Oysters were not always such an easy thing for me. For a long time I even had a rather divided relationship with the beasts. As a child I actually only liked them poached in the oven because of their sliminess and even later I was rather skeptical about them. But when my neighbor sent an SMS with a correspondingly expressive photo a few hours before our joint dinner last autumn and announced that there would be fresh oysters for starters, I knew that the time for confrontation had inevitably come: as the French delicatessen lady of the house I could hardly admit that I didn't really like oysters. So, eyes closed and through! I kept my oyster skepticism to myself and so we toasted with each and every one of the dozen and "got used to" the taste and consistency. That these specimens were actually "little sausages", in contrast to those I would see shortly afterwards and eventually also eat, I didn't know yet ...
Just a few weeks later, Kabel Eins went on a trip again. For the show "Abenteuer Leben. Täglich neu erleben", I was allowed to unveil the secret of the luxury oyster this time. We are talking about the "Spéciales Gillardeau". They are "produced" by the Gillardeau oyster farm, a traditional family business founded in 1898, which operates several oyster beds throughout Europe, but has its headquarters in Bourcefranc Le Chapus, a small town on the French Atlantic coast in the Charente-Maritime department, right at the foot of the bridge to the famous and popular holiday destination Ile d’Oléron.
After we had spent the previous day for the Abenteuer Leben contribution to the Fleur de sel on the Ile de Ré, where I managed to catch a bright sunburn on my face and décolletage during the short filming break, we started early in the morning towards Bourcefranc. With pearl earrings matching the occasion and a thick layer of powder on my face, I entered the factory grounds, which are beautifully and directly by the sea located. The sea was very high upon our arrival and none of us could imagine that right here under this sparkling water surface the oyster beds were hidden.
To bridge the waiting time until low tide, the factory manager Laurent showed us the setup of the facility and explained to us every single step from the delivery of between 10 and 20 tons of oysters daily, to the first cleaning, through the sorting, the quality assurance sampling, the cleaning, the sorting by size, the laser engraving and the packaging for shipping.
When the water had receded a few hours later, it finally said "put on your Wellington boots and out to sea!" Where previously there was a kind of harbor basin, now an incredible moon landscape opened up before my eyes, in which the oyster beds with the bags full of oysters looked like overripe fruit or a covered table, that were just waiting to be harvested or cleared away.
Carefully, so as not to fall lengthwise into the mud or get stuck up to the knees, Laurent and I walked out for about 10 minutes to a bed, where two of his employees were just busy shaking, turning and rotating the bags full of oysters.
This work step must be done regularly, so that the 100 to 150 oysters in each bag are sufficiently supplied with food (phytoplankton) and also have enough space to grow. Oysters can grow up to 1 or 2 centimeters per week and if they were always squeezed in the same place in the bag, they would – like wild oysters – grow past each other and thereby crooked and bent. That does not make an oyster naturally any less good, but for a "Spéciale Gillardeau", which also has its price, it is then no longer suitable.
The oysters are harvested after a cultivation of a total of 4 years. The first nine months they spend in so-called parks and only then come into the bags on the various beds, where they stay for three whole years, eat phytoplankton and grow.
After the oysters are delivered and washed, the dead ones, i.e. empty shells, are sorted out. Then follows a step as exciting as important: the oysters are immersed in basins with clean seawater. Here the oysters begin to filter the water (a single oyster can filter approx. 240 liters of water through itself per day!), whereby they clean themselves, so that it is ensured that the oysters, when they are finally brought to market, no longer contain any toxins or pollutants.
Subsequently, they are sorted by size in a facility, whereby size 0 is very large and size 5 is rather small. Here with us, oysters of size 3 and 4 are classically popular, in Asia the very large ones are highly prized.
After a final washing, they are marked by a laser with a G (for Gillardeau). As "spéciale Gillardeau", only those are sold that have the right shape and the right ratio of meat to shell. "Conventional" oysters (which are then sold as No Names) show a ratio of 10% meat to total weight, the "spéciales Gillardeau" come to 15 to 20%.
This ratio and the general top quality of the oysters depends above all on the selection of the oyster beds, which are established in waters that show a high content of phytoplankton. Another point is the careful processing: according to Laurent, every single oyster goes through more than 50 steps before it comes to market!
In the late afternoon, we then went to the boutique, where I should finally get my dozen oysters with white wine. By now I was really curious and had a great desire for the experience. In France, but also in Germany and probably in large parts of the Western world, people eat oysters on festive occasions: at Christmas, New Year's Eve, Easter, for birthdays ... I had chosen a sunny Wednesday.
Julien, the manager of the boutique, which is followed by a picturesque café terrace for the immediate consumption of the oysters, first explained to me that you eat the oysters either pure, with lemon or with a light vinegar with shallot. Whether they have an aphrodisiac effect, he did not want to reveal to us.
Julien also recommended to pour out the first water and then definitely to chew, because: when the oysters are freshly opened, they are still alive! And if you do not chew them, they continue to live in the stomach ...! Even though I naturally do not believe this story, I still had to briefly swallow at this recommendation: firstly, because my neighbor and I at our joint confrontation therapy had hastily and unchewed swallowed the oysters, and secondly, because I am not so keen on eating living animals. But Julien could reassure me and explained that oysters, with the exception of simple pressure sensors, have no sensory organs. They have no brain and only very rudimentary beginnings of a nervous system, so that they do not consciously perceive their environment.
With the first I still started hesitantly, but then I ate the whole dozen, without giving even one to the camera team! With oysters apparently friendship ends ... They tasted simultaneously salty and sweet, fruity, a little like the sea and wonderfully fresh and were not at all slimy in consistency, but really nice and meaty-firm.
My conclusion: Oysters? Yes, and anytime again!
- - -
We unfortunately do not offer fresh oysters, however smoked oysters in cans from La Quiberonnaise, the traditional brand from Quiberon in Brittany!
In addition, we amusingly offer the same vinegar from Pineau de Charentes, as the one Julien served me, as well as naturally a series of wonderful white wines, which fit excellently with oysters and seafood in general.
Classically, Chardonnay, Chablis or white Bordeaux is often recommended. We recommend from our assortment e.g.
Jurançon sec 2014, Clos Lapeyre
Alfaiate branco 2015, Herdade do Portocarro
Les Terrasses blanc 2015, Domaine Pesquié
- - -
YOU CAN FIND THE WHOLE CONTRIBUTION on the Kabel Eins media library. Have fun!
