Let's all try to be cheerful about January, shall we?
I know it's tough. We Americans get started on Christmas so early, and celebrate so strenuously, that we're generally too tuckered out to observe more than half of the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas. With the January part of the holiday -- once climaxed by the fabulous feast of Twelfth Night -- in decline, the month itself has become almost definitively dullsville, noted for such unalluring activities as paying bills, buying new sheets, trying to Nautilize off all that eggnog, and losing the men in our lives to televised football. It's tempting to hibernate, rather than try to muddle through the month with cold toes and the sniffles.
But don't despair. There is one wonderful treat still in store, one luxury that may make you feel (at least momentarily) that January is the best of all possible months.
Ershters, hon.
Oysters can help even winterphobes enjoy the season. While the stricture against eating oysters in any month without an "R" has been loosened some since the advent of modern refrigeration, there are good reasons for saving these charismatic bivalves for the cool-weather months -- and especially for January.
Oysters spawn in the summer; just before spawning they are often slimy, and just after, skinny and watery and lacking in oyster oomph. By the end of September oysters are tasting great, but by that time there are hordes of oyster lovers howling for them, and high demand makes for high prices. During the holidays, when oysters are traditional for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve suppers, the demand peaks. And in February, when midwinter freeze cuts supply and people are eating more meatless Lenten meals, interest in oysters rises again.
Which leaves a window of opportunity in January, the perfect time for an oyster pigout.
Our love affair with oysters goes back to antiquity, according to a new book, "Oysters: A Connoisseur's Guide and Cookbook," published last month by Ten Speed Press. Karen Warner's text, which accompanies the recipes of Lonnie Williams, chef at the Pacific Heights Bar and Grill in San Francisco, covers just about all there is to know about the glorious mollusks and their biology, culture, varieties, history, and even mythology. (Did you know that pearls don't really come from oysters? The jewelry-quality variety actually grow in a mussel-like mollusk called meleagrina margaritifera.)
