| |
Fine Dining »The Shell Game |
| The Shell Game |
| Clams, Oysters & Mussels: |
For clams and oysters, served raw on the half shell, begin by squeezing lemon juice (with one hand over the wedge or slice to prevent squirting) onto the clam or oyster — not into the sauce. Steady the shell against the plate with your free hand and extract the clam or oyster with a small shellfish fork. You may dip it into your own sauce container (in many formal situations, clams and oysters are served only with lemon) and then lift the meat whole into your mouth. Horseradish and cocktail sauce can also be dabbed onto the individual clam or oyster, which is then lifted to the mouth completely dressed.
Never cut a raw clam or oyster. And only in an informal setting should you drain the juice from the shell into your mouth; do so as unobtrusively as possible. As for oyster crackers, there are two schools of thought about whether it's permissible to drop them into the sauce and retrieve them with a fork. Taste dictates.
For steamed clams, lift both halves of the fully opened shell (if the shell doesn't open during cooking, don't eat what's inside). Separate each clam by pulling it out by its neck. Discard the neck sheath and, holding it by the neck, dip it first into a cup of broth and then into melted butter, and eat it in one bite, neck and all. Pile all the empty shells on a second plate. You may choose to drink the cup of broth. The procedure is essentially the same for steamed mussels, though you don't have to worry about a neck and neck sheath.
For mussels cooked in a souplike sauce (moules marinières, for example), lift each shell and extract the mussel with a seafood fork; alternatively, you can eat it right from the half shell along with its juice. The extra broth can be sopped up with fork-speared bread or eaten with a spoon as a soup.
Fried clams, oysters, scallops or shrimps can be cut with a fork and eaten.
Fantail shrimp (fried Oriental style) can be lifted with your hands by the tail, dipped into a sauce and then eaten. However, leave the tail. |
| Crab: |
Break one crab leg from the body and crack it into sections with a nutcracker. Remove the meat with a seafood fork or a nutpick, then dip it into melted butter or a mayonnaise sauce.
With hard-shell crabs, first pull the legs from the body with your fingers and then suck out the meat (as noiselessly as possible). The remainder of the body can then be turned on its back and the meat removed with a fork or pick.
Crab claws served as hors d'oeuvres are to be picked up by the shell with your fingers, dipped in sauce and sucked out.
Soft-shell crabs are meant to be eaten in their entirety, both crab and shell, with a knife and fork. |
| Lobster: |
Put on a lobster bib or, to be a bit more subtle, tuck a napkin into your collar or neckline. With your hands, twist the lobster's big claws from its body. Use a nutcracker to open each claw, then remove the meat with a pick or lobster fork, dip it in sauce (melted butter for a hot broiled or boiled lobster, mayonnaise for a cold one) and enjoy.
Next, break the tail away from the body. If the tail has already been split, the meat can be easily removed. If it hasn't been split, just break off the little flaps and push through to get the meat out in one piece. Cut this meat with a knife and fork, dip and eat. The legs are then twisted off with your hands, and the meat is sucked out. Finally, the tomalley (green liver) of a male lobster can be eaten, as can the coral (roe) of the female. |
| Patty Shell Food: |
|
When serving yourself anything in a patty shell, lift up to your mouth a piece of the shell in combination with its filling. The patty shell can be cut with your fork. This will be a bit messy; accept it. Use your knife to buttress the shell and push the filling onto your fork. |
| Snails: |
Snails are usually served with a pair of snail tongs, which grip the hot shell so that you can extract the meat whole with a snail fork or oyster fork. If tongs aren't provided, grip the hot shell with the edge of your napkin.
When the shells have cooled a bit, you may lift them in your hand, tilt them into your mouth, and enjoy the garlic butter and juice. You may also spear a piece of bread with your fork and use it to sop up the juice. |
| Soft-Boiled Egg: |
|
A soft-boiled egg may appear at the table in an eggcup, or may even come covered with a "cozy" to keep it warm. After you remove the cozy, crack the egg with a knife horizontally across the smallish end (steadying the cup against the plate with your other hand) until the shell comes loose. Lift off the top, place it on a saucer, season the remaining contents and eat with a spoon. |
| |
