Spiced / Pickled Oysters

“Mr. W. B. Burke of this city has the reputation of preparing the very best spiced oysters which leave our market, and if all are like the can which he left with us on Tuesday, his reputation is well deserved. They are truly a delightful article… He will forward them according to order to any part of the city or the U. States.” – The Baltimore Sun, 1839

In 4th or 5th grade, my class took a field trip to the Museum of Industry. It was one of the more memorable school field trips – especially the part where we lived out a day in the life of an oyster cannery. Innocent tomfoolery reflected real-life situations – kids smugly docked each-others pay for “contamination,” the “big boss” sat in an office and did very little for the most ‘pay’, everyone irritated the hell out of each other. At the end of it all, we took home an ‘oyster can’ of the clay blobs we’d steamed and packaged. I kept that can for a really long time, occasionally handling it to admire its old-timey label.

Love or hate them, its impossible to envision a Baltimore without oysters. The booming and often violent trade touched everyone in the region from the families who labored in the plants to the aristocratic epicures who couldn’t have a feast without them- on down to the dogs and rats picking over the shells in the city’s garbage-filled alleys.

Baltimore Oysters advertised in a Cleveland, Ohio newspaper, 1858

With advances in harvesting and canning, Chesapeake Bay oysters could be had far and wide. An 1879 newspaper ad from Deadwood, South Dakota advertised a surprising range of foodstuffs for a town that was considered “lawless”: Spanish olives, capers, curry powder, coconut, gelatin, chocolate, French mushrooms, New Orleans shrimp, and spiced oysters.

“Spiced oysters” being the same thing as “pickled oysters,” I’d assumed that these must be some vinegary, fermented concoction approaching fish sauce. This sounded like just the perfect somewhat repulsive thing to make when I recently interviewed for Atlas Obscura.

When I took closer look at the recipes, I was surprised to find very little vinegar included in most of them. The vinegar might give the oysters a little leeway in travel time, but pickled oysters turned out to be just another way to enjoy them – and a way for some of the many oyster packing companies in Baltimore to distinguish their product.

W. B. Burke operated one such business, and his spiced oysters were beloved by the Baltimore Sun. This could be because he more or less bribed the staff with free product. In December of 1840 they reported receiving two cans as a “Christmas Presents” (quotes used in the original.) “We have not tried them yet,” wrote the Sun, but “we do not hesitate to recommend persons in want of good spiced oysters give him a call.”

“Man with a derby hat stands atop a mound of oyster shells outside the C.H. Pearson & Company oyster cannery,” Baltimore, c. 1890

Despite being a common item offered by oyster canneries, no 19th-century Maryland cookbook was complete without a few recipes for “Spiced” or “Pickled” Oysters. Recipes appear in published books as well as manuscripts. The quantity of oysters is typically in the gallon range, with anywhere from a few tablespoons to a pint of vinegar.

Rather than serving as a condiment, spiced oysters were typically sent to the table along with other dishes like roast ham, chicken croquettes, olives, bananas, and champagne. The 1883 Chicago Cooking School cookbook mentions that spiced oysters can substitute for fresh ones in a salad with cabbage, celery, and mayonnaise dressing. It is possible that they could be used in recipes where oysters were used to stuff meats. (This is how I’m using them.)

Even if they’re not fermented and shelf-stable, the idea of pickled oysters elicited cringes from several friends of mine. As a non-convert myself, I have to assume that part of the appeal of voracious oyster appreciation comes from their very grossness. Pickled oysters may be due for a comeback. What better way to one-up everyone in your adventurousness?