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Post by spence on Mar 19, 2020 16:41:55 GMT -7
I've eaten smoked oysters, but the description of the way NAs used them in early Virginia is something I've never heard of.
In _Food in Seventeenth-Century Tidewater Virginia_ by Maryellen Spencer, she quotes William Strachey, _A Voyage to Virginia in
1609_:
“The salvages use to boyle oysters and mussells togither, and with the broath they make a good spoone meat, thickned with the flower of their wheat; and yt is a great thrift and husbandry with them to hang the oysters upon strings (being shauld and dried) in the smoake, thereby to preserve them all the yeare.”
The smoked ones I've had were canned and wet. Has anyone come across this before, essentially smoked jerky made of oysters to last a year?
Spence
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Post by brokennock on Mar 19, 2020 18:12:55 GMT -7
Aha, oyster jerky. When I read "jerked oysters," I was thinking of the spicy Caribbean seasoning. Which sounds good.
I've smoked oysters on the half shell, but not to the point I would trust them as safe for a whole year. They were dryer than canned smoked oysters, so a bit more chewy. I can't imagine how leathery an oyster smoke dried enough to last a year would be.
Although, am I correct in my reading of the passage that the oyster meat had been boiled prior to smoking? If that is the case, being cooked, they may not need to be smoked as long, and how long they would stay good for might then be more a matter of how they are stored.
Great. I just ate before reading this,,, and now I'm hungry again.
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Post by spence on Mar 19, 2020 20:22:46 GMT -7
No, the description of boiling the oysters and mussels and thickening the broth and of drying and smoking the oysters are two different tales.
Spence
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Post by brokennock on Mar 19, 2020 21:53:40 GMT -7
No, the description of boiling the oysters and mussels and thickening the broth and of drying and smoking the oysters are two different tales. Spence Oh. I thought they were boiling them, then using the broth with some type of flour for one dish and the meats for another. I would also think the cooked meats would be easier to string up for smoking. I have to admit, part of me is intrigued. I like oysters, and, I like smoked foods..... not to sure about the possible oyster flavored leather that it sounds like this would create for texture. But, maybe, if I find oysters on special I'll buy a dozen extra and try it. |
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Post by spence on Mar 19, 2020 22:21:01 GMT -7
This was early days, and the English were still using their terms for the grains. When he said, "thickened with the flower of their wheat", I think he was speaking of meal made from corn.
Spence
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Post by brokennock on Mar 20, 2020 7:28:36 GMT -7
That is what I suspected too.
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Post by Black Hand on Mar 20, 2020 11:43:25 GMT -7
This was early days, and the English were still using their terms for the grains. When he said, "thickened with the flower of their wheat", I think he was speaking of meal made from corn. Spence MMMMMMMM - smoked oyster chowder! |
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Post by brokennock on Mar 20, 2020 18:39:22 GMT -7
This was early days, and the English were still using their terms for the grains. When he said, "thickened with the flower of their wheat", I think he was speaking of meal made from corn. Spence MMMMMMMM - smoked oyster chowder! Hmmmm, that would take care of the leathery texture issue I bet. Sounds good too. |
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Post by spence on Mar 21, 2020 9:47:55 GMT -7
From reading about the habits of early Native Americans in that general area early on, I've learned about the 'hominy pot'. They apparently kept a pot perking most of the time, and they put different things in it to cook as they became available. The basis of the pot was what they called homini, and it was corn, soaked, ground, de-hulled and cooked for hours into a pap, and then they cooked other things in it. I would assume that they might cook the dried, smoked, jerked oysters in that. A few hour of perking should soften them up and flavor the broth nicely, I would think.
Rev. John Clayton 1684-94: “[The Indians] are almost allways either eating or sleeping unless when they go a Hunting, at all hours of the night whenever they are awake they go to the Hominy-pot, that is, maze dressed in a manner like our pilled wheat [i.e., peeled or pared off or with the hull removed], or else a piece of Venison barbecuted, that is wrapped up in leaves & roasted in the Embers." (p. 37, from letter dated 1687)
John Lawson, A New Voyage to Carolina;.... 1709
"....the Indians are a People that always eat very often, not seldom getting up at Midnight, to eat."
Spence
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Post by hawkeyes on Mar 22, 2020 6:11:45 GMT -7
Getting me some oysters... Only have canned available to try. Plenty of time to play now!
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Post by spence on Mar 22, 2020 8:31:41 GMT -7
I'll be interested to hear how you dry the oysters before smoking. There is no indication in the reports I have that they were cooked first, and I wonder if they would be safe to eat if just dried in the sun. A modern dehydrator would do it, of course, but how did the NAs do it?
Spence
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Post by Black Hand on Mar 22, 2020 8:58:33 GMT -7
Spence,
I suspect the drying and smoking were done at the same time. Place over a low/warm smoky fire - once the outside dries, the oyster would be somewhat protected as the remainder dries. Being "flat', the surface to volume ratio is increased, so drying should be fairly rapid, especially if there is some wind to help.
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Post by brokennock on Mar 22, 2020 10:05:17 GMT -7
.... Rev. John Clayton 1684-94: “[The Indians] are almost allways either eating or sleeping unless when they go a Hunting, at all hours of the night whenever they are awake they go to the Hominy-pot, that is, maze dressed in a manner like our pilled wheat [i.e., peeled or pared off or with the hull removed], or else a piece of Venison barbecuted, that is wrapped up in leaves & roasted in the Embers." (p. 37, from letter dated 1687) John Lawson, A New Voyage to Carolina;.... 1709 "....the Indians are a People that always eat very often, not seldom getting up at Midnight, to eat." Spence People after my own heart. |
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Post by Black Hand on Mar 22, 2020 12:44:27 GMT -7
.... Rev. John Clayton 1684-94: “[The Indians] are almost allways either eating or sleeping unless when they go a Hunting, at all hours of the night whenever they are awake they go to the Hominy-pot, that is, maze dressed in a manner like our pilled wheat [i.e., peeled or pared off or with the hull removed], or else a piece of Venison barbecuted, that is wrapped up in leaves & roasted in the Embers." (p. 37, from letter dated 1687) John Lawson, A New Voyage to Carolina;.... 1709 "....the Indians are a People that always eat very often, not seldom getting up at Midnight, to eat." Spence People after my own heart. Ditto... |
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Post by hawkeyes on Mar 22, 2020 14:19:39 GMT -7
All the canned oysters at our store are from CHINA... nope, not happening. Bought some smoked perch and herring though.
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