You Might Want To Send Your Oysters Back If They're Missing This

Most food tastes better fresh, but nothing suffers from being served stale quite like a plate of oysters. Fresh, they capture everything magical about the ocean. Stale, they taste like yesterday's fish market. Add to this the fact that eating bad oysters can have serious health consequences, and one thing becomes certain: knowing how to tell if your oysters are good enough to eat is a handy life skill.

The sure-shot way to ensure your oysters are fresh is to shuck them yourself. Since that's not always practical, especially if you're eating out, remember this simple rule: make sure they arrive with the liquor intact. Oyster liquor is the briny liquid that surrounds the oyster in its shell and is the combination of seawater and the oyster's natural fluids. If it's still there, you know that the oysters are recently farmed.

The lack of brine is a strong indicator of one of two things: that the oyster has been mishandled (either during transportation or in the kitchen) or it's gone past its shelf life (not more than 5 to 7 days for Eastern oysters, 5 to 10 days for Pacific oysters). If your oysters do make it to the table with the liquor intact, make sure it's clear, not cloudy, and that it smells fresh. If any of these boxes aren't checked, it's completely okay to send the dish back to the kitchen.

Oyster liquor does more than signal freshness. It's also a potent flavor booster that can transform any seafood dish with its concentrated ocean essence. You can use it to add depth and complexity to seafood stews and broths. It is also a popular ingredient when it comes to cream-based sauces and seafood pastas. That's not all — you can use oyster liquor to deglaze pans to make a sauce for your grilled seafood. Oyster liquor can be used as a replacement for a saltwater brine if you're looking to tenderize your meat.

And just in case you were wondering, oyster liquor also makes a fantastic pairing with real alcohol. Sipping on martinis while slurping on fresh oysters sounds like a great weekend on the beach; using oysters in your martini is taking that break to the next level. For example, for your next martini, you may consider whipping the oyster liquor into a foam with lemon juice and egg whites. On the other hand, you can opt for oyster shooters, which marry oyster liquor with vodka and cocktail sauce, and are significantly easier to make. Simply combine the ingredients in a shot glass and sip away.