How to open live oysters

Hah. Now I know how to open live oysters. My son’s request for live oysters paid off. 2 days ago we got live oysters and my cousin tried grilling them to open. I observed that it was hot stuff, hard stuff and it was cooking the oysters… not good… very bad technique.

After our first experiment with live oysters from Farmers Market my son asked me if I got a tummy ache, were the oysters safe? No, no tummy ache, oysters are safe to eat. This time I went to market and asked the market man to let me taste an oyster. He demonstrated and taught me how to open live oysters:

  1. Use your small knife and chip away at the edge of an oyster exposing its gap, opening.
  2. Use your small knife and jam it in and twist it to open the oyster.

Very very easy!

How to eat the live oyster.

You can leave it in the half shell and serve, some are still alive, you can see them moving.

You can slurp the half shell with your mouth like kissing it to suck at the juices and eventually eat the flesh of the oyster.

Oysters are very filling this way.  The bagged oysters have something lost in them.

You can also get a slice of lemon or calamansi and squeeze it on an oyster to disinfect it if you fear bacteria.

You can also use authentic vinegar like our sukang tuba (vinegar from coconuts) as the oysters can be dipped in for a minute and it will be “cooked” or disinfected by the vinegar.

Do not use those commercial fake manufactured vinegars.