Southold Bay Oysters’ latest service is ready to come to you.
Called “Shindig Shuck Parties,” owners Dave Daly and Ben Gonzalez will come to your dinner party and teach your guests how to shuck oysters in a fun 60-minute presentation. Participants will first try an oyster au natural, transition to an oyster with a lemon and homemade cocktail sauce and get progressively more adventurous. Everyone will learn how to shuck oysters and Daly and Gonzalez will supply the gear, which the guests can keep.
“Everyone who’s come on our farm tour leaves knowing how to shuck,” Daly said. “It’s a matter of learning a couple hints and tactics. It’s about being patient, not about brute strength. And I think it’s important to have the glove, too. It takes one or two tries with someone instructing you.”
A lot of people don’t try oysters until they’re adults, said Daly, who was in his 20s his first time.
“I think it’s becoming more popular,” he said. “I think they’re such a big part of the North Fork and have really kind of, in the last 10 years, become much more visible as part of the North Fork kind of food culture.”
Of course, Daly said, not everyone loves them.
“That’s just part of people’s food preferences.”
Southold Bay Oysters has done a lot of pop-ups at local wineries, and can recommend a wine pairing list for the shuck parties.
“We’ll send the list of wines,” said Daly, who explained their license doesn’t allow them to bring the wines themselves, but that clients can purchase the bottles themselves and Daly will talk about the pairings. “There’s so many good options here to pair with them.”
Southold Bay Oysters’ Southold oyster stand returns April 30, while the Shelter Island stand reopens May 28. You can book a Shindig Shuck Party now for a dozen guests (with eight dozen oysters included!) at southoldbayoysters.com.
