Royal Oyster's conservation:

A royal tasting

Tasted plain, sprinkled with a dash of lemon juice or with pepper, or cooked the Royal Oyster is a gustative discovery in itself. However, you have to manage to open it in order to discover an ocean of flavours, and it is often a hard task. So, here are the 10 steps to open a Royal Oyster and to finally enjoy its delicate and salted flesh brewed and matured by freshwater of Artouan marsh.

		Take an Oyster. There is a particular way of holding an oyster: the flat shell must be the top shell, and the sharp end must be the one closest to you.
		Take a knife. You must be careful, in order not to harm yourself. Take a special knife and place your finger at the very end of the blade (do not take the knife by its handle as you usually do). We also strongly advise you to use a piece of rag in order to protect yourself from possible cuts.
		Find the “opening spot”. It is easier to open an oyster if you manage to find a weakness in the shell. Usually, the opening spot can be found at a two-third distance from the end of the oyster, on the right side.
		Insert the point of the knife. In order to correctly and safely open the oyster, you need to find a breach between the two shells. Once you have found it, you should insert the blade in it and slowly try to separate the two shells.
		Separate the two shells. Insert the point of the blade more deeply between the two shells. It is easier if you move slowly the blade and make circular moves. The largest part of the blade should be used as a lever. Be careful the blade must always be oriented toward the floor.
		Cut the muscle. Maintain the top shell open with your thumb so that you can easily cut the muscle*. (*): the muscle of an oyster is the part where the flesh of the oyster sticks to the shell.
		Remove the top shell. Once the muscle is cut, you can simply remove the top shell.
		Taste a Royal Oyster 1/ You must take the water off of the oyster before tasting it. Press slowly with the blade of your knife upon the oyster. This will make all the impurities generated by the opening go away. 2/ Empty the shell of its water. 3/ You can know that there is no more water on it, once you notice that the drops are whitish (it is the colour of the oyster’s juice). Advice: You must always hold the oyster firmly while opening it. Finally, you may present the oysters on a bed of fresh seaweed (advice: not on crushed ice). If you want to be more original, you may put them on coarse sea salt or on chilled stones.

JUST ENJOY THE TASTING!

In order to make the tasting of this exceptional shellfish a true gastronomic experience, we suggest you visit the page «Gastronomy», where you will find «world chefs' recipes».