The Great Oyster Experiment

I had never had an oyster until Nilda and I started dating. For those of you who don't know why, it's because they're tref, non-kosher, something that did not fit into the Heller's kosher-style lifestyle. Needless to say, oysters are amazing. I've only had them at restaurants, however, and had never opened one myself. So when we saw oysters at the farmer's market, the Great Oyster Experiment began.

Nilda thought I was going to cut off a finger and was instantly against the oysters. Because I respect and listen to my wife, I went out and bought an oyster knife. We searched all over Inwood for an oyster glove, with no luck. You try translating "oyster glove" at C-Town.

Before we knew it, Saturday was oyster day. $10 per dozen for local oysters which is pretty good. I convinced the lady to give me the big mutha, which was bigger than most of the other oysters combined. In retrospect, I think she was trying to teach me a lesson.


I read up and watched youtube videos on how to shuck and got to work. I soon realized that it's not as hard as everyone makes it out to be and I probably didn't need my $1.99 work gloves. You jam the oyster knife into the only crevace that makes sense and push, turning the knife to pop off the shell. When you scrape the oyster from the top and bottom shells, trying to preserve as much of the juice as possible, you'll understand why the oyster knife is shaped the way it is.

Only a few were problematic, more of a learning curve than anything. When the oyster is long, you have to be careful not to break the top shell in half. The giant oyster seemed like a good idea, but the shell fell apart when I shucked it and it wasn't as good as the more medium-sized oysters. The Great Oyster Experiment was a success. And they said it couldn't be done...Nilda.

P.S. - I'm sparing you a post about the vanilla bourbon ice cream I made today. Yeah, I'm domesticated, you got a problem? I'll cut you with my oyster knife.