How to Open an Oyster
(Reprinted from Jacques Pépin’s Complete Techniques, 2001, Black Dog & Leventhal.)

Aficionados prefer oysters raw on the half shell with a dash of lemon, or a "mignonnette" sauce made by mixing together 1/2 cup good red wine vinegar, 1/4 cup chopped shallots, 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper and a dash of salt. (Crushed peppercorn is called mignonette; hence, the name of the sauce.) These fine mollusks should be used, as all shellfish, only if they are alive and fresh. Despite the fact that restaurants sometimes wash oysters to get rid of any lurking bits of shell that might present problems to their patrons, once oysters are opened, they should never be washed. Their taste becomes flat and insipid. Oysters are usually larger and fatter in the United States than they are in France. The "green" flat oysters of France, the "belons marennes", do not have counterparts in this country. Oysters are usually poached in their own broth. Be sure not to overcook these delicate shellfish or they will toughen. As soon as the edges of the oyster whiten and curl up, they are cooked enough.

1. To open an oyster, only the point of the knife (and you need an oyster knife) is used. Hold the oyster with a thick potholder to protect your hand. With the oyster in the palm of your hand, push the point of the knife about 1/2 inch deep into the "hinge" (the pointed side of the oyster), between the "lid" and the body of the oyster.

2. Once the lid has been penetrated (this can take a considerable amount of pressure), push down. The lid should pop open. Lift up the top shell, cutting the muscle attached to it.

3. If the oyster is too hard to open at the hinge (the Malpeque from the cold waters of Canada are easier to open than the bluepoints that are pictured here), insert the knife about 1 inch on the curved side of the oyster between the lid and the body.
Twist the blade to pry the oyster open. Cut the muscle from the lid.

4. Slide your knife under the oyster to sever the muscle. The oyster is now loose in the shell. Place flat on a bed of chopped ice or directly on the plate.

5. Serve oysters and clams with buttered black bread, lemon wedges or mignonnette sauce.