Aw, shucks! Oyster shucking pro shares how it's done

In the time it takes to read this sentence, Deborah Pratt can pry open an oyster and hand it to you on the half shell, no slashed meat, no shards of shell, just perfect for slurping.

To get the job done, Pratt bores in at the lip of the bivalve, slides her knife this way and that, gives it a twist and a scrape, and that's all.

It's a technique she learned from her sister 36 years ago on the back porch of her home near Urbanna. In fact, she and her sister Clementine Macon have dominated the professional oyster-shucking circuit for years. On Sunday, Clemetine took the national women's oyster-shucking title at St. Mary's County Oyster Festival in Maryland.

Pratt shared her technique on a recent morning before the contest while shucking a gallon of oysters at Walton Seafood in Urbanna, keeping a steady rhythm as she talked. She admits her front-in style might seem unusual, but it certainly has gotten her places.

"You have to work at it," said Pratt, who has been shucking for 36 years. "You are not going to learn this overnight."

HOW TO SHUCK AN OYSTER

Deborah Pratt's award-winning oyster shucking technique:

1. Get ready

You'll need a pile of oysters that are worth the effort. You've got plenty of fine choices right here in Virginia. Pratt recommends Rappahannock oysters, rich and unsalty bivalves that are her favorite to open. Try seasides from the Eastern Shore for more brine and less salty ones from the Chesapeake Bay. Plus, there are the legendary Lynnhaven oysters, which are making a comeback. If you get them just harvested from the mud, give the shells a good hosing off in the yard before moving on to Step 2.

2. Get set

Don't even think of doing this barehanded. You'll need thick rubber gloves to provide grip and protection and a sharp shucking knife with a pointed tip. Just as in the kitchen, a dull blade is a dangerous thing.

3. Go!

Start by sizing up your prey. Lay the bivalve flat side up, curving to the left, on a stable surface. Hold it steady with your left hand over the hinged end. Grasp the knife in the right hand, blade parallel to the table surface.

4. Let there be light

Look for the spot on the curved lip of the shell directly opposite the hinge, which Pratt calls the 6 o'clock position. Starting there, search for a spot to bore into the bivalve by simultaneously pushing the knife inward toward the hinge and rocking the blade slightly from side to side, without twisting. Beware: This takes some muscle, and it's where many shuckers stab themselves in the opposing palm. If you can't find an opening at 6 o'clock, try 3 or 9 o'clock. When you find a spot, try not to insert more than 1/4-inch of the tip of the knife into the oyster to avoid slashing into the meat.

5. Say 'I love you'

Once the knife is inserted, keep the tip of the blade inside the oyster while picking it up in the palm of your left hand. Then comes the tricky, Deborah Pratt signature move. While pressing the blade flush to the bottom shell, turn the oyster toward your body while bringing it toward your chest. The blade should scrape against the bottom shell and move along its surface to sever the muscle attaching the meat. Imagine you are bringing cupped hands to your heart in what Pratt calls an "I love you" move. If you keep the blade flush to the shell, the muscle cut will be neat. That's extremely important to oysters on the half shell. To be sure the muscle is fully detached, recut it by sliding the knife flat underneath the meat.

6. Arriving at the half shell

Hold the oyster in your left palm and twist the knife away from you to widen the gap between the top and bottom shell. Then, using the knife and fingers of the right hand, lift the top shell with the meat attached and pry off the bottom shell and discard. You'll hear a satisfying crack, and some juice will drizzle down your wrist.

7. Providing the perfect slurp

Holding the shell in your left hand, use the tip of the oyster knife to flip the ruffled edge of meat back from the lip end of the shell to expose the muscle that attaches the oyster to the top shell. Turn the blade perpendicular to the shell and scrape away from your body and across the surface of the shell to neatly free the meat. This is important. It's impossible to have a satisfying slurp with the oyster still holding on. In fact, it can be downright ugly to eat this way.

8. Slurp or serve. Serve or slurp.

Repeat.