Trudeau Maison Oyster Knife

The French poet Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) wrote: "I love oysters. It's like kissing the sea on the lips." I learned to love that ‘kiss’ at an early age. However, in order to maximize that pleasure, one must savor fresh raw oysters “on the half-shell” (as we call them in the US). And, in order to do that, one needs a good oyster knife, to open the oysters soon before consuming them directly from the shell. There are several traditional accompaniments, but the unadorned flavor of a fresh raw oyster - that “kiss of the sea” - is one of life’s great gastronomic pleasures.

But first you need a good oyster knife; there are various models to choose from. I learned to ‘shuck’ using a traditional “Chesapeake Stabber”: an awl-like wood-handled model with a straight (sometimes-sharpened) carbon steel blade that I acquired long ago at the St. Mary’s County (MD) Annual Oyster Festival and Shucking Contest (I was NOT a contestant!). So I learned to shuck “East Coast” oysters, but now live and love “West Coast” varietals, so I have come to very much appreciate the functional advantages of the design details in the modified French-style oyster knife from Trudeau.