Chef John Simplifies Oysters for Beginners

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In this video, Chef John makes oysters approachable for beginners, sharing tips and techniques to enjoy these briny delicacies with confidence. Learn how to choose fresh oysters, the basics of shucking, and simple ways to serve them

Transcript

00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Oysters for Beginners.

00:08That's right, I'm going to show you how to open and serve oysters like a pro, even if

00:12you've never done them before in your life.

00:14And this is actually something I struggled with for a long time, before I learned this

00:18easy game-changing technique.

00:21But before we get to that, let me show you the one tool you must have to make all this

00:25possible.

00:26And that would of course be an oyster knife, which usually has a nice big fat handle attached

00:31to a relatively short, very dull blade.

00:35But we still need to be careful, since even though these edges aren't sharp, the very

00:38point at the end sort of is.

00:41And by the way, these come in two styles.

00:43Ones with a perfectly straight blade, and then ones like this that have a little bit

00:46of a curve at the end, which is the type I prefer.

00:50And then before we harmony oysters, let me show you the key movement to this technique,

00:54which is once we place the tip of the knife in the right spot on the oyster, we're going

00:58to pivot the knife back and forth like this, keeping that blade perfectly flat.

01:02Okay, what we're not going to do, until the appropriate time, is twist the knife like

01:07this, and at no point in the operation will we be moving the knife up and down, trying

01:12to pry it open like this.

01:13Oh no, this is the movement, until we push it in far enough to do anything else.

01:19So let's go ahead and grab an oyster and try this out.

01:22And what we want to do is place this on a towel, with the flat side of the oyster up.

01:26Right, that's the top, and that rounder cup-shaped shell is the bottom.

01:31And then the key spot we're looking for is this little notch at the point of the oyster,

01:36where the two shells come together, which is exactly where we're going to place the

01:39tip of our knife to start.

01:41And then we'll fold the towel over like this, and with our knife positioned so it's curving

01:45up, we will place the tip of the knife right in that little notch, and once we find that

01:50spot, we'll start using that back and forth motion I just showed you, and slowly but surely,

01:55that tip's going to work its way in, and once we've penetrated about 3-8ths of an inch,

02:00at that point, and only at that point, can we twist the knife back and forth, and you

02:05will feel that hinge pop as the top shell separates.

02:08And that's it, the hardest part is over.

02:10Oh, and please note those particles of shell that are produced when we do this.

02:14Alright, that stuff's also going to be on the knife, so make sure you keep wiping that

02:18on your towel, so it doesn't get in the oyster, and then what we'll do is turn our knife so

02:22the tip is curving down, and we will slide it in the opening, and basically scrape it

02:28flat across that top shell, which is going to separate it from the oyster, and it should

02:32pop right off, and then once we have what we call in the business, an oyster on the

02:37half shell, we'll want to make sure we remove any little bits of the shell that might be

02:40on there, but as you're doing this, do not tip the shell, like I just did, since that

02:46juice is precious, not to mention very delicious, and we don't want to even waste one drop,

02:52so please be very careful of that, and once we've made sure there's no little bits of

02:56shell on the oyster, we only have one thing left to do, which is cut through that muscle

03:00in the bottom of the shell, which is very obvious and easy to find, and with our knife

03:05curved in the same direction as the shell, we'll simply slide that along the bottom until

03:10that's released, at which point, for presentation's sake, I do like to flip the oyster, again

03:16being very careful not to spill any of those precious juices, and while that's optional,

03:21depending on the oyster, that generally looks nicer, so you decide, but anyway, that's one,

03:28let's go ahead and try another one, and for this one, I won't use such slow, exaggerated

03:32movements, although when we start one, it is worth spending a few seconds to make sure

03:37we're finding that perfect spot to put the knife in, and then once the tip of our knife

03:41is in the deepest part of that notch, we will swing our knife back and forth a few times,

03:47applying a firm, steady pressure, and once that tip's in far enough, we will twist, and

03:52that hinge will pop, at which point, just like the first one, we'll turn our knife over,

03:57and slide it under the top shell, and again, make sure you clean your knife off on the

04:01towel before you do that, and speaking of remembering, once that top shell's removed,

04:07do not, under any circumstances, forget to cut through that muscle on the bottom of the

04:11shell, otherwise, your guests are going to pick up an oyster, and tip it into their mouth,

04:16and it's going to be stuck, and they're going to have oyster juices running down their chin,

04:20which I will admit's a little bit funny, but very bad customer service, so do not forget

04:25that last, very important step, and again, you don't have to, but I do like to flip these

04:31over, since the underside always tends to look a little bit better to my eye, and that's

04:36it, I'm going to go ahead and slurp that one down, without anything on it, like the oyster

04:40purists recommend, although having said that, let me go ahead and show you how to make the

04:45classic raw oyster condiment, which is called menu nut sauce, and for that, we will take

04:51a shallot, and we will slice a little bit off the top, at which point, we'll cut it

04:56in half, right through the center of the root end, at which point, we'll peel the skin

05:00off, as well as any of the outer layers that seem a little tough, and once that's been

05:05prepped as shown, we will take a sharp knife, and we will slice straight down, going in

05:11about two thirds to three quarters of the way, and we'll make as many cuts as we can,

05:15as close together as we can, and once we've sliced all the way to the other side, we will

05:21turn and slice across, again as thinly as we can, and as you can see, that's going to

05:27produce a very fine mince, and by the way, some people like to make some extra horizontal

05:31cuts before doing this, but don't bother, it's not necessary, alright, I find just two

05:36sets of cuts is more than adequate, plus after the initial mincing, we can always give it

05:42an extra few chops to get it even finer, since for this sauce, I think the finer the better,

05:48and that's it, once that's prepped, what we'll do is pour some champagne vinegar into a bowl,

05:53or the vinegar of your choice, alright, some people like to use red wine vinegar, so you'll

05:58have to decide, I mean, you are after all the Anthony Von Beyer, of making sure your

06:03mignonette sauce is fire, but no matter what you use, we'll add our mince shallots to that,

06:08along with the last ingredient, some freshly ground black pepper, and by the way, in case

06:13you're wondering, Tony Von Beyer was an old roommate of mine, who was actually a professional

06:18oyster shucker, and the best I've ever seen, but anyway, once our pepper's in, we will

06:23take a freakishly small metal spoon, and give this all a stir, at which point it's

06:28ready to use, although I do like to let it sit in the fridge a little bit, before we

06:31use it, and yes, you can make that well in advance, and that's it, we will place our

06:37shucked oysters on some ice, with some of our sauce alongside, and possibly a little

06:42piece of lemon, even though I never use it, alright, some people like it, or use bowl,

06:48but I just go with the mignonette, and we'll place down a little spoon to use for that,

06:52along with a cocktail fork, in case some of your guests aren't slurpers, but I am a

06:58slurper, so I'm going to get rid of the fork, and I'm going to spoon on some of the mignonette,

07:03and go in for the official taste, and we don't need much, I usually only use a few drops,

07:09oh and pro tip, once you sauce, try not to drop, there we go, and that my friends, if

07:17you enjoy oysters, and if you're still watching, I have to assume you do, is one of the greatest

07:22culinary experiences of all time, right, that shockingly simple vinegar sauce, just perfectly

07:28amplifies all that beautiful brininess from the oyster, which if you've never had one,

07:33basically tastes like the essence of the sea, oh and I shouldn't tell you this, but some

07:38people like to eat this with a little bit of cocktail sauce, which I'm not a fan of,

07:42or just a few drops of hot sauce, which I'm actually fine with, and do it that way once

07:47in a while, but while I may stray occasionally, I always come back to the mignonette, but

07:53no matter which you serve yours with, shucking oysters is much easier than people think,

07:57and whether you do these for a fancy holiday occasion, or just because a local market had

08:02oysters on special, this is a very simple technique anyone can master, which is why

08:08I really do hope you give this a try soon, so please follow the links below for the ingredient

08:13amounts, a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual, and as always, enjoy!

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