Message from the Cap’n – Shuck Your Own Oysters
Message from the Cap’n is a compilation of fishing advice, waterman and weather insights, Chesapeake lore, and ordinary malarkey from the folks who keep their feet wet in the Potomac and St. Mary’s rivers.
****OYSTERS FOR THE HOLIDAYS****
The Cap’n
Now is the season. The weather has cooled and the oysters are fattening up!
- I want to tell you how to make a stew
- These directions will help you breeze thru
- Look at the oyster just like a watch
- The pointed hinge will be at the 12 o’clock notch
- “Hold the oyster in the cup of your hand”
- Like a saucer with candle on a night stand
- It will look and feel good for you to hold
- the growth rings on top will look really bold
- By the way an oyster’s growth starts at the hinge
- Usually laying down 1 inch a year in a growth binge
- After 3 years it’s mature and really good and sweet
- Becoming one of the holiday’s most sought after treats
- Never shuck an oyster at the hinge, 12 noon
- But go to the mouth at 6, wide as a spoon
- The Adductor muscle holds the 2 shells together
- And is on the 9 o’clock side of center forever
- We always stick the oyster between 6+8 to begin
- Slide the knife along the lower shell after it’s in
- Then work to 9 o’clock and cut the muscle
- And shortly you will be able to do it in a hustle
- Believe me it’s very easy to do
- And you will thank me when you are through
- Just remember to be a good shucker
- Patience will make you all the luckier
- Rinse them off a time or two
- Keeping all pea crabs when you do
- Add butter, milk, salt n pepper to your stew
- Bring not to a boil or you will be through
- Curl oysters with onion-n-bacon in a pan
- With all the liquor and you will become a fan
- Then mix it all together as the Chesapeake bounty
- Cause that’s how it’s done in St. Mary’s County
Enjoy your treat!
And if you are totally out of sorts the captain might just give you a lesson on how to do it safely … for a small fee
From Ogden Nash:
Till next time, remember “It’s Our Bay, Let’s Pass It On.”
To learn about tours and trips into the Chesapeake, keep in touch with Fins + Claws on Facebook. Catch up on Messages from the Cap’n Member Page. Please visit Cap’n Jack’s lore and share with your social media sites. Or reach him here: [email protected] or 240-434-1385.
