Learning how to shuck oysters at work. Anyone have any tips so I don’t keep stabbing myself?
We fortunately got busy, so I had a lot of practice. Still need some pointers so I don’t have to keep running for bandaids though lol
by WheresMyHead532
38 Comments
Rarg
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast
Wrap the oyster in a rag so if your knife slides it hits the rag until your confident
Clean the meat (lip of the shell) before you sever the bottom adductor. Dont flip.
Remember you should chew your oyster so keep the meat of the muscle intact
Good luck!
Rapph
Just protect your off hand while learning and use the corner of a sink or something to brace it. Most of my oyster cuts are actually knife hand at this point. Those shells rip through hand callouses.
Aequitas123
My first night my hands were messed up. The advice here is good.
Do not try and go fast. You don’t want to serve bad oysters. Learn good technique and speed will come.
TheKevinWhipaloo
Im just over here looking at your tattoo orientation. Best of luck with the oysters though!
BirdBurnett
Had a rookie who got recruited into shucking one night. He jabbed his palm. Got him bandaged up. He went to shuck again. And dagnabbit, wouldn’t you know he jabbed that oyster knife back into the same wound.
P. S. This was before aids became a thing.
vociferoushomebody
Looks a lot right. Lots of practice and use a tea towel to hold the oyster.
Salt-Call-1880
I learned to shuck at a Japanese restaurant, something I learned
Try different shucks to find the one that works best for you
Use a rag and the more force you use the worse it gets. It’s a finesse thing.
When you open it you can tell if it’s punctured if the liquid in the shell surrounding the oyster is dirty
Separate the oysters from the shell left to right under the oyster.
Flip the oyster, people eat with their eyes first ☺️🥰 slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
ApathyWithToast
Fold towel, jimmy and shuck with blunt tip knife down and into towel, never hold the oyster upright, unless you want to jab your colleagues eye out; saw it happen 6 years ago while working. Scrap and clear the lower abbductal muscle, scrap and slice upper abbductal muscle, then180 degeee flip the bivalve mullusc and clear sand and shell to be bedded on ice or whatever. Always were a glove for safety, sani., and control. Repeat for your number of covers that night.
DodgyRogue
My grandfather was an oyster farmer for about 50 years and his secret was to round the point of any commercially produced oyster knife as you don’t need a point to open them. I wish I still had one of his knives to take a photo for you but I didn’t keep any when i moved from Australia to the USA
Round-Somewhere-6619
=)
pheldozer
Those chainmail/fabric gloves are huge for speeding up the learning curve and preventing a work comp claim even if your coworkers bust your balls for not barehanding it
SnarkDolphin
Scrub all those out GOOD, and get some alcohol or peroxide on them if you haven’t already. Don’t be surprised if they still swell up a bit, oyster knife cuts get infected super easily, ime
DoctorFunktopus
Well, it looks like you learned a few valuable lessons there.
Bladrak01
On what side of the oysters does everyone start on? I’ve always popped the hinge first, but I got to watch someone who placed 2nd in the world oyster shucking championship, and she opened them from the other end. I saw her shuck over a dozen, and I still have no idea how she did it
slikk50
I always used a towel, maybe even two, and if you want to double down even more, use a cut glove with the towels in hand, hold that oyster and use that oyster knife around the edge until you find that little hole. If there is no hole, you might have to make one.
guiltycitizen
You gotta love it with a slow hand
CodySmash
Put oyster in towel. Dont shuck sick oysters til the end.
crusty54
No stitches? I’d say you did pretty damn good.
WalkerNash
Welcome to the club. I did the math at one point and I think I’ve shucked somewhere in the vicinity of 100k lifetime. Hands are gnarly 😅
pizzatimeradio
I like getting my hands as cold as possible and hold the oyster directly in my hand. You can only get stronger.
Drunk_Gary1
I was lucky I got all my practice out of the way as a teenager and got good at shuck8ng at home with a butter knife when I started work8ng in a kitchen that did oysters and was handed a proper tool I quickly became the fastest shucker.
thunderGunXprezz
Fun story. One year on vacation one of my wife’s uncle’s little terrorist of a child decided to hop over the edge of the elevated walkway they had going through the marina we were visiting (in addition to being a marina, it also is a very popular shopping and restaurant spot). Anyway, the ground below is basically a several foot deep bedding of sharp oyster shells. He ended up spending the remaining day of their trip in the ER getting stitches all over his legs and arms. We missed our dinner reservations, and since I drove to dinner, I had to cart that bloody little bastard to the hospital.
tparoulek
I like the oyster knives with the curved tip. They are the hardest for me to find though…. I always tell my cooks they need to be smarter than the oyster to open it safely. I mean, you should rely on technique, not strength. Unless they are massive oysters, it doesn’t take much force to pop them if you come at the right angle. Use the chainmail glove while you are learning. Wiggle the tip in from about a 45 degree angle from the back and use the side wall to leverage against.
blondeveggiefreak
I’ve never had the opportunity to shuck oysters… but this reminds me of all the cases of frozen king crab I repacked (for sale in grocery seafood department) when I was in highschool. It was like being paid to rummage in boxes of frozen razor blades.
crowcawer
: )
LinkOfKalos_1
Seems like you had a good amount of fun 🙂
buzzinalloverme
Towel, cut glove, oyster shucking block… anything to help save your hands
IamAdept169
Oh my god. I have the same tattoo in the same spot. Mines just slightly larger. Dont fuck up that dope tattoo shucking oysters.
LittleGreenGhoulsBud
Wow you got a couple cuts on your arm. Who cares
slams0ne
In Soviet Russia, oyster shucks you!
N7Longhorn
I’ll never understand it. Just flap the towel over your hand as well as the oyster and if it jumps it just doesn’t cut you. Also go slow.
Brief-Pair6391
It’s all in the wrist/twist
Absolutely doing it wrong if you’re stabbing yourself. To slip every now and then it’s too be expected but goddamn, man- that’s crazy.
woodiinymph
A good way to avoid stabbing yourself is to go very slowly and steadily, twisting your shucking blade. Kinda like wiggling left to right to gradually inch in. Eventually, you will wiggle enough with a bit of forward pressure, and it will pop open!
coby144451
Opening oysters is less about force and more about leverage and physics. Knife tip deeply in the hinge, gentle but firmly lift the top shell. When released, twist the knife to help create a gap, scrape the knife against the top of the abductor muscle to fully release the top shell. YouTube should become your friend
MightyGoodra96
Use a bar cloth or a glove.
Are you using an actual shucking knife?
PHGTX
The inside of my right palm is forever scarred
Negative_Whole_6855
As everyone said about slow is smooth and smooth is fast, these are my little tips
Get a car mechanic glove. Not the loose fitting ones the ones that are finger tight.
Get an oyster shucker with a curve in the blade, and find the most rigid one you can.
Gouges are not cuts. You’ll learn. They suck, and the better you get faster you won’t hurt as much
tizzydizzy1
Used to open oyster for 3 years. I used cutlery knife instead of actual oyster knife too avoid stabbing when started. Use a pair of glove, 1 glove for hand that hold oyster and other put on the place where you will hold the oyster to avoid slip. Use knife, apply some thrust down force to the lip of oyster to slightly crack it so you can force the oyster open ( apply to different spot of first spot is too hard).
I am not proffessional but this is my experience to avoid stabbing your hand and have to open 200kg of oyster at xmas
38 Comments
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast
Wrap the oyster in a rag so if your knife slides it hits the rag until your confident
Clean the meat (lip of the shell) before you sever the bottom adductor. Dont flip.
Remember you should chew your oyster so keep the meat of the muscle intact
Good luck!
Just protect your off hand while learning and use the corner of a sink or something to brace it. Most of my oyster cuts are actually knife hand at this point. Those shells rip through hand callouses.
My first night my hands were messed up. The advice here is good.
Do not try and go fast. You don’t want to serve bad oysters. Learn good technique and speed will come.
Im just over here looking at your tattoo orientation. Best of luck with the oysters though!
Had a rookie who got recruited into shucking one night. He jabbed his palm. Got him bandaged up. He went to shuck again. And dagnabbit, wouldn’t you know he jabbed that oyster knife back into the same wound.
P. S. This was before aids became a thing.
Looks a lot right. Lots of practice and use a tea towel to hold the oyster.
I learned to shuck at a Japanese restaurant, something I learned
Try different shucks to find the one that works best for you
Use a rag and the more force you use the worse it gets. It’s a finesse thing.
When you open it you can tell if it’s punctured if the liquid in the shell surrounding the oyster is dirty
Separate the oysters from the shell left to right under the oyster.
Flip the oyster, people eat with their eyes first ☺️🥰 slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Fold towel, jimmy and shuck with blunt tip knife down and into towel, never hold the oyster upright, unless you want to jab your colleagues eye out; saw it happen 6 years ago while working. Scrap and clear the lower abbductal muscle, scrap and slice upper abbductal muscle, then180 degeee flip the bivalve mullusc and clear sand and shell to be bedded on ice or whatever. Always were a glove for safety, sani., and control. Repeat for your number of covers that night.
My grandfather was an oyster farmer for about 50 years and his secret was to round the point of any commercially produced oyster knife as you don’t need a point to open them. I wish I still had one of his knives to take a photo for you but I didn’t keep any when i moved from Australia to the USA
=)
Those chainmail/fabric gloves are huge for speeding up the learning curve and preventing a work comp claim even if your coworkers bust your balls for not barehanding it
Scrub all those out GOOD, and get some alcohol or peroxide on them if you haven’t already. Don’t be surprised if they still swell up a bit, oyster knife cuts get infected super easily, ime
Well, it looks like you learned a few valuable lessons there.
On what side of the oysters does everyone start on? I’ve always popped the hinge first, but I got to watch someone who placed 2nd in the world oyster shucking championship, and she opened them from the other end. I saw her shuck over a dozen, and I still have no idea how she did it
I always used a towel, maybe even two, and if you want to double down even more, use a cut glove with the towels in hand, hold that oyster and use that oyster knife around the edge until you find that little hole. If there is no hole, you might have to make one.
You gotta love it with a slow hand
Put oyster in towel. Dont shuck sick oysters til the end.
No stitches? I’d say you did pretty damn good.
Welcome to the club. I did the math at one point and I think I’ve shucked somewhere in the vicinity of 100k lifetime. Hands are gnarly 😅
I like getting my hands as cold as possible and hold the oyster directly in my hand. You can only get stronger.
I was lucky I got all my practice out of the way as a teenager and got good at shuck8ng at home with a butter knife when I started work8ng in a kitchen that did oysters and was handed a proper tool I quickly became the fastest shucker.
Fun story. One year on vacation one of my wife’s uncle’s little terrorist of a child decided to hop over the edge of the elevated walkway they had going through the marina we were visiting (in addition to being a marina, it also is a very popular shopping and restaurant spot). Anyway, the ground below is basically a several foot deep bedding of sharp oyster shells. He ended up spending the remaining day of their trip in the ER getting stitches all over his legs and arms. We missed our dinner reservations, and since I drove to dinner, I had to cart that bloody little bastard to the hospital.
I like the oyster knives with the curved tip. They are the hardest for me to find though….
I always tell my cooks they need to be smarter than the oyster to open it safely. I mean, you should rely on technique, not strength. Unless they are massive oysters, it doesn’t take much force to pop them if you come at the right angle.
Use the chainmail glove while you are learning. Wiggle the tip in from about a 45 degree angle from the back and use the side wall to leverage against.
I’ve never had the opportunity to shuck oysters… but this reminds me of all the cases of frozen king crab I repacked (for sale in grocery seafood department) when I was in highschool. It was like being paid to rummage in boxes of frozen razor blades.
: )
Seems like you had a good amount of fun 🙂
Towel, cut glove, oyster shucking block… anything to help save your hands
Oh my god. I have the same tattoo in the same spot. Mines just slightly larger. Dont fuck up that dope tattoo shucking oysters.
Wow you got a couple cuts on your arm. Who cares
In Soviet Russia, oyster shucks you!
I’ll never understand it. Just flap the towel over your hand as well as the oyster and if it jumps it just doesn’t cut you. Also go slow.
It’s all in the wrist/twist
Absolutely doing it wrong if you’re stabbing yourself. To slip every now and then it’s too be expected but goddamn, man- that’s crazy.
A good way to avoid stabbing yourself is to go very slowly and steadily, twisting your shucking blade. Kinda like wiggling left to right to gradually inch in. Eventually, you will wiggle enough with a bit of forward pressure, and it will pop open!
Opening oysters is less about force and more about leverage and physics. Knife tip deeply in the hinge, gentle but firmly lift the top shell. When released, twist the knife to help create a gap, scrape the knife against the top of the abductor muscle to fully release the top shell.
YouTube should become your friend
Use a bar cloth or a glove.
Are you using an actual shucking knife?
The inside of my right palm is forever scarred
As everyone said about slow is smooth and smooth is fast, these are my little tips
Get a car mechanic glove. Not the loose fitting ones the ones that are finger tight.
Get an oyster shucker with a curve in the blade, and find the most rigid one you can.
Gouges are not cuts. You’ll learn. They suck, and the better you get faster you won’t hurt as much
Used to open oyster for 3 years. I used cutlery knife instead of actual oyster knife too avoid stabbing when started.
Use a pair of glove, 1 glove for hand that hold oyster and other put on the place where you will hold the oyster to avoid slip.
Use knife, apply some thrust down force to the lip of oyster to slightly crack it so you can force the oyster open ( apply to different spot of first spot is too hard).
I am not proffessional but this is my experience to avoid stabbing your hand and have to open 200kg of oyster at xmas