00:00:07today I’m going to show you how to shuck
00:00:08an oyster
00:00:09now this smoked oyster then as you can
00:00:12see it’s got two shells facing one
00:00:16another tightly clamped together and
00:00:18what we’re gonna do is put a knife in
00:00:22here in between the top shell and the
00:00:24bottom shell and price the two shells
00:00:27apart and this oysters still alive they
00:00:31have to be alive if you want to eat them
00:00:34safely and so it’s holding on pulling
00:00:37its shells together it doesn’t want to
00:00:39be opened so it’s it’s very tightly shot
00:00:42so we have to open them in a very
00:00:44particular way now you need a special
00:00:47knife to open an oyster this is an
00:00:50oyster knife and as you can see it’s got
00:00:55wooden handle you can grip tightly and
00:00:57it’s got a very short thick stiff blade
00:01:02which is essential for opening oysters
00:01:04what you don’t want to use is an
00:01:07ordinary kitchen knife like that which
00:01:09is not strong enough and if you try open
00:01:11an oyster with it it will Bend the other
00:01:15thing you mustn’t use is a sharp kitchen
00:01:18knife like this with a sharp edge
00:01:21because firstly it will Bend and you’ll
00:01:25ruin your knife and secondly if you slip
00:01:28I don’t think I have to tell you how
00:01:32nicely that will be if the knife goes
00:01:33into your hand or your wrist or anything
00:01:35like that
00:01:38moisturize are really they’re made for
00:01:41the job they’re just short thick and
00:01:46very strong which is what you need when
00:01:50you’re opening an oyster the oyster
00:01:52knives also got this hilt or a shield
00:01:54here
00:01:55so that when you do go into an oyster
00:01:57you protect your knuckles here from the
00:01:59shell now it’s open your oyster you know
00:02:04hold it in your left hand work the knife
00:02:06between the two shells and open them but
00:02:10you still need a lot of force to get
00:02:12this knife in and if it slips even
00:02:15though there’s the nice blunt
00:02:16you still don’t want that going into
00:02:18your hand so what you do let’s take a
00:02:23tea towel fold it up and put it in your
00:02:30left hand or your right hand if you’re
00:02:32left-handed pop the oyster in the middle
00:02:35keep that piece of the cloth folded back
00:02:37so you can see what you’re doing
00:02:39but the oyster down on your tray I like
00:02:44to open oysters on a tray so that any
00:02:46juice that comes out is kept in the tray
00:02:49if you can do it on a chopping water you
00:02:50like but that means some of the juice
00:02:52runs all over the table and you have to
00:02:53clean it out
00:02:54so easiest and least messy ways to do it
00:02:57in the tray a lot of people stick the
00:02:59knife into the Kings here to open the
00:03:01oyster but I find it’s slightly easier
00:03:04if you put into the edge so look for the
00:03:08bit where the two shells join and you
00:03:12can see see that white bit there that’s
00:03:15the upper side of the bottom shell and
00:03:17you can see the join just in there and
00:03:21that’s where it put your knife tight
00:03:23grip on the oyster push the knife into
00:03:27the join then the top shell on the
00:03:29bottom shell work your knife in then
00:03:38once you’re in rotate a knife like that
00:03:42and you cut the join between the top
00:03:47Chow and the oyster then you can pull it
00:03:50off
00:03:52now you often have a little bit of shell
00:03:54that’s broken so you can just pull that
00:03:58out there’s your oyster now it’s still
00:04:05stuck to the bottom shell so what you
00:04:09need to do is take your knife just
00:04:14scrape it free
00:04:17on the bottom she’ll see a rooster he’s
00:04:24nice and ready to eat and try and keep
00:04:27the showers at level as you can to keep
00:04:28as much of the oyster juice in the shell
00:04:31as possible because that’s really quite
00:04:33tasty and then you pop it on the ice so
00:04:40same as before knife goes in slightly on
00:04:45the side and to wiggle it in twist it
00:04:52push the top shell off then once you get
00:04:56a gap you can wear it with slowly the
00:05:00knife down the shell and pull top shell
00:05:06off the oyster here we go
00:05:09scrape any bits of shell out there and
00:05:15just loose it from the bottom and that’s
00:05:23your oyster ready to eat here we go so
00:05:31these oysters just been freshly opened I
00:05:35like to serve them pretty much right
00:05:37away but you can open a few ahead of
00:05:39time if you want to get started and then
00:05:42finish off the last few guests arrive
00:05:44that’s not a problem but I wouldn’t do
00:05:47something like open the day before and
00:05:48then serve them the next day and that’s
00:05:51how to shuck an oyster
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