Where Bivalves Be Not Bygones: The Billion Oyster Project & How To Shuck At Home

Remember oyster happy hour? That halcyon time of pre-COVID day, where a mere $1 or two would send your palate Jitney'ing to the Peconic Bay or reeling over to the Pacific, cocktail-special in hand? How easy to breeze through bivalves, a dozen or two at a time with friends, family, a new flirtation. Glancing around, the scene was duplicated at every table; tiers upon tiers of shells slurped dry, a palpable bliss settling over the room. If you’ve ever stopped to consider what happens to all of those shells, Billion Oyster Project has been one step ahead since 2015, when they began their Shell Collection program, a platform for restaurants to donate their shells for the restoration of New York oyster reefs. After pick up, the shells are taken to a curing site where they’re exposed to wind, rain and insects for more than a year until they’re clean enough to make their way to New York Harbor. The oyster’s afterlife could be something as valiant as softening the blow of storm surges, or contributing to the foreseeable dream of a flourishing oyster community right here in Gotham.

In the 17th and 18th century, long before pollution and toxic dumping sabotaged the pristine waters of New York Harbor, it was the home of 220,000 acres of oysters, which were as synonymous with New York City as the present day slice. The Shell Collection program has been a runaway success for Billion Oyster Project with 8,000 pounds of shells collected each week from 75 participating restaurants. At last count that worked out to 1.5 millions pounds of recycled shell installed in 13 oyster reefs across the harbor. Billion Oyster Project’s goal is to have it restored with a billion oysters by the year 2035.

The timing of COVID put the kibosh on Billion Oyster Program’s annual fundraising party where the high dollar ticket sent guests hopping from one oyster farmer’s stand to another, slurping to a state of bacchanalian bliss. In lieu of their physical party which was pushed to September 24th 2020, the non-profit held a tide-me-over on Zoom, with links to farms and restaurants offering pickup and delivery. Over 500 guests took part in the wine pairing and oyster tasting (sponsored by Moët Hennessy) while mastering shucking skills and getting one shell of an oyster education from Executive Director, Pete Malinowski and a Po’ Boy recipe demo from Lighthouse’s Naama Tamir. Since the party, Billion Oyster Project has inspired many New Yorkers to create a new order for oyster happy hour, one that can be done at home. Call it shellfish in place.

Learn What the Shuck You’re Doing

In quarantine, time is an elastic estuary and as such, where there’s sea, there are sea creatures. As an oyster enthusiast friend of mine likes to say, “A woman who can shuck her own oyster is beholden to no man.” I concede to her logic. There is a feeling of great accomplishment in this cocktail party trick, far exceeding the likes of sabering a bottle or pulling off a champagne tower without spilling a drop. While decadent days of such gatherings rest on a far distant horizon, why not hone a skill to accompany the ultimate future perfect hostess gift, a mesh bag of bivalves?

From Dock to Door

Oyster farmers are now delivering their goods from sea to stoop and presently there is no better time to master the skill of shuckery. Somehow when you’re able to understand the architecture of what you’re eating the pleasure is met twofold. Last summer I was taught by my friend, Meg Dowe, an oyster farmer and beekeeper on the North Fork of Long Island. It took many tries with her beautiful Yennicotts lending to some broken shells and a broken sweat, but mercifully no severed digits.

Gloves On, Knives Out

Right now the last place you need to be is the ER with a preventable injury, particularly one as pompous-sounding as shucking mishap. Keep your new bivalve hobby from turning into a bloodbath with the proper tools.

[Photos by Georgette Moger, @billionoyster]