A Day at the Oyster Farm | Restaurants at the End of the World | National Geographic
Is that Captain Adam? Captain Adam, yes. It's Captain Adam, holy [bleep]. The one and only. How’s it going? The entire island has only 400 residents, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised when the guy I hitched a ride with to get to the island also runs a local oyster farm. A man of many things, apparently.
Yeah, welcome. You guys want to check out some oysters? Yes, please. We need 100 for the dinner coming up. Yeah, we got ‘em right here. You want to help me pick them up? Let's do it. All right, you guys start. What size are you looking for?
So we're looking for a two and three quarter to three-inch oyster. Okay. So you got an oyster that touches on the bottom and touches here. That's a two and three quarter oyster. And you do that because you want them to grow to their full maturity. Yeah. So when we harvest for you guys, we just make sure they're all perfect.
No pressure. No pressure, no pressure. It's just your debut dinner. No big deal, right? The oysters are sold all over the country. Some of the best restaurants in the world, you know, French Laundry and all through New York and Boston and California, because North Haven has beautiful soils, the ocean's clean, and that comes out in the taste.
And for oyster aficionados, it's a damn fine oyster. Ow, oh, oh. I got bit by a crab today on the lobster boat. Oh, you did? I did. With Abel? Were you with Abel? Yeah. He took it off. I was like, get it off my hand. We went lobstering and oystering together for five years. It really is a family out here. All of you on the island.
Yeah. In a community this small, everyone relies on each other. And I can see that Turner Farm plays a huge part in supporting the whole island. So everyone here is personally invested in its success. How many you think we have right now? That is definitely over 100. Great...10...103 good karma.
That's cool, yeah. Done. All right, you want to taste this? I sure do. Mm hmm. Right. That is one of the most beautifully salty oysters I've ever had. Thank you so much. Ever. There's been so much hype around these North Haven oysters. I didn't know what to expect, but I love the sweet, salty creaminess, and it's amazing and honestly, better than I could have ever imagined.
But I've also spotted something at Adam's oyster farm that I want to share with him. Taste this. They are really tender, that you just eat ‘em. What a little heart? What? I’ll try that. I'll try that. Thank you. Oh, my God. That's good. That's fantastic. They're like little, tiny gherkins.
Oh, and I like that crunch sound so satisfying. Think about if you dehydrated this whole thing and deep fried the whole thing and how the whole thing would just pop up. You had me at deep fried. Carolynn has a plan for her oysters in this great hot sauce, but I'm kind of inspired by this seaweed project.
I'm going to call it a project for now because I still have to figure out what I'm going to do exactly. I want to do something unique, surprising, something that will really add to what Carolynn is already doing at Turner Farm. No clue what it's going to be yet, but I'll figure it out.