Huitres. Oysters. Huitres II: How Fresh Oysters in France are Sold by Weight

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

   
An oyster celebration with white wine

This post includes France's three separate oyster weight tables. The first is for the smooth shelled huître plates, also called the huître vert, the European oyster.  The second is for the crinkly shelled oval Huîtres Creuses or Huîtres Japonais, the Pacific or Japanese Oyster, the third includes some rarely seen very large oysters. This post together with Huitres. Oysters in France 1. Ordering, Eating and Enjoying Oysters. Huitres on French Menus will make your choices clear.

Oysters by weight

When walking into a seafood restaurant with oysters in mind, a French diner's foremost concern is certainly not the number of individual oysters.  For oyster lovers, the type of oyster, its edible weight along with its origins and the way it was fattened are much more important than quantity. of shells. For taste an oyster is very much what it eats and the larger it is tells the diner that it has eaten very well.

Fortunately, French law and practice require fresh oysters to be offered by their average net weight without the shell, a method, which is rarely, if ever, is seen outside of France.  Frenchmen and women consume more oysters per capita than any other country, and so they know that the weight will affect their wallets and their flavor buds. Oysters are not reserved for the wealthy; there are options that make them part of life for everyone. The two lists below indicate the size codes and the average net weight of each oyster offered in the supermarket or on the menu.  These, together with the oyster's origin and fattening time and place will seriously affect how much you pay,
    
European flat oysters.
Huître Plate, Huître Vert
The weight table for the smooth shelled European Oyster.

The menu will indicate (by law) the average weight of the oysters served.

The European oyster in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Catalan - ostra comuna ), (Dutch - platte oester), (German – Europäische auster), (Italian - ostrica comune,), (Spanish – ostra europea), (Latin - ostrea edulis). 

  
European oysters
    
The second table is for the crinkly shelled Japanese oyster,

The Pacific Oyster, Japanese Oyster, or Miyagi oyster
Huîtres Creuses, Huître Creuse du Pacifique, Huître Creuse Japonaise
Latin - magallana gigas or crassostrea gigas,
   

The Japanese oyster in the languages of France’s neighbors:
 
(Catalan -  ostra japonesa), (Dutch - Japanse oester ), (German – Pazifische  auster), (Italian - ostrica concava del Pacifico, ostrica giapponese), (Spanish – ostión or ostra japonesa ), (Latin - crassostrea gigas or magallana gigas).     

Crinkly Pacific or Japanese or oysters
Photograph courtesy of Charlotta Wasteson
www.flickr.com/photos/wastes/5505112189/

For many of the famous oyster names along with the grades that reflect the method and time given to them see my post: Ordering, Eating, and Enjoying Oysters in France I.
  
Oysters in the market.
Photograph courtesy of Laurent
www.flickr.com/photos/loloieg/223576897/
                  
More about the European oyster, the Huître plat, or vert.

Number 5 - These are the smallest oysters sold, however, when they come from a famous growing area they will be called papillons, butterflies, and then they will be on seafood restaurant menus. Oysters sold as papillons lay claim to intense tastes while oysters of a similar size but with less unique histories are only sold for home consumption.
    
Number 4 - On the menu in small restaurants or in the supermarket.
    
Number 3 - The smallest size offered in most seafood restaurants.
   
Number 2 - This size along with size 3 will be in offered in most seafood restaurants.
   
Number 1 - The largest size offered in most seafood restaurants, and they will not be inexpensive.
  
An oyster farm in Cap Ferret 10 km from Nice and Monaco.
    
A menu listings  with 6 European oysters maybe like this one:
     
6 Plates de Belon N°2 Cadoret –  6 Plates, European oysters, from Belon in Brittany size N 2, from the farm Cadoret.  That’s about 360 grams (13 oz) of oysters and a good portion for one.  Cadoret is the name of the farm.  The cognoscenti will know and take the name of the farm and size into consideration when ordering and considering the price. Cadoret being one of the most highly rated oyster farms among the many in the area.  Only occasionally with an oyster farm be mentioned by name.

N.B. Oysters are one of the most easily digested foods and this will be a portion of 320 to 400 grams and considered an entrée, an appetizer.

More about the crinkly shelled Pacific or Japanese oyster,
The Huître Creuse Japonais
     
A plate of Japanese oysters

Number 5 - 30 - 45 grams; available at the fish monger's for home consumption.
      
Number  4 - 46 - 65 grams; this is the smallest size seen on most seafood restaurant menus.
     
Number 3  - 66 -85; the most popular size seen on most seafood restaurant menus.
      
Number 2 - 86 - 110 grams.
       
Number 1 -111 - 149 grams.
   
Number: 0 - Over 150 grams. These oyster giants may well exist, though I have yet to see a restaurant where they were on the menu.
    
 A menu offering the crinkly shelled Japanese oysters may read:
    
6 Huîtres Creuses Fine Claire No 2 Marennes-Oléron -  The crinkly shelled Japanese oysters. The words fine claire indicates that the oysters were fattened for at least one month and the size 2 Japanese oysters have a net weight of 86 – 110 grams each; the serving offered here is about 600 grams, 1.2lbs. The oysters noted above come from the highly-rated Marennes-Oléron fattening grounds in the region of Poitou-Charente.
   
6 Huîtres Creuses N°3 – 6  Japanese oysters weighing 66 -85 grams each; this serving will be about 450 grams, 16 ounces. The oysters noted here are sold without their origin being noted on the menu; to me, that indicates they are quite possibility Bouzigue oysters from the Mediterranean.  The Bouzigues are much appreciated in the South of France, but traditional North-South French rivalries often keep their origin off the menus when they are served in the North of France.
    
A Christmas celebration in Brittany.
Oysters and crabs fill the table.

If you were ordering these oysters in Brittany there is no need order Champagne or a Chablis or Muscadet white wine, though if ordered any of those wines will do their part extremely well. Consider trying Brittany’s oysters with one of the finest ciders in France a sparkling, brut, dry, cider.  A Bretagne Bouche AOC cider which will come in a Champagne-style bottle.

Tasting platters

For the enjoyment of their customers, many seafood restaurants offer a tasting platter that include both types of French oysters with different sizes, growing areas and fattening times:
     
Le Plateau des Abers: 3 Creuses Fines n°3, 3 Creuses Spéciales n°2, 3 Plates n°4, 3 plates n°2.
A platter of oysters from the area of Aber in Brittany. 
3 Japanese oysters, Fines size 3, each weighing 66-85 grams, the qualification fine is the lowest fattening grade;
3 Japanese oysters, Spéciales size 2, each weighing 86 - 110 grams, The qualification spéciale indicates the second fattening grade;
3 European Oysters size 4, each weighing 46-55 grams, these are the smallest size European oysters seen in a restaurant;
3 European oysters, size 2, each weighing 66 -75 grams.
This is an entrée, the French first course for two approximately 890 grams (32 ounces, 2lbs.)
      
Some menus offer seafood platters that include a variety of oysters and seafood.
   
2 Spéciales “ Tarbouriech ” n°2,
2 Spéciales “ Gillardeau ” n°3, 
2 Huîtres Fines “ P.M Barrau ” n°2,
 2 Tarbouriech Japonaise oysters from the unique oyster farm owned by Florent Tarbouriech and located in the Etang de Thau lagoon on the Mediterranean coast near the fishing port of Sète.  These oysters are raised above the water almost daily thereby mimicking the tides which are considered a decisive factor in the taste of Atlantic oysters. In the Mediterranean tides are practically illusory. Florent Tarbouriech patented his system using solar panels to power the motors that raise the oysters. The classification spéciales indicates oysters of the second fattening rating;
2  Spéciale Gillardeau oysters, the Gillardeau  oysters come from the family owned Gillardeau oyster farm that has been farming oysters in the famous fattening grounds of Marennes-Oléron for over 100 years;  
2  Fine P.M. Barrau oysters come from the family farm of Barrau and like the Gillardeau oyster farm is based in the Marennes-Oléron  fattening grounds.
This platter also comes with 1 Dublin Bay Prawn, the crustacean that is the real scampi; 2 large pink shrimps; French clams; sea almonds; sand shrimps and whelks. Really a large entrée, the starter for 1.

    
The third (and heavyweight class) classification table
This is for the largest, and rarely seen, and most expensive Huîtres Plate, the European Oysters.


    
Number 0 - A platter of 6 of these are over 500 grams 1.1lbs.
        
Number 00 - This size is used to impress, for example, at an official banquet for visiting Presidents.
      
Number 000 - These oysters make it to only a few menus, and when they do they are usually sold by the piece.
         
Number 0000 - This is the last number on this list; however, I think that is all there is to it. I have never seen these heavyweights on any menu.
         
Huître Plate  N° 000 de la Baie de Cancale La pièce.  These large European oysters come from the Bay of Canacle, a bay that is itself within the Bay of Mont Saint Michel is set across the border of Normandy and Brittany. The many large size oysters grown in the farms of the Bay of Canacle are put down to its unusually high tides.  These tides bring in large amounts of plankton upon which the oysters feed, and also expose the growing oysters to the sun every day.  These oysters will have been raised for 3 to 4 years and have a net weight of approximately 110 grams, 4 ounces, each;  so it is not surprising that they are sold by the piece.

Mont Saint Michel is also known for its special small mussels, the Mont St Michel Moule de Bouchot AOP. These mussels are the only French farmed seafood of any kind to be awarded an AOC/AOP. Mont Saint Michel is also famed for their Agneau de Pré- Salé AOP -The uniquely tasty lamb from the salt meadows along France's Atlantic coast.
   
When the party is over.


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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

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