The Briny, Fatty Joys of Life

Raw Oysters and Fatty Pork Sausages

The salty, quivering oysters and the hot sausages work sensationally, both in flavor and texture. — Nigel Slater

I readily admit that I grew up a bit of an oyster snob. I never liked anything served with raw oysters other than possibly lemon, and even that was generally frowned upon. I was taught by my mother to savor the purity and simplicity and taste the ocean in all its unadorned briny splendor.

Then one day I was reading an old French text that mentioned the Bordeaux habit of eating fatty pork sausages with salty oysters, washed down with a big glass of white Bordeaux and I had to give it a go.

Lisa, Beau and I drove up to the nearest oyster beds along the Hood Canal in Washington, bought a few dozen blue pool oysters from Hama Hama and a pack of store-bought sausages and went to town. The combination of rich, juicy sausages with briny oysters and crisp, fruity wine was a dining revelation.

I wondered why I hadn’t tried this before?

20 THINGS YOU MUST EAT BEFORE YOU DIE

I began searching the internet for more on this amazing combination and came across an article entitled Twenty Things You Must Eat Before You Die in the Guardian, in which several prominent British foodies described their favorite things to eat. A quick survey of the article and I concluded that Nigel Slater and I were gastronomic twins connected at the stomach: his favorite combination was also hot sausages and raw oysters.

THE ANNUAL POTLATCH OYSTER AND SAUSAGE FESTIVAL

For our inaugural oyster and sausage party, we invited several of our close friends to join us at Potlatch State Park. We shucked 17 dozen oysters, cooked 20 feet of homemade sausages, grilled tons of chicken, a few loaves of homemade white bread, and drank a few dozen bottles of white wine.