Originally Posted by direstraits:
Originally Posted by Contendah:
Originally Posted by direstraits:
Raw oysters and clams are alive when you eat them There is a toxin that develops very quickly when certain shell fish die. Therefore, if not cooked, they must be eaten live. Lobsters and mussels are cooked alive to keep the toxin from forming. Never force open a cooked or streamed mussel as it was already dead when cooked and the poison may be present -- making one very sick. Mussels,as a last effort, open up to release the heat.
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Mussels need not be cooked alive to be safely eaten. They can be frozen and cooked later, but they should be frozen at a very low temperature to keep them from going bad. I buy frozen ones at Publix and have eaten a bunch of them and never had any problem.
A lobster can be killed just before cooking and it will not be a health hazard. Be kind to your lobsters and don't drop the tasty critters in hot boiling water until you have carried out the death sentence as described here:
http://cooking-lobster.com/coo...lobster-killing.html
The frozen mussels I've purchased at Publix were cooked then frozen. When reheating, I've found some closed. Those, I did not eat.
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I agree--never eat the ones that are closed. The instructions on the package include that warning.
Best raw oysters I ever encountered were in situ on the bay bottom of the mangrove zone in extreme southwest Florida. They can be plucked from the water by hand and shucked and eaten on site with cocktail sauce and crisp soda crackers.. None could be fresher.
Alarmingly, in some places in Florida and Louisiana, the cholera bacterium can be found
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/...holera/#.VPo7TPnF8kQ
A "bad oyster" is absolutely the worst-tasting thing you could ever get in your mouth. I got one in Vero Beach in the 70s at a very well-respected restaurant. It was a fried oyster and only about the third one one I had eaten (or attempted to).. I declined to eat the rest and stayed away from all oysters for several years..