1. Choose Your Tool
An Oyster Shucker (knife) is preferable. They are specially designed for the task of opening oysters. The blade is short but very strong. A lot of the time it will have a hand guard at the base of the blade to protect hands from injury. However, if you don't have one of these knives handy a flathead screwdriver works well - or even a butter knife.
2. Use something to hold the oysters
There are gloves you can buy online especially for oyster shucking, they protect you against the spiny shell of the oyster as well as from the blade you're using to open the oyster. They're not absolutely necessary though, a kitchen towel will work or even oven mitts.
3. Insert tool & slide twist to open the oysters
Insert the blade between the shells at the hinge point, or close to it. Some oysters will naturally be more stubborn than others. Just inserting the knife and simply twisting will pop it open, other oysters you will have to work at it. Hold the oyster flat side up, usually there is a flat side and a cupped side. You'll want to try to retain as much of that delicious oyster liquor (filtered sea water) as it is full of flavor and will compliment the oyster meat.
4. All that's left is to enjoy!
Put the oysters on the half shell on a tray filled with ice. Add some lemon wedges and sauces. Here's a list of the usual sauces people enjoy with oysters:
Horseradish
Mignonette Sauce
Cocktail Sauce
Hot Sauce (Tabasco)
Ginger & Lime Relish
Another way to get those oysters to pop open is to put them onto a hot grill for a minute. The steam will get them to pop open, then you can quickly take them off without cooking the oyster. I haven't personally tried this way as I am used to the oyster shucker, but I've heard it works quite well.
Oyster Recipes
Oyster FAQ's
Oyster shuckers are really inexpensive. You can usually buy them from the Oyster House where you buy your oysters from, or buy them online. In fact, even Wal-mart sells them.
It's like an Oyster House really, it's a restaurant type of location where you can go to eat prepared oysters. It's their specialty.
A bushel of oysters (or a sack of oysters) usually holds approximately 100 oysters.
The easiest way would be to use the google tool on your phone, usually it will use your location to give you some nearby oyster house or oyster bar.
As long as there are no other sauces on there, yes a dog is safe to eat an oyster. It would be like us, as long as the oyster is fresh we will be good to go.
August 5th.
This is a meatball of sorts. It's a bull's testicle dipped in flour and deep fried (usually). It's a delicacy in some countries. In Spanish culture, eating bull's testicles helps with virility.
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