How to: Shuck an oyster

I have this memory of my parents going on a date, Dad picked mum up at the boat ramp and he’d packed a bottle of white wine. Off they paddled to cook island (just near our home town of Kingslciff Australia) and they shucked oysters off the rocks and drank the wine in the afternoon! Heaven. Here’s a how too…

1. Pack a wine glass, good shucking knife, gardening glove and a couple of wedges of lemons.

2. Pass by a local cellar and grab a bottle of Riesling.

3. Walk to a low tide near you with your lover, friend or trusty dog. 

4. Find a spot of oyster beds that get covered in water every tide. You want ones that are never out of the water for too long. 

5. Using an inflexible pointed knife (sometimes called a chesapeake stabber knife), wedge the blade (with the edge facing away from you) between the two shells, roughly one third up from the hinge where the abductor is located. 

6. Gently twist the knife a few times until you feel a pop.

7. Then run the blade along the top shell and then the bottom to sever the abductor. 

8. Once the top shell is loosened the oyster is ready for a squeeze of lemon! Enjoy! 

Victoria xx