Oysters galore

Plenty of sun, beer and mountains of oysters got soaked up at the Whitstable Oyster Festival at the weekend. It gets bigger every year and this one was the busiest by far, said Ben and George (pictured left), heroically shucking, cooking and serving at warp speed outside Wheelers on the High Street.
They got through a whopping 3,500 on the Saturday, and another 2,000 on the Sunday – they’d have sold more, but that’s all they had. They also sold out down at the Oyster Stores and at the Forge on the seafront and they were going gangbusters at the Food Fair in the harbour too.
Ben, George and chef Mark Stubbs were offering oysters in various ways. We tried them on their own, deep fried in Guinness batter and also Japanese style, with soy, mirin and pickled vinegar – a great selection for showcasing how versatile oysters can be and how they take to different flavours and cooking. The Japanese flavours bring out the sweetness; the Guinness batter their savouriness – a great way of sampling oysters for those who think they don’t like them; plump and satisfying without any of what you might call slurpiness that some find off-putting. Try for yourself with our recipe by Mark Hix here.

Also getting through oysters at pace at the harbour were the contestants in the speed eating competition: they had to scoff down six and a half-pint in the qualifiers, but a full dozen and a pint in the final. “It’s harder than it looks,” said winner Ben Holden in his victory speech, pictured above. (Actually, it really didn’t look that easy, Ben.)
We found our own ideal beer accompaniment at the stand for Gadds’ brewery in Ramsgate: the superb Black Pearl. Poetically, but aptly described by Gadds’ as “a luscious, bible-black stout that’s a perfect accompaniment to seafood, oysters in particular” it was created for the late Jonny Dunhill, proprietor of Ramsgate’s now sadly closed Eddie Gilbert’s (“the greatest fish shop, posh chippie and restaurant ever”). At 6.2% it’s potent stuff, especially on a hot day, but seriously delicious and well worth seeking out as the ideal match for those beer-battered bivalves.
That’s the end of the food fair, but there are more events going on this week, including seaside cinema screenings (29/29 July), the children’s treasure hunt (30 July) and the Venetian Carnival, building of the grotters and firework finale (1 August).