Wild Maine Belon Oysters

  Today was an exciting day for me at the Market.  While chit-chatting with one of our seafood vendors to the store I inquired about wild oysters and recalled an article mentioning the Maine Belon oyster.  These oysters are both notoriously rare and intensely flavored.  Compared to the hundreds of thousands of oysters produced by individual farms in Maine, only a scant 5000 of these Belon oysters are harvested from Maine waters each year.  I honestly didn't expect to be able to ever see them.  Anyway, the vendor says, "We just got a sample sack from an harvester so i'll send them your way."  And so it began...

  To say that eating a Maine oyster is like kissing the ocean on the lips would be to say that eating a Maine Belon is like making out with salt marsh mud, but withholding the grit.  It was in fact the most potently flavored oyster I've ever consumed, which it not an immense sum, granted, but includes all the varieties I've been able to track down for sale in Maine.  Only one of four Belons which I opened actually had any brine remaining, which a tragic commonality as I found the brine to be utterly crucial to any slim chance of balance this oyster had.  But these, I guess, are not about balance so much as intensity.  There's a deeply embedded flavor of all things oceanic and a touch of decay... fermenting salt marsh, wet, sun baked seaweed, dried fish and a dash of cove waters.  Intensely reminiscent of place from which they are harvested.


  Admittedly, when I tried the first one at work this afternoon I nearly gagged on it but swallowed it anyway and suffered an ill stomach for a solid two hours probably just out of shock.  I was more prepared this evening and even managed to savor it for long enough to chew it a couple times before swallowing it down with a grin.  Super intense but in a romantic way and with such an explicit terroir aspect to it I couldn't be anything but fascinated.  These are a truly rare and genuine experience.

Wicked Hot Italian, Banger tweaking and Duck Sausage

  This week we made a third degree of Hot Italian Sausage we've titled the Wicked Hot Italian.  It's pretty fiery.. not hurtfully angry, but persistent, a nice amount of heat.  It's the basic Hot Italian recipe with added paprika for richness, spice and color and a good heap of cayenne.  Still thinking something violently hot is in order so we'll be looking into more intense peppers for the coming versions, keep eyes peeled.
  Next in line was a slight tweaking on the Banger recipe.  Following recommendations, more breadcrumbs were added to the existing recipe but spices and meat proportions were kept the same.  It's still very tasty but a bit more firm and thicker perhaps, very agreeable and close as I can recall to the last good banger sausage I ate, though it was made by an American producer.
  To be festive and lean into the Christmas feasting spirit we made a Duck, Cherry and Herbs Sausage.  This one is a blend of 2/3 duck meat and 1/3 boneless chicken thigh for lightness and fat, as the duck was rather lean.  This sausage got a few good fistfuls of chopped dried cherries and a balancing amount of fresh rosemary and fresh thyme.  Also dashes of the usual pepper and garlic, some salt, and a pinch of ginger.  It's pretty and I believe an adaptable sausage, suitable to accompany savory Americana-Style sides.  I think it could excel along with more interesting dishes containing toasted nuts, balsamic glazes and more eclectic spices.  The fruit really opens the doors to some fun options. 
  For some reason, all the game sausages I conceptualize tend to involve fruit and/or nuts.  Can't decide whether to humor this urge or to quench it... thoughts?