[Leica] Re Oysters and seafood

[lrzeitlin at aol.com]

 I second the comment that some of the best seafood around is found in the UK.?


During stints as a professor at the Univ. of Wales we lived on the island of Anglesey, separated from the mainland of Wales by the Menai Strait. The strait is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about 25?km long. The differential tides at the two ends of the strait caused daily currents of about 15 kts. to flow in both directions.?


Mussels and oysters were dredged from Menai Strait on an hourly basis. The constant flow of tides brought them fresh nutrients twice a day. Cod, sole and the like were landed at a fishing port on the other side of the island, about 20 minutes truck ride away. The seafood was some of the best we have eaten - but a bit of a lottery. We often had a big bowl of seafood stew for lunch. No matter what you ordered, you could never be sure what you would get. The stuff that went into the pot is what was in the market that day. The chef was a creative genius. He could make cod taste like tuna or salmon taste like cod. The only thing you were sure of is that it would not taste like chicken. Sometimes the seafood was fantastic, other times only excellent.?


The Annual Oyster Faire was the start of the start of oyster appreciation season. The local pubs and hotels offered oysters and Guinness Stout, or mussels in cheese sauce for a reasonable price and threw in some entertainment too.



Despite the fact that some of the best fishing grounds in the Irish Sea are close by, the typical Welshman preferred a good slab of beef or lamb. We tended to lean the other way.
Larry Z