Some years back, at least a decade ago by best count, I had the pleasure of meeting a young couple living in my city. We shared similar circles of acquaintances and soon found ourselves hanging out at a local oyster bar, having drinks, consuming sea food (raw oysters for them, not for me, I went for fried clams. Raw oysters are a bit too "boogery" for my taste).
At some point I was asked about where I'd came from and when it became clear I'd moved a long way from my birth home, I was asked what, if anything, I missed from my there.
"Moose," I said, "They're one of my favorite ungulates and I saw them pretty frequently while growing up."
That word, "ungulates" kicked off a further conversation. What a strange word, the way it rolls of the tongue; guttural and yet poetic. It seems uncommon and yet it refers to things quite common in knowledge; the hooved beasts of the land - cows, deer, horses, camels, whatnot. What a strange conversation furtherer. No longer were we discussing our personal histories, but instead sharing random bits of knowledge and ideas regarding said hooved beasts.
We've remained friends for years, and yet this moment still is brought up. We know how to talk about ungulates. We have thoughts on ungulates. We have, most certainly, considered the ungulates.
And even to this day, I find pleasure to learning something new about the hooved beasts, such that yesterday, I was pleased to discover that despite containing the word "ox" in their common name, the muskox, a stinky, yet stately, ungulate denizen of northern tundra, is in fact more closely related to sheep and goats than to the assumed cattle or bison. The knowledge is apropos to nothing, and yet satisfying (in a way that raw oysters never will be for me).
We'll have to disagree on the oysters. Whenever we decide to have a celebratory feast we head to the local oyster bar. Oysters on the half shell and boiled shrimp. We get to mix our own cocktail sauce. Mine is usually pale pink from all the horseradish. Definitely clears the sinuses. This is the place:
Pacific Star Restaurant & Oyster BarI've always had an adventurous taste, few foods set me off, but raw oysters are one of them. Further ironic because I really do love all other seafood. Periodically I'll give them a shot (my life loves them on the half shell) and will still respond with a "nope, not for me." Oh well, I suppose not all things in this life a designed to bring us pleasure.
If I'm ever in Austin I will definitely check that joint out.
In a similar boat, growing up on a small island where you were expected to eat just about every kind of thing you could pull out of the water, raw oysters and ormers were always just an absolute no-go for me. It's not the flavour so much as the texture, like I'd just cleared my throat and coughed something up.
It's not too hard to go ahead and cook the oyster, at which point I typically find them okay, though I generally prefer them to be included in some larger dish as opposed to on their own.
I'm not familiar with ormers. What are they?
I did not know what an ormer is, either. Apparently it is a sea-snail in the genus Haliotis, which includes abalone? They sound like something I'd very much enjoy eating...cooked.
Oh the muskox, if I were ever to see one in real life, they are superb beasts, stinky and all
I recall watching a nature documentary as a child about tundra life. I loved how the muskox families would circle up, with the young in the middle, to protect them from a pack of hungry wolves. They have soulful faces.