Do you eat raw oyster?
We do eat raw oyster in Japan.
I mainly eat raw ones at restaurant, but there are stores selling oysters to be eaten raw everywhere in Tokyo.
What I cook with oyster at home the most often is oyster NABE.
NABE means pot in Japanese.
In winter we often cook vegetables, meat and/or fish, and other stuff together.
We place the pot on the dining table and eat directly from the post with family.
And, oyster is one of the typical main ingredients for this pot dish.
To cook this oyster NABE at home, I go to supermarket to get good oysters.
When I do so, I find two different kinds of oysters.
I didn't know the difference between those two and I didn't really know which to buy, but now I've found out the difference.
There always are 1. oysters to be eaten raw and 2. oysters to be eaten cooked.
I used to simply think that 1 is more fresh than 2, so I often bought 1 for oyster NABE because I though the more fresh the better it tastes.
However, I've found out that the difference was not the freshness!
The first difference between 1 and 2 is the area where the oysters were captured.
In Japan the oysters to be eaten raw have to be the ones from the specific area the Japan public health center designated.
And also, the oysters to be eaten raw have to fast with no food for a few days in the germfree pool.
So, the freshness is the same between 1 and 2, which was the biggest misunderstanding I had.
Besides, 1 has to spend a few days fasting with no food, so they tend to lose flesh.
So, if you want to cook and eat oysters, what you want to buy is 2. oysters to be eaten cooked.
That way they are fresh and fat.
If you misunderstand and buy 1. oysters to be eaten raw even if you cook them, the oysters are small and just unnecessarily germfree.
If you cook oysters, oyster germs will be all dead anyways.
This is what I just bought yesterday for our oyster NABE.
They were creamy and so good.
As I said, I bought 2. oysters to be eaten cooked.
But if you want to eat them raw, you have to buy 1. oysters to be eaten raw.
Otherwise, you might have food poisoning from oyster germ.
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