Bonus episode: How to shuck an oyster

Introduction (00:00)

Tyson: Hey, it’s Tyson from Ecotrust and the Tending the Tides production team. For many people, it’s the holiday season. And winter is also oyster season. There’s a long historical context and a deep cultural and symbolic significance that contribute to them showing up on dinner plates for many people around the world this time of year.

It’s also the best time of year to eat oysters because cold water temperatures maintain an oyster’s freshness and firmness, while also making them sweeter and more tasty. With the oyster season upon us, we wanted to share this bonus episode with you of Chef Maylin Chavez describing how to safely and successfully shuck an oyster.

Maylin is a great advocate and educator on all things oysters and brings so much joy to her work. She’s the perfect person to walk you through the process. Enjoy! 

Segment 1: How to shuck an oyster

Tyson: I’m going to ask one question that I think maybe plagues us general seafood eaters out in the world. And it might be a little hard to do because this is a podcast. But can you describe to us the best way to shuck an oyster?

Maylin: Yes, I can. So the oyster is a bivalve, right? What does that mean? So it has a little bottom cup and a little top cup. And those two little cups are held by two adductor muscles, those two little muscles. And typically in a Pacific oyster, there is a back hinge. So, a little kind of, almost like it’s little tail on the back of the oyster. And there’s a natural kind of little groove. So I like to take my oyster knife. I like to use the French knife style because they’re pointier. And I feel like with West Coast oysters, that works best.

You want to hold your knife at a 45 degree angle. But make sure that you’re also covering your hand with either a towel or a glove, because safety first, always. We don’t want anybody cutting their hands, which can happen.

Tyson:  I’ve stabbed myself a few times.

Maylin: It’s not fun. So you want to hold your knife at a 45-degree angle. And I like to do the wiggle effect. So, I want to be in control of the knife, and I’m going to like wiggle, wiggle, putting a little pressure on that back hinge.

And then you’re going to feel a little pressure, and then you’re going to let go of your knife. The minute your knife can actually be held on its own without your hand and just have it be right in that little back hinge, then that’s your first step.

Second step is– I always call it the prize–when you unlock the door to the beautiful magic that awaits you. You’re going to turn your key, essentially your oyster knife, in the opposite direction. So clockwise to the right. That’s if you’re right-handed. You’re left-handed. And then you’re going to hear a pop. So you’re going to turn it. So wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, turn, pop.

And then you’ll be able to lift that little back hinge gently. And then you’ll be able to see a little bit of that top layer skin of the oyster being held by that little adductor muscle on the top. So you wanna follow the contour of the oyster with your knife gently to be able to remove that top part and then gently. Now, ideally you don’t wanna pierce the belly, you don’t wanna dismantle, but it’s okay if you’re starting out the fact that you’re able to get that oyster open to begin with is just victory and it’s a really really good feeling. So once you remove that top center that top shell you’re going to be left with that cup with that beautiful little oyster right in the middle. So then the next step is to remove that little bottom muscle and you’re going to do the same you’re just going to follow with your knife a little contour and then you’re going to release that muscle gently and go under under the skin of the oyster and then removing that little that little muscle the moment you do that. That’s when the animal is no longer alive.

So when you first open, you know, these are live animals. So if you’re at a restaurant and you see an oyster well with all these oysters, you know, those are live animals. They’re alive and breathing. I know that makes it a little sentimental, but it’s okay. 

So once you open it and you release that muscle, the oyster will then start expelling some of its natural juices, right? Sometimes what guests will do is sometimes they think that there’s just regular fresh water in the oyster, so they’ll drain out the oyster water. I call that the oyster liquor. I call that the holy water, right? So I would encourage you not to do that. However, the French–leave it up to the beautiful French– so, they have a technique, which is really cool. And this is how they check if the oyster is fresh. You know, it’s all shut for them. They will drain up the oyster liquor, the holy water, and then they will reset it on ice. They will wait a few minutes. If that oyster replenish its liquor, it means that oyster is fresh. So it’s kind of their way to double check to make sure that oyster is fresh and then they enjoy it. You don’t all have to do that, you can definitely you know, but it’s a fun little cool little fun thing to try out and you’ll see how the oyster if it does replenish all its beautiful liquor it means that oyster is and it doesn’t mean that it’s not fresh fresh right. I don’t want to scare people, like well you know it’s like but it means that it’s like vibrant it’s it’s fresh and alive.

One thing to keep in mind when you’re opening oysters is sometimes you get a bad oyster. And it just happens. As shuckers, we’re trained to really be mindful of any weird off-putting smells. And oysters will usually tell you, ‘Throw me out. I’m no good. I smell like rotten egg,’ right? And you will smell. It’s like literally rotten egg. It’s blatantly obvious that the babies are not meant to be eaten. But sometimes there’s other things that will tell you. If the oysters are dry, maybe not that they’ll make you sick, but it just means that they’re dried out and they’re not going to taste as good. Or if you get a batch of unshucked oysters and you’re taking them home and that unshucked oyster is open, it means those babies had their last day and you don’t want to enjoy those.

And making sure that if you do purchase oysters and take them to your home, that you don’t leave them in ice because the ice will melt and they will die in These are live animals. They need salt water. So make sure that you just keep them cold, damp paper towel over them or just a dish towel and into their fridge. So little oyster quick one-on-one on that one.

Tyson: Thank you for that. And you’re so right. When I think about taking oysters home and you open the bag and you have a dozen or two dozen oysters and you’re getting your glove on, you’re grabbing that towel and you have that, that particular oyster knife in your hand. It gets really exciting to get in there.

And as you start opening that first oyster and looking for that hinge, and once you finally get that knife in there, maybe you’ve beautifully described that little pop just there is this absolute feeling of gratitude but also like success and so it’s such a magical experience opening this live creature and being able to enjoy it in such a short period of time um that’s just like unlocking this little magic. 

Maylin: Yeah, it’s like popping a bottle of champagne, right? Boop! It is just pure magic, you know. And oysters are, I mean, we talked about they’re delicious, but they’re also nutritious, right? Like they have zinc, iodine. I mean, literally like when you eat one oyster and immediately just your mood changes, you feel more revitalized. The world is no longer underwater. Like everything’s going to be fine. It’s just such an empowering little animal that’s so small, but so powerful. It’s the best.

Tyson: Wow, thank you so much for just explaining all this to us and just learning more about what you do in this world, your role in it, and just bringing some of that home for everyone today.

Maylin: It is my pleasure. I think when we love what we do and the things that we work with, I don’t consider it work. It’s just, for me, it’s my passion. And I want everybody else to love it as much as I do.

Tyson: Before we sign off, is there anything else that we didn’t ask you that you want to share about?

Maylin: I think that if people are skeptical or they have had a bad oyster experience, definitely give them a second try. Follow us on some of our events. There’s some really dear friends here in Portland. I know Jacqueline. They do oysters so beautifully and so well. Flying Fish. There’s some really, really cool people here in Portland that are also doing some really cool stuff with seafood. You know, don’t give up on the little oyster. You can still have great experiences with them. Make sure that when you do go to a market or something, ask the questions, find out who the farmers are, find out when they were harvested. And there’s so much information online as well. So it’s a really wonderful, magical world and some really extraordinary people doing the work.

Tyson: You can learn more about Chef Mylene Chavez’s work on her website, nacaroysters.com. That’s N-A-C-A-R oysters.com. This episode was hosted by Tyson Racer, written by Megan Foucht, edited by Susie O’Neill, with production support from Caitlin Rich and John Borkowski. Illustrations by Tony Sterling and design by Heldáy De La Cruz. This podcast was made possible by our funders at The Builders Initiative. The Builders Initiative invests in and collaborates with nonprofits, and others working towards sustainable solutions to societal and environmental challenges. this podcast is a production from Ecotrust, where we work in partnership at the intersection of equity, economy, and environment. Learn more about Ecotrust at ecotrust.org.