How to Shuck an Oyster
Cold and briny, with the fresh, salty-air scent of the ocean, oysters are a summer and fall favorite ,commonly consumed, shellfish on Cape Cod. Paired with an iced cold beer or a nice white wine they are the perfect Cape Cod hors d'oeuvre. Knowing how to select your oysters and how to open them will save you from a quick trip to the emergency room with a third degree stab wound to your palm. You'll definitely need a good quality oyster knife, a specially shaped semi dull-pointed, thick-bladed knife that is used to pry the back hinge open and separate the body from the shell.
Besides being absolutely delicious, oysters are among the healthiest things you can eat from the ocean, both for yourself and for the environment. Unlike fish farms, which produce tons of dangerous waste and require inefficient feeds and medicines, oyster farms, of which there are many on Cape Cod have minimal environmental impact( if at all) and actually clean the water that they are farmed in by filter feeding the bad stuff out of the ocean.
Shopping and Storage
Luckily, great, fresh oysters are in super abundance year round on the Cape. Oysters in the shell must be sold live, by law, but from time to time you can find a dead one even in the most reputable fish shops. When you're buying them, you should take care to check that they should be clamped tightly shut. If they are open at all and don't close immediately when tapped, they are dead and should be avoided. Trust your nose and smell the oysters, too. If there is any kind of strong or dead fish aroma, avoid them like the plague. Fresh live oysters should smell like a pleasant day at the ocean smells like when there is a nice breeze, When buying oysters, ensure that they are being stored cup side down in the store, and that they are well chilled—ideally, completely surrounded by generous amounts of ice.
When you get them home, store your oysters in a container, again with the cupped side of the shell down, so they keep as much of their natural liquid as possible. Cover the container loosely with a damp cloth, and keep it in the refrigerator for up to a week if your fridge is at the proper temperature.
Before shucking, oysters should be thoroughly washed under cold water to remove any dirt, mud, sand, or hidden surprises from the shell. Really good oysters are best served simply, dressed with either a squeeze of lemon or a small amount of quality cocktail sauce.
Shucking: Step by Step
Shucking takes some practice, but if you keep at it, you'll figure it out. You may never be as fast as a professional raw-bar shucker, but you'll be fast enough to open one or two dozen at home without too much trouble.
Step 1: Set Up Your Workspace and Get Familiar With Your Oyster Clamp
I like to keep my oysters nice and cold while I shuck them, so I'll fill a large bowl with ice water and submerge them in it. That way, they'll stay chilled no matter how long it takes to shuck them all.
Next, take your oyster clamp and secure the oyster firmly inside( cupside down and hinge facing you). You'll be using the clamp to brace the oyster during shucking, and to protect your hand from an accidental slip of the knife.
If you're removing the oysters from the shells completely, fill a medium mixing bowl with crushed ice, sprinkle it with salt, and nestle a slightly smaller bowl into that. This is where you'll drop the shucked oysters and their liquor; the bed of salted ice helps keep everything extra cold. If you're leaving them on the half shell, fill a platter or rimmed baking sheet with coarse salt or crushed ice to help stabilize them.
Also, make sure you have a garbage can right next to you, or a large bowl for collecting the spent shells.
Now grab your first oyster, and take a look at it. One of its two shells will have a belly to it, while the other will be flat. The belly side is the bottom, and the flat is the top. On some varieties of oyster, you may have a slightly harder time telling the difference, but in most cases, it's easy to spot.
Step 2: Nestle the Oyster in the Clamp
Set your oyster belly side down in the clamp. Make sure the oyster is firmly seated in the clamp.
The hinge should be facing you and completely exposed, then place your nondominant hand on top to hold it steady.
Step 3: Place the Oyster Knife Tip in the Hinge
Work your oyster knifeslowly and carefully into the hinge. This is the part that can take a bit of practice. You're trying to find the sweet spot in the hinge where the knife can get a decent amount of leverage. You don't want to push too hard !—this isn't about forcing it between the shells. Instead, this is all about finesse: Wiggle the knife around until you feel like you can exert some pressure against both the top and bottom shells at once by twisting and prying the knife.
Step 4: Twist and Pry
Once you feel like you've got the knife tip solidly in place, work the oyster knife up and down, while also twisting and rotating it: You're searching for just the right movement and position to pop the top shell from the bottom with a prying motion. Apply just enough pressure into the hinge as you do this to keep the knife solidly in there, and push no harder than that. Again, it's not about brute force.
You may need to reposition the tip of the knife if you're not having luck. Eventually, you'll get the perfect position, and, pop, you'll hear and feel the oyster yield. The more practice you get, the easier it will be to find the sweet spot.
Step 5: Rotate the Knife Blade to Separate the Top Shell From the Bottom
Once the shells have popped, you'll usually have a very narrow opening—the oyster may have lost the ability to shut its shell completely, but it's still not opening wide for you. So twist your knife so that the broad flat of the blade pries the shells apart even more.
Step 6: Clean Your Blade
You should have scrubbed your oysters well before shucking, but there can still be some mud deep in the hinge. You don't want to spread that mud into your nice fresh oyster, so take the knife out and wipe away any mud on the towel. Once the knife is clean, you can go back to inserting it into the oyster.
Step 7: Sever the Muscle
Inside the oyster is a muscle that connects to the top and bottom shell, and it's this muscle that the oyster uses to open and close its shell. By prying the shells apart, you've done enough damage to the muscle that it is no longer able to tightly pull the shell shut again, but it's still there, and it's still acting as a tie between the top and bottom shells. You need to sever it.
You won't be able to see it, because the shells will still be too close together, so you just have to do it by feel. Starting from the hinge end, slide the blade across the oyster, keeping it as flat as you can against the top shell. Approximately two-thirds of the way through is where the muscle is, so just sweep the knife across until you hit it and sever it.
Once you cut the muscle, you should be able to pull the top shell off. Use the knife to free any oyster meat that is still clinging to the top shell, trying your best not to damage the oyster in the process.
Step 8: Throw Out the Top Shell and Inspect the Oyster
Throw away top of the shell, because you're done with it. Now look at your oyster. It should look clear and fresh, with plenty of liquid around it. Smell it, and throw away any oyster that smells even a little bit off. (If your source is good and local, this should be a very rare occurrence.)
Also inspect the oyster for any shell fragments that got onto it when you popped it open, especially near the hinge. Use the tip of your clean oyster knife to discard them.
Be careful not to tip the oyster and lose all its liquor when you handle it.
Step 9: Free the Oyster From the Bottom Shell
The final step is to slide the knife under the oyster, severing the muscle from the bottom shell. (Otherwise, it won't slide out straight into your mouth, which is where it would be headed if I were you.) Push the oyster around to make sure it's totally free in the shell.
Now set it on your prepared platter, if eating them on the half shell. Or slide the oyster and its liquor into the bowl on ice, and throw out the bottom shell. Grab your next oyster and repeat.
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