Wednesday, February 08, 2006
urstas
my coworker gave me more than two dozen oysters the other day as well as a few quahogs to boot. Straight from local waters, the upper reaches of Buzzards Bay in fact. So last night was a time for shucking.
I've done my fair share of opening bivalves, but never an oyster so I was looking forward to adding a new skill to my culinary arsenal. First step was to stop in the restaurant supply store and pick up a cut-proof glove and an oyster knife. We had a clam knife already and yes the two are different. I'm also glad to have the glove for use with the mandolin style slicer that Reen got me for my birthday.
First off, let me say how scary these critters look. The shells are jagged and irregular as well as being covered in muck and other beasts like small slipper shells (boat shells to me growing up) and jingle shells. The result is that they each need a good scrubbing and there's potential for a lot of crud and hard little shells to fall into your garbage disposal if you're not careful.
As for the shucking itelf I was pleasantly surprised. At the back of each, there is a clear gap right where the shells come together that is just begging to have a knife jammed into it. Having such an obvious starting point is itself a major step up from quahogs. [if you've never shucked a raw quahog, here's something you can try at home to get the feel for it. head outside and find a smooth round/oval rock that fits in your hand comfortably and feels a bit heavy for its size. ok, now take the rock inside and get a butter knife out of the drawer. now use the knife to open the rock.] So you work the knife into that spot and once you're in just a 1/4" say, you press the handle down with firm steady pressure and you are rewarded with the yielding of the top shell and a lovely, squishy *schlock* sound that is quite satisfying. From that point you simply work the blade along the top shell, getting forward to sever the single muscle holding the two shells together. Remove top shell, work knife under oyster meat to sever the other side of the muscle and you have a loose oyster, with most of the 'liquor' still there if you've been careful.
One interesting thing is that the meat inside these guys is BIG. Like fill the palm of your hand big. The shot below is of one of the smaller ones and even it is large enough to make your stomach turn at the thought of eating it straight up. So I guess the ones we get in restaurants are the babies, much like the cherrystones you might have raw are just baby quahogs.
The big question of course is what the hell to do with them if they're too big to enjoy raw. Well I considered a seafood gumbo and also a cream based seafood chowder. But then I remembered that my uncle used to smoke mussels and thought that smoked oysters might be alright too. So that will be the plan for this weekend. I'll let you know how they turn out.
my coworker gave me more than two dozen oysters the other day as well as a few quahogs to boot. Straight from local waters, the upper reaches of Buzzards Bay in fact. So last night was a time for shucking.
I've done my fair share of opening bivalves, but never an oyster so I was looking forward to adding a new skill to my culinary arsenal. First step was to stop in the restaurant supply store and pick up a cut-proof glove and an oyster knife. We had a clam knife already and yes the two are different. I'm also glad to have the glove for use with the mandolin style slicer that Reen got me for my birthday.
First off, let me say how scary these critters look. The shells are jagged and irregular as well as being covered in muck and other beasts like small slipper shells (boat shells to me growing up) and jingle shells. The result is that they each need a good scrubbing and there's potential for a lot of crud and hard little shells to fall into your garbage disposal if you're not careful.
As for the shucking itelf I was pleasantly surprised. At the back of each, there is a clear gap right where the shells come together that is just begging to have a knife jammed into it. Having such an obvious starting point is itself a major step up from quahogs. [if you've never shucked a raw quahog, here's something you can try at home to get the feel for it. head outside and find a smooth round/oval rock that fits in your hand comfortably and feels a bit heavy for its size. ok, now take the rock inside and get a butter knife out of the drawer. now use the knife to open the rock.] So you work the knife into that spot and once you're in just a 1/4" say, you press the handle down with firm steady pressure and you are rewarded with the yielding of the top shell and a lovely, squishy *schlock* sound that is quite satisfying. From that point you simply work the blade along the top shell, getting forward to sever the single muscle holding the two shells together. Remove top shell, work knife under oyster meat to sever the other side of the muscle and you have a loose oyster, with most of the 'liquor' still there if you've been careful.
One interesting thing is that the meat inside these guys is BIG. Like fill the palm of your hand big. The shot below is of one of the smaller ones and even it is large enough to make your stomach turn at the thought of eating it straight up. So I guess the ones we get in restaurants are the babies, much like the cherrystones you might have raw are just baby quahogs.
The big question of course is what the hell to do with them if they're too big to enjoy raw. Well I considered a seafood gumbo and also a cream based seafood chowder. But then I remembered that my uncle used to smoke mussels and thought that smoked oysters might be alright too. So that will be the plan for this weekend. I'll let you know how they turn out.
