Shucking Oysters

1. Fresh oysters need to be used quickly. To keep oysters alive until you are ready to cook with them, wrap them in a cool, moist towel and store them in a refrigerator. Do not eat oysters after they have been stored for two days.

You'll need an oyster knife: a short, stubby blade with a bulbous handle for easy gripping.

2. You need to exert a lot of pressure to open oyster shells, so pay attention to the angle of the knife as well as the positioning of the towel holding the oyster. Be careful! You can wear a heavy-duty work glove on the hand holding the oyster for extra protection.

3. Wrap the oyster in a towel and place it securely on a flat cutting surface with the hinge in the end of the oyster facing outwards. You want to place the tip of the knife on either side of the hinge. Using a good deal of pressure, push the knife into the hinge. Twist the knife from side to side in order to pry the shell open.

4. Oyster shells are brittle and splinter easily; if the shell splinters and the knife isn't angled so that is pointing down toward the cutting board, it would be easy to lose control of the knife. Hold the oyster firmly on the cutting board to keep the oyster from sliding away.

5. Once the knife has popped the hinge, pry the lid open wide enough to fit the top of your thumb inside. Insert your thumb into the oyster to hold the lid open. Do not plunge the knife into the oyster once the hinge has popped.

6. At this point slide the tip of the knife inside the oyster. Keep the tip of the knife slanted upwards and slide it along the roof of the oyster. The tip should not scrape the roof. It should glide along the roof until it reaches the muscle that connects the two shells, then slice through the connective muscle. Cut the muscle from the top of the shell without piercing the oyster itself. This will allow you to lift off the top shell, exposing the oyster.

7. Because oyster shells are fragile, there are often small fragments of shell that break off in the process of shucking. These little bits of shell can resemble sand and are not very tasty to eat. Carefully scrape away any noticeable shell from the oyster, and discard the shards. Try not to pierce the oyster in the process.

8. Carefully slip the tip of the oyster knife underneath the body of the oyster into the muscle where the muscle meets the shell. Slice through it. At this point the oyster has been dislodged from the shell completely and can be served or cooked.

9. If you are planning to serve the oyster on the half shell, the appearance of the oyster is important. If the oyster has been damaged in the shucking process, flip the oyster over by slipping the knife under the oyster and gently turning it over. The flip-side of the oyster can be better looking than a damaged top.

10. The oyster should be plump and floating in liquid. This liquid is the natural juice from the oyster and is often referred to as liquor.

Serve oysters on the half shell on a bed of cracked ice or rock salt, with lemon wedges and bottled hot sauce, or Mignonette sauce--a shallot vinaigrette.

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