Oysters delicious, and these haven't flown the Pacific

Robert Rush (left) and Warren Bias sample raw Clevedon Coast oysters at Dine restaurant. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

The Eden Park oyster incident didn't even pop into my mind as half a dozen oysters went down the hatch yesterday.

Skycity group executive chef Warren Bias may have been trying to tell me something, but I only grunted a response.

Raw, with or without a squeeze of lime, or battered in tempura, the oysters proved delicious. These were Clevedon Coast premiums, big, fat and juicy.

The brief was to find out what made a good oyster - and for the sake of journalism, I volunteered to down some. Just send my QSM to the Weekend Herald, thanks.

Roly Rush, general manager of Clevedon Coast Oysters, says a good oyster should have "porcelain white to white" meat, and be reasonably fleshy. A good guide is a 70 per cent flesh-to-shell ratio.

But telling apart a New Zealand-grown oyster and a Korean import is nearly impossible, he says. In the Eden Park incident, the Korean oysters were Pacific oysters, the same variety as those from Clevedon.

The only distinction Rush could think of was that in mass catering their oysters would not be cut away from the shell and turned over to present the best side, as doing that would be time-consuming.

Bias says most restaurants like his cut and turn oysters, as it looks better and makes for easier eating. Both men prefer raw oysters on the half shell: fresh from the sea for Rush, with a squeeze of lemon for Bias.

"It's such a New Zealand thing to eat them raw," says Rush.

Even when cooking, Bias says, oysters should just be warmed through so as not to turn the delicate flesh rubbery.

Rush says that method is clearly safe with New Zealand oysters, as restrictions and rules mean the oysters are grown and handled to the strictest standards. Packaging on Korean oysters clearly stipulates that they need to be cooked through.

Winter is usually the best time to enjoy fresh oysters, he says. The harvest season spans from late March to late November for Pacific oysters.

Outside those months they spawn, which affects their taste and texture and causes the flesh to turn a creamy colour.

Oysters served in summer by restaurants have usually been frozen.

When thawed, Rush says, they have the taste and texture of fresh oysters.