You’ll find everything you ever wanted to know about oysters in Rowan Jacobsen’s new book, “The Essential Oyster: A Salty Appreciation of Taste and Temptation.”

The book, beautifully photographed by David Malosh, is an informative guide to oyster culture and history in every region of North America, including right here on Long Island Sound.

Jacobsen gives readers tasting tips and back-stories on the crème de la crème of oysters; lists his favorite oyster bars; and features recipes from top oyster chefs.

Among Jacobsen’s numerous books is “A Geography of Oysters” (winner of the 2007 James Beard Award), “American Terroir,” “Apples of Uncommon Character” and “The Living Shore.”

Currently on a national book tour, the Vermont resident will visit Mystic’s Oyster Club, one of his favorite shellfish haunts, on Sunday. Here he discusses the essentials of his new book with The Day.

Q. When did your enthusiasm for oysters first begin?

A. When I was a kid, 12 or 13. We lived in Florida and my family would go to the beach and stop by an oyster bar afterwards. My dad had grown up in Chesapeake Bay, eating oysters. In the ’80s there were tons of sleazy oyster bars, super cheap oysters at Happy Hour, 10 cents apiece. First it was on a dare, but then I got a taste for them pretty quickly. Then maybe 10 years ago, I got fascinated with the different tastes of oysters around the same time oyster culture started to blossom in the country. I got into the experience of eating oysters versus other food — this animal that was alive right before you eat it, and still has all this energy in it.

Q. You wrote “A Geography of Oysters” a decade ago, which has been attributed with “accelerating the oyster mania we’re now in.” How did you take the subject of oysters to a new and bigger level in this book?

A. The first book was basically ‘Oysters for Dummies.’ I wrote it because there was no guide out there on oysters, no information on them. It was to be a functional tool for people. It helped. It made a lot of people oyster literate (including) servers and restaurants. There are so many oysters out there, this new book (talks about) techniques for developing oysters with particular looks and flavor profiles, and oysters in parts of the country I hadn’t spent any time on that have now really exploded. I also wanted to capture and celebrate the romance of oysters and oyster culture.

Q. How did you select the oysters and locations, you featured? Did you travel to all the places you describe to do your research?

A. Yes, almost everywhere. There are great oysters out there that I didn’t manage to get into the book, either because we didn’t get our hands on them to do the photographs or we already had so many from that region that we chose ones representative of that place or that are super delicious or have a great story to tell or are really unusual. The goal was to make sure we captured the whole breadth of what’s out there.

Q. For our local readers, can you talk about Mystic River oysters, Fishers Island oysters and Long Island Sound Bluepoints, and why you included them?

A. Those are kind of the big three Connecticut oysters. Bluepoints are the classics; they’ve always been there. They’re wild oysters, harvested by dredge, that grow on the bottom of Long Island Sound — rough and tumble oysters. Mystic oysters are much more unusual, manicured. They’re grown on the bottom of this sandbar, and have beautifully round shells like a scallop. Mystic’s flavor is intense, slightly metallic, almost like an iron tang. Fisher’s Island oysters are very different. They’re getting all this pure ocean water coming out of Block Island Sound. They’re more oceanic and briny than Mystic oysters. And they’re also grown in a completely different way. They never touch the bottom of the bay. They’re grown in these lantern nets off the bottom of the ocean; so the shells are much more delicate and so is the flavor.

Q. For the oyster novice, how do you learn to taste the subtle differences between oysters?

A. People always say to me, ‘I don’t have a good palette, I can’t tell the difference.’ Anyone can. If you lay out at least four different oysters, the differences become obvious. There are more (opportunities for oyster tastings) as more and more oyster bars are opening up all over the country. It’s a national trend.

Q. Can you list some dos and don’ts of eating oysters?

A. Do chew and don’t drown them in cocktail sauce. You want oysters as fresh out of the water as possible and that have been kept cold the whole time. Avoid eating oysters in sketchy places in New Orleans. You want to have oysters in a bar that has a reputation for oysters rather than ‘Joe’s Barbecue’ that just happens to have oysters on the menu because they got them through their distributor. The only risk with oysters is to eat them raw. Once they’re cooked, there’s no risk.

Q. The book is mostly about the history of oysters with detailed information about all different kinds of oysters, their origins, and how that affects the way they taste. But there are less than 20 recipes. How did you decide which recipes to include?

A. I almost always eat my oysters raw. So for recipes I looked to some of my favorite chefs in really well-known oyster bars. There’s a lot of bad oyster cookery out there. They should be really light-panned with a subtle touch. It’s very easy to overcook oysters and then they’re not interesting at all. The grilled oysters from the Oyster Club and the smoked oysters (from The Ordinary in Charleston) are great examples.

Q. Speaking of The Oyster Club, it’s in your list of “Go-to places” for oysters. Why did it make the cut?

A. They really get the essence of the oyster — what’s exciting about it — both with their cooked and raw dishes. Even though there’s a gazillion oyster bars out there, most of them don’t get it, they’re not paying attention to their sourcing, etc. The Oyster Bar is the best example of a place that gets the best oysters out there and presents them at their best. One of the things I love doing is tasting local oysters from different areas. It’s really fun.”

OYSTER SLIDERS

I always intend to order something new when I go to Island Creek Oyster Bar in Boston. I have grand visions of being less predictable, but then the table beside me gets a brace of sliders and I crumble. It’s just hard to resist that perfect evening formula: raw oysters, beer, sliders, beer. If you ever get the chance to make these with European Flat oysters, do.

— Rowan Jacobsen in “The Essential Oyster”; recipe by Jeremy Sewall 

Makes 8 sliders

1 small red onion, peeled and sliced thin

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

8 large oysters, shucked

1/4 cup flour

1 egg

1/4 cup panko

1 cup canola oil

Salt and pepper to taste

8 mini-brioche or similar rolls

1/2 cup baby arugula

Mix the sliced red onion with the vinegar and sugar and let sit at room temperature for about two hours, mixing every 15 minutes. The onions will wilt and turn a pink color when ready. Drain from the liquid.

Meanwhile, mix the mayonnaise with lime juice and Tabasco sauce and chill until ready to use.

Dredge each oyster in flour, shaking off any excess, then dredge in egg and then panko. Put breaded oysters on a plate and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

In a heavy sauté pan, heat canola oil up over medium heat. Fry each breaded oyster on both sides until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Carefully remove the oysters from the pan to a plate lined with a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.

To assemble, slice open each roll. On the bottom half, spread 1 teaspoon of the mayonnaise, add a few slices of pickled onion and a few leaves of baby arugula, and top with the warm oyster. Serve as a bite-sized sandwich or appetizer.

“The Essential Oyster” by Rowan Jacobsen (Bloomsbury Books) is $35, hardcover, full color photography

IF YOU GO

What: Author dinner with Rowan Jacobsen, author of “The Essential Oyster”; co-hosted by Bank Square Books and The Oyster Club

Where: The Oyster Club, 13 Water St., Mystic

When: Sunday from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Cost: Tickets are $100 and include a copy of the book, plus a five-course meal with drink pairings. (Tax and tip not included.) Seating is limited to 50.

For tickets: Call The Oyster Club at (860) 415-9266 or go to http://www.banksquarebooks.com/event/oyster-club-rowan-jacobsen.