Opening oysters and cleaning bivalves

The opening of oysters belongs to the coastal tradition of France, where the shellfish of Brittany, Normandy, the Charente-Maritime and the Bassin d'Arcachon have long been sold by the dozen and eaten raw on the half shell. Jacques Pépin sets the method down in Complete Techniques as a fundamental skill of the professional kitchen, with the knife, the grip and the order of cuts described step by step. The cleaning of mussels, clams and other bivalves follows the same coastal discipline: scrubbing, debearding and purging before any heat is applied.

The technique covers the opening of the flat oyster, Ostrea edulis (the belon type), and the cupped oyster, Crassostrea gigas, and the cleaning of the mussel, Mytilus edulis, and of clams such as Ruditapes decussatus. The oyster is scrubbed under cold water, held in a folded cloth with the cupped shell down, and the short, strong oyster knife is worked into the hinge near the muscle. The blade is then slid along the upper shell to sever the adductor muscle, the top shell is lifted away, and the flesh is freed from the lower shell without spilling its liquor. Mussels are scrubbed, their beards pulled away, and any open shell that does not close when tapped is discarded; clams are soaked in cold salted water so that they release their sand.

Raw oysters are eaten with rye bread and salted butter, lemon, or a sauce mignonnette of shallot, cracked pepper and red wine vinegar, and are drunk with Muscadet sur lie, Chablis or Champagne. The structural reason is the contrast: the brine and the soft, iodine-rich flesh call for high acidity and a clean mineral edge that cuts through the richness and refreshes the palate between each oyster. Mussels and clams cooked in white wine take the same dry, acidic wines for the same reason.