Everything you want to know about how to eat oysters
Every oyster lover begins as a neophyte – or a spat, as baby oysters are called. Perhaps you find yourself at an oyster-centric work party. Or maybe you have a friend with a thing for bivalves.
More likely, you’re on a Tinder date.
Yes, Tinder oyster dates are a thing. Take it from Gary Mccready, shucker at Philadelphia’s Sansom Street Oyster House and shucker about town for Garces Catering. “Tinder dates galore. Hello! I’ve been so many people’s cupid,” he muses, noting the oyster’s reputation as an aphrodisiac. “It’s kind of a break-the-ice sort of thing. Get somebody else involved. Get conversation happening.”
But what if your oyster intel is limited? Here, Mccready shares tips for the first-timer that will have you savoring these briny treasures with the best of them. “If you’re trying oysters, you’re already pretty adventurous. Half the battle is just stepping up to the plate.”
It may not be the path to romance, but hey, you never know. As the adage from poet Léon-paul Fargue goes: “Eating an oyster is like kissing the sea on its lips.”
Start with a geography lesson
Oysters convey a taste of place like few foods. Filter feeders, they take in roughly 50 gallons of water a day, rich with minerals, phytoplankton and salt. Oyster farmers call the resulting flavor merroir. (A riff on terroir, the term was coined by a food writer for The Seattle Times in 2003.) When you taste an oyster in its brine, you get a window into a specific maritime world.
East Coast: From the Chesapeake to Prince Edward Island, most East Coast oysters are the same species, Crassostrea virginica. Yet, oyster farmers tease out a range of flavors and shapes. Generally, these are brinier than their West Coast counterpoints, Mccready says – but exceptions are the rule. A stateside version
When asked about her spot in Tennessee history, 32-year-old Castle is humble. She joked that when people first meet her, they are often shocked. “With my name Alex, they are expecting a big guy with a beard.”
She is grateful for her place in the history books but says she hopes one day gender won’t be part of the discussion for other women following in her footsteps.
How it all started
In high school, Castle and her mother were brainstorming career options. Castle had always thought she would become a marine biologist, but when she took her first biology class, she hated it.
She did, however, love her chemistry and physics courses.
“The first job my mom read off the list she was looking at for chemical engineer careers was brew master or master distiller,” Castle recalled. “It sounded exactly like what I was looking for.”
From that point on, brew master or master distiller was Castle’s goal.
After receiving a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky, she worked for various companies, making everything from beer to laundry detergent before landing a job as a production supervisor at Wild Turkey. She worked her way up at the famed Kentucky distillery for four years — until she got a message on Linkedin asking if she knew of anyone interested in working for a startup distillery in Memphis.
She and her husband decided to make the move from their home state of Kentucky to Memphis for Castle to take the job as head distiller of the newly reestablished Old Dominick Distillery.
It was at that point history was made, and she started making her mark on the Tennessee whiskey industry.
Castle is busy. She now oversees every aspect of the distillery, including sales, marketing, tours and hospitality, in addition to being master distiller.
“We have 1,300 barrels aging right,” Castle said. “We plan to increase production when our new warehouse is completed.”
Old Dominick currently has four core products that are consistently in production: Huling Station Small Batch High-rye Bourbon, Memphis Toddy — a pre-prohibition recipe original to the founder Domenico Canale — Memphis Vodka and Honeybell Citrus Vodka.
A wheat whiskey is also in the works. “It’s not a well-known category,” Castle said. “And it’s one not many have touched.”
In addition to her distillery duties, Castle serves on the board of the Tennessee Distillers Guild and Tennessee Whiskey Trail and is a member of the Tennessee Bourbon Women Chapter.
Coffee, Honeybells and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Despite her demanding schedule, Castle makes time to indulge her creative side. The R&D product line is one of her favorite parts of her job.
“I love that I get to be creative,” Castle said. “I really enjoy product development and getting to play with different flavors and ingredients.”
Old Dominick’s Honeybell Citrus Vodka may not have been her original idea (it was chosen before she joined the distillery), but it was her work as head distiller that brought this uniquely Southern-flavored vodka to life.
Over the years, she has created two barrel-aged gins as well as a coffee-flavored vodka she did in collaboration with Memphis restaurant Edge Alley this past fall.
“I learned to roast coffee beans,” she said of the process of developing this flavored vodka. Edge Alley chef and owner Tim Barker taught her the ins and outs of coffee roasting so she could have just the right beans to flavor the vodka.
Showing her hands-on approach to everything she does at Old Dominick, Castle also added her personal touch to the label of this small batch vodka. “The result is a smooth, chocolaty taste with no bitterness until the bottle’s empty. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it,” the label reads.
Her latest experimental endeavor has to do with oatmeal raisin cookies and beer.
“In February, we will be releasing an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Bourbon,” Castle said.
Meddlesome Brewing Company used some of her bourbon barrels to make an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Beer. She then took the barrels back and has been aging bourbon inside them.
The R&D product line is available only at the distillery. Each is bottled in a smaller 375-milliliter bottle to encourage customers to try the unique offerings.
For more information about Old Dominick Distillery, its tours and tasting room, visit olddominick.com.
Jennifer Chandler is the Food & Dining reporter at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at jennifer.chandler@commercialappeal.com, and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @cookwjennifer.