This Month's Story

Good Lord, it’s snowing! The ground is too warm for it to stick, but there are definite flakes falling. New Orleans Channel 8 has been showing video clips indicating that they are getting even more snow they we are and, in truth, what we are having would be best described as sleet.

I’m watching the snow move over the water in front of our FEMA Cottage while having my breakfast coffee. It’s a dynamic picture. I can see a dark snow squall moving over the oyster boats working the reefs near Pass Marianne, the sky slate gray, no sunshine. I count twelve maybe fifteen boats over there, moving about, their shapes muted by the squall into dim silhouettes, mostly small gray sticks with square gray bases. The boats move about in scattered clusters, dredging oysters from the large reefs that compose most of Square Handkerchief Shoal.

It seems cold outside, at least to me watching from inside the comfort of my FEMA cottage; the thermometer reads in the high thirties outside. But that needs to go with the wind and the sleet; so it must seem even colder to the men working on the boats. I can picture what it’s like when the dredge comes in high and the cold, muddy water drips down on the faces and black aprons of the men working, chilling their hands through the gloves as they sort the catch.

It’s hard, grueling work. And it can be dangerous. I remember a cruel incident years ago when a tug pushing a string of two barges ran down one of the oyster boats. Two men had been working the boat that day. One of the men managed to grab a hold of a forward section of the lead barge and, scrambling aboard, saved himself. The other oysterman had fallen under and run over by the same barge and it was a week before they found his body.

But there is a reason for all this work that these men are doing in this cold weather. There are many of us who like our oysters on the half-shell and/or in oyster stew and so there is a good market for their catch. So despite the winter weather, the men are out dragging the beds as they have for a hundred or so years, pulling in the oysters from these rich reefs. In a way, apart from the early winter season, this is a local market. Nationally, the big season for oysters is Thanksgiving and Christmas. People who don’t normally eat oysters use them during these festive times in poultry dressings and such.

But to us in the hard-core areas such as along the entire Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas coasts there is an all year demand for the oysters that transcends these holiday demands. To us, oysters are oysters. Meaning, if someone will go out there and get them, we will sit down and eat them. Of course, in almost any seaport city there are oyster bars. In fact the new Wal-Mart was going to have an Oyster Bar in the store when it opened. Someone in Wal-Mart management squelched that idea, but it is interesting that it was even considered.

Stella makes many things with oysters, from Oysters Rockefeller, to po’boys, to stuffing for smoked turkey breasts. I like my oyster po’boy with the bread just slightly toasted to make it crisp, then buttered and the oysters piled on. And don’t forget the hot sauce.

What I particularly love for Stella to make is a white Oyster Chowder that is unbelievably good. With French bread and lots of butter on the bread, her chowder is a meal in itself on a cold, blustery winter day. So if Stella and I are examples of the call for fresh oysters, there will be a lot of boats going out for oyster even on days like today.

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Melt butter over low heat in a heavy soup pot. Add onions and bay leaf and sauté until onions are translucent. Remove bay leaf. Add flour to mixture and make a light roux. Set aside.

Peel and dice potatoes in one inch pieces. Slice carrots and celery in quarter-inch slices. Cook all in broth until tender. Add corn. Use additional broth or water if more liquid is needed to properly cook vegetables.

Add roux to vegetables and stir until completely combined. Return to burner over very low heat. Add milk, oysters and their liquor. Continue to cook over low heat until oysters are heated and their edges become slightly curled. Add cream, salt, white pepper and cayenne to taste. Continue to heat until cream is heated. Be careful not overheat and curdle soup.

Makes four to six servings.

This is truly a suburb chowder! It goes best when served with French bread and unsalted butter. And remember with only a slight variation in the main ingredient, it can be made into a clam or potato chowder.