# Oysters vs Steak **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2010, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511 "2010-09-21T06:45:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/1 "2010-09-21T06:45:32Z")
Is a dozen oysters considered analagous to 1 lb of steak? ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/2 "2010-09-21T07:52:35Z")
No. In what possible way? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/3 "2010-09-21T08:21:23Z")
Not by me. I don’t like oysters. I do like steak. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/4 "2010-09-21T13:13:33Z")
For those who like oysters, a dozen is but an appetizer. I’ve put away three dozen in a sitting. I don’t think even three dozen is equivalent to a 16 oz. steak – that’s a good-sized hunk of meat. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/5 "2010-09-21T13:27:40Z")
A dozen oysters is about 4oz of meat. So, it takes 4 doz oysters to equal a 1 lb steak. (approximately). ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/6 "2010-09-21T13:31:04Z")
From [url=http://books.google.com/books?id=fD8CAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=textBeeton’s Book of Household Management: _In Brillat Savarin’s_ clever and amusing volume, “The Physiology of Taste,” he says, that towards the end of the eighteenth century it was a most common thing for a well-arranged entertainment in Paris to commence with oysters, and that many guests were not contented without swallowing twelve dozen. \*_Being anxious to know the weight of this advanced-guard, he ascertained that a dozen oysters, fluid included, weighed 4 ounces,—thus, the twelve dozen would weigh about 3 Ibs. ; and there can be no doubt, that the same persons who made no worse a dinner on account of having partaken of the oysters, would have been completely satisfied if they had eaten the same weight of chicken or mutton._ \*\* (Bolding mine) So according to this source at least, no, a dozen oysters are not analagous to 1 lb. of steak. \*\* Brillat Savarin was a French lawyer and judge of considerable eminence and great Talents, and wrote, under the above title, a book on gastronomy, full of instructive information, enlivened with a fund of pleasantly-told anecdote.\* ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/7 "2010-09-21T13:31:15Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > A dozen oysters is about 4oz of meat. So, it takes 4 doz oysters to equal a 1 lb steak. (approximately). If you’re going by weight. Does the OP mean energy? Cholesterol? Vitamins? . ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/8 "2010-09-21T13:37:08Z")
Sorry, timed out… From [Beeton’s Book of Household Management](http://books.google.com/books?id=fD8CAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=text) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/9 "2010-09-21T13:59:35Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > From [url=[http://books.google.com/books?id=fD8CAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=textBeeton’s](http://books.google.com/books?id=fD8CAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=textBeeton's) Book of Household Management: > > _In Brillat Savarin’s_ clever and amusing volume, “The Physiology of Taste,” he says, that towards the end of the eighteenth century it was a most common thing for a well-arranged entertainment in Paris to commence with oysters, and that many guests were not contented without swallowing twelve dozen. \*_Being anxious to know the weight of this advanced-guard, he ascertained that a dozen oysters, fluid included, weighed 4 ounces,—thus, the twelve dozen would weigh about 3 Ibs. ; and there can be no doubt, that the same persons who made no worse a dinner on account of having partaken of the oysters, would have been completely satisfied if they had eaten the same weight of chicken or mutton._ \*\* (Bolding mine) > > So according to this source at least, no, a dozen oysters are not analagous to 1 lb. of steak. > > \*\* Brillat Savarin was a French lawyer and judge of considerable eminence and great Talents, and wrote, under the above title, a book on gastronomy, full of instructive information, enlivened with a fund of pleasantly-told anecdote.\* Those native oysters were probably smaller than the ones that are farmed today. Even when intensive farming is not employed, most oyster beds around the world have been seeded. And oysters have a greater water content per pound than steak. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/10 "2010-09-21T14:34:16Z")
I love having a dozen raw on the half shell with tabasco sauce as an appetizer to eating a nice thick aged strip steak, rare plus. ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/11 "2010-09-21T15:12:18Z")
> [@Wilbo523](#): > > I love having a dozen raw on the half shell with tabasco sauce as an appetizer to eating a nice thick aged strip steak, rare plus. Exactly. Why choose one or the other when you can have both? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/12 "2010-09-21T15:27:59Z")
> [@Tanbarkie](#): > > Exactly. Why choose one or the other when you can have both? 😃 You can, [this way](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpetbag_steak) (which I’ve eaten once or twice – though I really prefer the two separate). ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/13 "2010-09-21T15:38:47Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > > [@Tanbarkie](#): > > > > Exactly. Why choose one or the other when you can have both? 😃 > > You can, [this way](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpetbag_steak) (which I’ve eaten once or twice – though I really prefer the two separate). I also prefer my oysters raw, not cooked. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/14 "2010-09-21T16:10:37Z")
I had a couple of oyster shooters last week. (I wanted the oysters, and the heavy shot glasses were a bonus.) My coworker asked if I chew the oysters, as the people she knows just sort of swallow them whole. Oy, veh… What’s the point, unless you chew them to get all of the oystery goodness? ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/15 "2010-09-21T16:20:12Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > From [url=[http://books.google.com/books?id=fD8CAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=textBeeton’s](http://books.google.com/books?id=fD8CAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=textBeeton's) Book of Household Management: > > _In Brillat Savarin’s_ clever and amusing volume, “The Physiology of Taste,” he says, that towards the end of the eighteenth century it was a most common thing for a well-arranged entertainment in Paris to commence with oysters, and that many guests were not contented without swallowing twelve dozen. \*_Being anxious to know the weight of this advanced-guard, he ascertained that a dozen oysters, fluid included, weighed 4 ounces,—thus, the twelve dozen would weigh about 3 Ibs. ; and there can be no doubt, that the same persons who made no worse a dinner on account of having partaken of the oysters, would have been completely satisfied if they had eaten the same weight of chicken or mutton._ \*\* (Bolding mine) > > So according to this source at least, no, a dozen oysters are not analagous to 1 lb. of steak. > > \*\* Brillat Savarin was a French lawyer and judge of considerable eminence and great Talents, and wrote, under the above title, a book on gastronomy, full of instructive information, enlivened with a fund of pleasantly-told anecdote.\* Allez Cuisine! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/16 "2010-09-21T16:51:42Z")
[quote=“Wilbo523, post:13, topic:554511”] > [@Giles](#): > > I also prefer my oysters raw, not cooked. I thought raw was the main way to eat them. You just slurp them right out of their little shells and down they go. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/17 "2010-09-21T19:16:03Z")
I meant “satisfaction”-wise. And FTR, I picked 1 dozen and 1 pound as round #'s. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/18 "2010-09-21T19:28:45Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I thought raw was the main way to eat them. You just slurp them right out of their little shells and down they go. Raw on the half shell, in soup, in corn bread dressing, fried on a sandwich, steamed in their shells on the grill until they pop open, Rockefeller (or, as my mom puts it, Oysters Bill Gates), covered in cocktail sauce, straight out of the Gulf of Mexico on a cold day while standing knee deep in same - the ways to eat oysters are many and varied, and I hope to try them all. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/19 "2010-09-21T19:34:46Z")
> [@filling\_pages](#): > > > [@Mahaloth](#): > > > > I thought raw was the main way to eat them. You just slurp them right out of their little shells and down they go. > > Raw on the half shell, in soup, in corn bread dressing, fried on a sandwich, steamed in their shells on the grill until they pop open, Rockefeller (or, as my mom puts it, Oysters Bill Gates), covered in cocktail sauce, straight out of the Gulf of Mexico on a cold day while standing knee deep in same - the ways to eat oysters are many and varied, and I hope to try them all. We are food BFFs! Mmmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511/20 "2010-09-21T19:55:00Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > I meant “satisfaction”-wise. And FTR, I picked 1 dozen and 1 pound as round #'s. You mean as in sating hunger, as opposed to enjoyment? I would say no. A 1 lb steak is well, one pound of steak. 12 oysters is about 1/4 pound, as mentioned up thread. A pound of steak and I could hardly walk. A dozen oysters, and I’m just getting started. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oysters-vs-steak/554511.md?page=2)