not neutral about them right and you're not neutral about them I'm sorry I don't share your your love for oysters yeah okay but but that's okay do oysters or oysters I never I never have been able to say the word correctly that's a probably part of the reason I don't like them that much you know it doesn't be wonder how hungry someone had to be to pick up one of those oyster shells not knowing what it was and open it and decide to eat that yeah well but when you're hungry you know it is true yeah but the oysters are are really different from a lot of kinds of seafood in a lot of ways and one is that they reflect very strongly where they're where they're growing the taste will vary depending on the salinity of the water you know where it is some oysters will have a lot of saltiness some don't you know a lot of restaurants they'll have like a special plate with some from different locations and you can taste um you can taste the difference in them I mean they can be different sizes some taste very salty some are smoother and more like a buttery taste I know it doesn't make any sense to you since you don't like them but um they you can really see the differences in them if you get one of those sampler trays and they're typically on the half shell but you can also tell the differences in flavor even if they're lightly steamed and North Carolina has a driving oyster mariculture growing oysters oh oh yeah for several years a number of places they're growing um wonderful oysters and the whole thing about you should only eat oysters during a month with an R in it yeah that's that's the fallacy when you're talking about farm raised oysters that's the fallacy the original reason for that was that with wild call oysters um I mean they weren't gonna kill you but they just weren't gonna taste great because they spawn in the summer and they're a little smaller if they're putting all their energy into making little baby oysters um and they're just not the flavor is not good sometimes and that's with wild call but with farm oysters they're consistent you can they're just as good in July as they are in November yeah so that doesn't really matter I don't need to worry about that yeah okay um and there's even a North Carolina oyster trail which I can't wait to to check out some of those you can visit different um different oyster farms along the coast and have tours and see how they do that oh wow that sounds like a future story to me a feature right there well a future of me going to the coast and eating a lot that's what that sounds like for me you sounds like research yeah and the um that has grown tremendously in the state just over the past year of agriculture in general um fish farming oyster farming um but it is interesting more so I think than other kinds of seafood um little the French collet terroir or something like that but the flavor of the place where it was grown um oysters reflect that yeah and and this trail your time is this is this fairly new is it's been around a little while you just hadn't gotten there i think it's been around a couple of years of course during covid you know nothing was going so I think it's just now really getting cranked up but as far as farms let's see there's like there's about nine nine or ten twelve um or more places on here yeah and they range from the outer banks all the way like to Wilmington and um I think the area we said you were from where did you said you were from like uh well we lived on the coast there uh for a while when I was young uh topsoil holly ridge down in that area yeah yeah yeah I think there's some around there too yeah um sneeze fairy oh yeah sneeze fairy yeah there's a what is that the uh three little fat oyster company oh it seems very yeah and you can get a tour of their farm um and they will take it out in the water show you how they do this oysters are also important indicators of water quality because they they feed by filter filter feeders so so the water has to be clean yeah water is not clean what you come up with not good and they also filter the water that's a good indication there yeah yeah you know I'm actually on um on a website here uh the the oystertrail.org and how timely yes wild oyster season starts today wild oyster season yes wild oyster season yeah so getting the wild wild ones the wild caught ones and ones that are not far um yeah um I've had both I mean they're but all good they they all taste different um um pests and restaurants often like the farm grown ones because they're usually a consistent size mm-hmm they're clean and they're consistent size the wild caught ones you know it's like going out and picking carrots out of your garden some of them will be big some will be small they're you know they'll have some mud on them um wild caught oysters can be very muddy I've I've gone to an oyster roaster they had a big bag full of those and the worst part was cleaning them off yeah um but so uh chefs like the farm racemons for consistency and and that they're clean and and they can um get different ones for different different um slightly different flavors mm-hmm I like the salty oyster myself I like it to have a good good amount of salinity mm-hmm the taste like the ocean it came from but yeah wild caught oysters they use you're a little bigger um and I've I've been to plenty of oyster roasts you get a big sack um you know shows them off um sometimes people have thrown them like in um on top of a metal thing like on top of a grill on a in the ground mm-hmm and sort of roasted them that way um you can also steam them you know put them in a big pot steam them oh yeah and um it's good to do all that outside because it's messy work and and they do um they don't smell great while they're cooking they smell kind of strong so you don't I've done it in the house it's not great um so this is something that's perfect for you know these cool fall days when it's warming up the outside um but still nip in the air gets you the fire pit going if you're better at starting the fire than I am I'm not very good at it um I would never grow a scout yeah okay fire pit you like um you like some shellfish right oh I do yeah yeah yeah so yeah I like seafood in general actually but now you know you've kind of painted it's almost a nice picture there and just see the you know the oyster roast there and you know and all the friends gathered around and is there is there a wine that goes with oysters well there probably is but I tend to be more of a beer drinker when I'm in an oyster roast yeah okay yeah that seems to be it okay you know you don't have an oyster roast for two I mean it's it's a it's a party communal kind of a thing sure I had a couple of friends who used to um go around doing oyster roast as sort of a side gig and they'd come over they'd get the oysters come over set it all up in your yard and steam on them and all you need is some tables and um tables covered with you know newspaper or old old bags or something and yeah I gotta show people how to open them now um to open oysters you know they're steamed in the shell when you do that yeah when you do the oyster open them and they're really tight aren't they they shouldn't be that tight um typically you want to steam them until they just start to pop well it depends on how much you like them steams I don't I don't want them hard steams I like them sort of light steam just steam them just so the shell starts to pop open a tiny bed okay and then in the front because there's a hinge in the back and there the wide part in the front is going to pop open a little bit and that's where you stick the oyster knife and then oyster knife don't use your mama's butter knife out of the drawer it's not going to work the good solid oyster knife and then you can get those everywhere and stick it in there and kind of turn it up sideways and just kind of pop it up and it should open pretty easily you may want to wear a glove or wrap a paper towel around your hand because the the shell can be sharp right associate it takes your little effort to get in there if you'll steam a bunch if you have a bunch in your steaming them and you steam and there's some that've been steaming several times and they're still not popping open put those aside because they may not be good if they won't if they won't open oh really okay just dispose of those to be on the safe side do not start opening at the hinge in that's not the place to go start at the front where it's popped open a little well sure yeah that makes sense yeah and then pop it open and then you can take your knife and run it under the oyster to release it from the shell and then just enjoy yeah yeah and toss the shell off to the side and and go on to the necklace and all you need with something like that i mean to me it's just some you know put out some cocktail sauce maybe some coleslaw you know chips and bread it's a and there are some places here in Raleigh i don't know about where you are but that will come in and stage an oyster roast that your house for you there's seafood companies that will come and do that um you know in your driveway or whatever mm-hmm oh that's pretty cool it's a rule and out on the coast there are some places this time of year and up into November and January too that have oyster roast fundraisers there's a big one i think in hatteras in January there's a fundraiser for i can't remember the organization but it's a it's a charity event well then that's good support uh that organization and and enjoy uh oysters it might be the fire department i can't remember sure it might be the fire department mm-hmm yeah um but you know steam clams if you like clams no there we go now there i love clams i love clams oh i do too and clams are an under-appreciated shellfish and they're very abundant on the coast here and um they're easy to steam too you know same same thing you know pop steam and pop them open the same way um now if you want to make clam chowder and you need to have them open oh i love clam chowder oh yeah oh my gosh it's really difficult i know this i've tried it's very difficult to open the shell of a raw clam mm-hmm so what someone told me to do in this work is um put it in the shells put them on the freezer and let them freeze then bring them out solemn and then it's easier to pop the shell open that's if you're going to make clam chowder or or something like that with it mhm if you just want them the clam need well now no that's a little trick with that yeah you'll appreciate this then kind of kind of getting back to the roots there of what we're talking about here so to speak uh good friends um visiting with them in Beaufort uh some years back and i did go uh clam digging uh for the first time yeah you know mired up in the muck and all that but oh that was so much fun yeah so yeah we were digging clams out there on uh on the island you kind of you know had to go take a little boat out to the eye a little um little something there to get there i've never been clam digging i'd like to try that yeah well that was a lot of fun so that's that's as close as i'm sure there were plenty of oysters all around but we were after the clam so uh well clams are good too and like i said i think they're underappreciated i do too yeah clams on the half shell are really great um so um now really what kind of clam chowder what kind of clam chowder do you favor do you favor the cream base or the hadler style uh you know cream based yeah you know you got some got some potatoes in there is that that yeah and then there's it what is it the new england what is that that's the one that got all the stuff in it that's not tomato in it yeah yeah no i don't i don't like that no no so the hadder is the hadder is based is i should know that but what is that what's in that it's it's not cream there's no cream in it it's a broth base okay all right usually it's um maybe chicken broth or maybe some clam juice in there but it's broth excuse me when i've made it i start with the chicken broth and there's onions celery potatoes um usually there's bacon hmm okay so any bacon nice good clunky flavor that sounds pretty good right there um and the um and the um and the clam the clam meat yeah i've i've gotten to where i prefer that it's not as heavy um like if you haven't going to have a cup of that and then have a rest rest of your meal i've i've gotten where i just prefer that and it it's kind of North Carolina and i like the bacon flavor in there also if you know if someone says that the to dairy products they don't have a problem with it because i think the recipes i've used you fry the bacon and then cook the celery and onions in the bacon fat and um then add the potatoes and the broth and the bacon back in there and yeah and everything and the clams close to the end but you don't want to overcook the clams because they get all rubbery yeah yeah i think i've had something like yeah i could go for that right now a cup or a bubble i could too i could i could eat a cup of that on this till the morning yeah sure you know one thing um you wanted uh you mentioned uh talking about uh scallops or scallops i don't know how you prefer to say that but the way you're from right it's not a yeah right so but you wanted to mention that too did you today or have we done yeah some of these um some of the places that raise oysters also raise other types of shellfish you would have to look at the look at the list that the uh at the oyster trail website and see which ones that some of them do raise other shellfish um and scallops are our real treat um we don't you know we don't see them very often up here they're you know and they're usually a little bit expensive but they're so sweet sweet sweet sweet sweet wonderful things oh yeah and i don't tend to do anything fancy to them they say taste so good i just sort of sear them um you know get a good sear on them cook them all the way through maybe drizzle a little bit of um sprinkle some herbs on top or do it make some some herb olive oil or something drizzle a little of that on there or maybe a little bit of garlic oh yeah um but i tend to keep it simple because they taste so it's so nice well they're there are all kinds of ways to enjoy uh wonderful seafood and uh and i see here that north carolina is celebrating this october is north carolina oyster month so uh so proclaimed by the governor so that must be a thing i guess you know yeah it's it's a time to shell a braid shell right yeah north carolina oyster month yeah i thought that was okay yeah all right you probably wouldn't write that in one of your articles that's uh that's kind of you underestimate night that is pretty cute though i like that yeah well wow well this has been fun yeah i wish we had some time right there together right now we could you could have your oysters and i could have my clams and would be uh in in uh seafood heaven there for a little while gee you could take me clam digging to hear the expert yeah oh i am that indeed yeah i am the expert and you know and i've got i'm licking here in my studio uh debbie and uh i do have some little seashells and i do have some clam shells and oyster shells and things kind of in a little seafood uh area and some you know the things that grandkids collected at the beach and you know yeah stuff like that so it's kind of over there in the corner and a little shelf and yeah so i've got some visuals around me so are you thinking now maybe um that this is uh the week or the weekend maybe you might be having some oysters well it might not be this weekend because there is some stuff going on and oh yeah it won't involve having time to go find any good oysters so you got your husband's birth today tomorrow so you're celebrating that yeah and then he he's got some other things going on and okay um but very soon there will be oysters in my life yeah okay and he liked them too so that's good make him an oyster cake for his birthday oh i don't know about that but um and you know see if i can find a recipe yeah yeah he'd love that uh and wasn't there uh savor the south cookbook on oysters am i thinking right on that yes there is one um savor the south oysters i'm sorry i can't remember who wrote it i can't either right off this it's excellent of course and my cookbook um um carolina cat has a lot of oyster and scallop and other kinds of seafood recipes in it and details about um how to select seafood and everything because you know if you have any hesitation about how do i pick up good seafood yeah and your book there uh carolina catch um wow what a good uh christmas getting closer here what a good christmas gift and to the library there so where can we find that book and others of yours well they should be available at at your your better local bookstores and also of course on on the big a if anyone can't find it i want to hear about it yeah we need to know we'll get one to you okay all right well this is this has been great as always thank you Debbie Moose always good to have some time well thank you so much it's great talking with you as always and um since it will be into November before we talk i just want to quickly say everybody please make a plan to get out and vote in the election it's very important i don't care you know what party you belong to but democracy works better when as many people as are eligible get out and vote early voting starts this week starts thursday yeah mm-hmm yeah yeah and this is uh such a critical election year so uh yeah don't don't well you know every election i think is important you know it's your chance to make your voice heard otherwise you can't complain that's exactly right we don't want to hear it we do not want to hear you griping and you didn't vote well you have no you have no standing to complain no uh and you know yeah you've kind of almost convinced me that uh the next time we're out with some friends and they're having oysters i'm um i'm i'm gonna i'm gonna go there and just uh and i'll report back to you on that well what's that saying what the big mountain will first add an oyster yeah that's right who said that i remember i don't know it's some legendary thing hmm yeah thank you debbie all the best thank you thank you talk to you too bye but that's our friend debbie moose in rolly and uh yep you can find out uh more about uh her on facebook debbie moose and then uh on our website debbiemoose.com okay thank you for joining us today and for uh celebrating uh onktober north carolina oyster month with us [ Silence ]