What to do with a bag o' oysters?

February 6, 2016 6:34 PM

A friend just brought back a dozen Willapa Bay oysters on ice. I love oysters, but have no idea how to shuck 'em, and (apart from the chance of impaling my hand) I'm somewhat leery of eating raw oysters clumsily shucked.

Do I man up, find a YouTube tutorial and have a dozen slurps of (probably crunchy) oyster? Shuck 'em now, but pan fry 'em tomorrow for breakfast? Let 'em sit on ice and shuck / fry tomorrow morning?

Certainly relevant: I don't have any cocktail sauce or horseradish, or even lemon. It's not like I drown 'em in that shit, but still... I can probably put together some capers, vinegar and soy.

Possibly relevant: I'm not at all worried about eating 'em raw. If raw oysters were going to kill me, they'd have done it by now. What doesn't kill me, has made its last mistake. But I hate getting clumsily-shucked oysters. Or at least, paying for 'em. If I wanted crunchy oysters, I'd have shucked 'em myself!

posted by spacewrench to Food & Drink (18 answers total)

Best answer: Do you have a shucking knife handy? If so, I'd go with just shucking them and eating noodles them yourself. Shucking oysters isn't all that tricky, and odds are after the first couple you'll be doing it well enough to keep them from getting graney.
posted by Itaxpica at 6:41 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: They won't become crunchy. Either the shell opens or it doesn't, it won't shatter like an eggshell.

And don't feel you have to drown them in condiments. Oysters are wonderful just as they are.
posted by zadcat at 6:42 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: A few shards of shell won't kill you (hey, calcium!). Shuck 'em and eat 'em.
posted by rtha at 6:50 PM on February 6, 2016

Response by poster: No oyster knife. I tried a couple of chef's knives, but the cheap ones flex disconcertingly, and if I knock a corner off the nice one, my wife will kill me. I'm poking around in the garage for something sharp & stout. Fortunately, the oysters are not likely to make an escape...

Dinner
posted by spacewrench at 7:19 PM on February 6, 2016

Best answer: I'm in the shuck and eat 'em right now camp. I do like some seasoning on my oysters too - do you have any vinegar? You can make a simple mignonette, which sets them off really well. If you don't have shallots (who has shallots) you can use most kinds of onion or even small-dice garlic, and you can add whatever herbs you want.
posted by Miko at 7:28 PM on February 6, 2016

Response by poster: Parmigiano Reggiano knife looked about the right size and thickness, and it managed the job, but it's not going to be making straight cuts in cheese any more. Oyster had minimal crunch, not as bad as I anticipated. I'm going to make some mignonette for the others, though.

Success
posted by spacewrench at 7:39 PM on February 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

Best answer: While I love fresh raw oysters.

When I've been lucky enough to have a pile of oysters to open I've just steamed them. You can steam them open (or grill, put in oven etc) if you like. I am rather partial to oysters steamed open then popped under a grill or broiler I think you call it in the US with a nice herb butter over them & maybe a drop of hot sauce or fresh lemon.
posted by wwax at 7:43 PM on February 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

Best answer: If you've got any unshucked left, you can steam 'em and put a little melted butter and hot sauce on them. I love me some fresh raw oysters, but I also love me some buttered steamed oysters. Mmm, oysters.
posted by rhiannonstone at 7:51 PM on February 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Looks like Kumamoto's--my favorite straight from the shell with nothing else to mask that tasty Willapa Bay salinity. The small size are great for next-day omelettes or fried oysters.
posted by prinado at 8:21 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If you want to eat the others without shucking, six minutes in a hot oven will give you a pretty great simulated lowcountry oyster roast.
posted by neroli at 8:50 PM on February 6, 2016

Best answer: Before I got an oyster knife I always just used an old butter knife, it worked fine. The oyster knife is noticeably better for oysters, but my favorite use for it is coring jalapeños (just in case you were on the fence about getting such a "single-function" tool.) Slice off the top, make one pass around the inside with the oyster knife, scoop out the veins and seeds in the same motion and it's ready to stuff or slice.
posted by contraption at 9:30 PM on February 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I got half a dozen of 'em open (one with the novelty Parmigiano knife and the rest with a Dollar Store santoku blade that I cut down to about 1"). The remainder defeated me with my fear of losing a finger (I don't like oysters that much!)

I'll put the recalcitrant ones in the oven and we'll see where their god is then!

Thanks everybody!
posted by spacewrench at 9:44 PM on February 6, 2016 [5 favorites]

If you happen to have a Whole Foods nearby, their fish people LOVE to talk about oysters and all that fish stuff.

They will gladly show you how to shuck one and also let you shuck right there and taste test, if you're so inclined.

Also, you make sure you do right by that friend who gave you those oysters; friends like that are hard to find.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 4:37 AM on February 7, 2016

Search for variations on recipes for broiled oysters with parmesan butter with garlic. I've made a dozen like this and oh man, they were good.

You can also grill them and treat them the same, but wear eye protection. I've found that sometimes the heat makes the outer layers of shell occasionally explode/pop a little bit.

Cooking them in any way is an easy way to open them up. You might cook them this way, then put them in a stuffing or something.

If you decide to shuck them, that is really the best way, but can be a pain in the ass. Be careful. Consider wearing a heavy glove in the hand that's holding the oyster. I've stabbed myself more than once. Never again!
posted by bennett being thrown at 8:25 AM on February 7, 2016

A small putty knife is a fine oyster knife substitute, if your other options get too damaged.
posted by janell at 9:45 AM on February 7, 2016

Oysters are the devil. Try shucking them in work gloves. Once you have them shucked, you can put them in seasoned bread crumbs, and fry them in oil in a pan. they are the delicious.
posted by corb at 11:09 AM on February 7, 2016

In the future:

A) use a proper shucking knife. In a pinch, a flathead screwdriver also works.
B) wear a heavy duty glove on the hand that you're holding the oyster. They sell chain mail gloves but I've always just used cheap leather work gloves.
C) rinse the oysters thoroughly before shucking them to remove mud and loose shell
D) shuck from the back hinge to reduce the chance of shell breakage
E) after you get the shell open, DO NOT try to pry it apart. Instead, use the knife to cut the oyster muscle from the top and bottom shell, trying your best not to butcher the oyster. THEN, without spilling any of the brine, seperate the shells.
F) SLURP!
G) here's a video
posted by Brittanie at 7:12 AM on February 8, 2016

Next time: our family's preferred tools are leather work gloves and a can opener, one of the kind that's a flat bar with a little triangular point on one end. Stick that point in the small end of the oyster and it should lever right open.
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:12 AM on February 8, 2016