Oyster season goes from September to April, when the water is cold. A platter of fresh oysters and a dish of razor clams © Adrianna Glaviano Pouring a champagne tower of Lallier Blanc de Blancs © Adrianna Glaviano At restaurants we’re often choosing between half a dozen and a dozen, but when you’re at home and once you can shuck, you can really indulge in a boatload of them. I like to account for about 16 to 20 oysters per person if oysters are the main course. The key is to be generous and buy more than you think people will eat. With an oyster party, very little cooking is required, and there is something very festive, indulgent and sexy about them. It’s one of my favourite party tricks to fall back on. Guests are so impressed by my shucking skills, which, in all honestly, I do love showing off. While this isn’t exactly fishing, if you can get the knack, you’ll always have the option of an oyster-shucking party up your sleeve. Try the first oyster without anything on it, so you can really taste the sea And as the saying goes: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” But with a little bit of practice it’s a skill one can easily acquire. People are often intimidated by oyster shucking if they’ve never done it before. These days I don’t have to worry about a slammed dinner service, but the skill still comes in handy during the holiday season. The author brings a plate of oysters to the table © Adrianna Glaviano Shucked oysters on a Gio Ponti plate © Adrianna Glaviano I remember on one busy Saturday, Eze and I had been working the station together, and he had shucked 180 oysters to my meagre 60. Eze, as we called him, could shuck oysters faster than should be humanly possible. There was a guy, Ezekiel, much older than me and a longtime employee, who showed me the ropes. My first job in New York was at an old French bistro where I often had to work the oyster-shucking station. Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
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