With special knives and remarkable elan, the contestants had their bivalves opened and prepped in literally record time.
It’s a scored competition that challenges shuckers to open and present 30 native oysters as quickly and professionally as possible, before serving their platter of impeccably presented oysters to a panel of judges.
Sixteen pros turned up to do battle but their could be only one winner, Federico Fiorillo of Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill, he scored a time of 3 minutes 19 seconds – that’s 6.6 seconds per oyster. Fiorillo also secures a place as part of the his prize to represent Britain at the World Oyster Opening Championship later this month in Galway, Ireland.
I think it was a draw but we were both well into double figures by the end because the oysters were such superb quality.
Tabasco is probably the best known and most used oyster enhancer since around 1905 and is genuinely my favourite with oysters although a squeeze of lemon does no harm either.