"Shucked tells it like it is: the frigid winter days on the water with hands like popsicles, the backbreaking work, the anxiety of nurturing thousands of dollars’ worth of oyster seed, the hard-partying nights. Erin Byers Murray captures the seasonal rhythms of the New England coast and the romance of one exceptional company’s efforts to coax great food from the sea."
– Rowan Jacobsen, author of A Geography of Oysters
Shucked: Life on a New England Oyster Farm (St. Martin's Press, 2011)
In this engrossing and very personal account, a young woman from Boston ditches her pampered city girl lifestyle and convinces the rowdy crew at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury, Massachusetts, to let a completely unprepared, aquaculture-illiterate food and lifestyle writer work for them for 18 months to learn the business of oysters.
The result is Shucked: part love letter, part memoir (complete with recipes), and part documentary about the world’s most beloved bivalves. It is an in-depth look at the work that goes into getting oysters from farm to table, and shows Erin’s full-circle journey through the modern day oyster farming process. It also tells a dynamic story about the people who grow our food, and the cutting-edge community of weathered New England oyster farmers who are defying convention and looking ahead.
For a look behind Erin's journey, visit her blog Shucked.
The New England Kitchen: Fresh Takes on Seasonal Recipes (Rizzoli, October 2014)
Co-authors: Jeremy Sewall (chef, Lineage, Island Creek Oyster Bar, Row 34) and Erin Byers Murray
Photography: Michael Harlan Turkell
In 2015, The New England Kitchen was nominated for a James Beard Book Award in the American Cooking category.
"Intensely personal, straightforward, vibrant, and invariably delicious, Jeremy's cuisine will make you rethink the old cliche of New England cooking. His deep knowledge of the sea, regional lore, and local products is vividly expressed at Lineage, Island Creek Oyster Bar, and Eastern Standard—my favorite eateries when I teach at Boston University."
—Jacques Pepin, Chef
"Jeremy Sewall reveals for us the red-blooded passion for food—and exhilarating flavors—that we've yearned to discover beneath New England's unflappable public image. The New England Kitchen rings true to the beautiful seasons, the bounty of the Atlantic Ocean, and the ancient social chemistry of the region. Reading this cookbook makes us long for a perfect chowder on an early fall day on the banks of the Charles River!"
—Matt Lee and Ted Lee, Cookbook authors