Oyster Roast Lovers:
Choose Your Shucking Weapons'
If you really want to get to know
a person, don't bother engaging him
in conversation ? just take him to an
oyster roast and check out the kind
of oyster knife he uses and how well
he handles it.
I learned long ago ? well, last
year anyway ? that oyster shucking
is serious business and that oyster
knives, in particular, can be as
revealing about an individual as the
car he drives or the house he lives
in.
This realization hit me square in
the face when I witnessed what can
happen when a Sunday shucker ?
someone who eats roasted oysters
only once or twice a year ? jumps in
over his head and tries to open his
oysters with a knife that is unsuited
to his temperament and/or experi
ence.
On that enlightening occasion, my
wife and I entered a Calabash rest
aurant and were greeted by the sight
of a man who had skewered his
palm with his oyster knife. A wait
ress was running for the first-aid kit
as the victim held a blood-soaked
cloth napkin to his hand.
He was an elderly gent who didn't
appear to be in the best of health to
start with, and it's entirely possible
that the self-inflicted wound wasn't
an accident. For all I know, he might
have been trying to end it all right
Rahn
Adams
then and there with his oyster knife.
But I suspect that despite his age,
he was merely an inexperienced
shucker who threw caution to the
wind and picked a knife that he just
couldn't handle. Either that or he
stabbed himself while cleaning his
knife. I've been told that happens a
lot with guns, too.
Before I scare anyone, let me
point out that the knives you can
rent at the N.C. Oyster Festival are
safe. They're kind of like the round
tipped scissors you had to use in
kindergarten. As long as you don't
get too frustrated opening your oys
ters and don't go berserk, you
should be OK.
But after that encounter with the
darker side of oyster shucking, I
decided I'd better find a knife that I
could practice with in the privacy of
my own home, so that I could wield
it with confidence when the
chips ? or rather, the oyster shells ?
were down in public.
At last year's festival, I noticed
that famed oyster-shucking champi
on Cathy Carlisle of Boones Neck
used one of those professional-type
knives ? the equivalent of an auto
matic assault rifle. The blade is short
but tapered and honed to a fighting
edge. I imagine the wooden handle,
of her knife is full of notches. Have
oyster knife; will travel.
That style of oyster sticker isn't
few me, though, since I'm not cool
enough under pressure to handle a
potentially lethal weapon. If I have a
particularly exasperating time get
ting the charcoal started when
(See OYSTER, Page 22)
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