He’s the US oyster-shucking champ. But how fast can he shuck North Carolina oysters?
The nation’s fastest oyster-shucker closed his eyes, drew a deep breath, kissed his knife and tore into a pile of stubborn shellfish, prying them open quicker than a kid with a bagful of Starburst.
By the time he quit jabbing, Jay Gallet had cracked 32 oysters in 3 minutes — one every 5 seconds. And as the crowd cried, “Shuck! Shuck! Shuck!” he revealed his salty technique.
“The secret is to keep your knife clean,” he said. “You don’t filet a fish with a scaly knife.”
By day, Gallet works as master shucker at Superior Seafood & Oyster Bar in New Orleans, but he showed off his shucking talents Tuesday for the NC Oyster Summit, taking on two teams of NC challengers.
The first, made up of three state politicians and an oyster grower from Harkers Island, made a woeful showing stacked up against Gallet’s 32.
Republican Sens. Buck Newton and Norman Sanderson managed 12 and 11 respectively, while Democratic Rep. Sarah Crawford eked out a single oyster.
“Surely, you don’t want me to shuck anymore,” she said as the second contest began.
Taking on past oyster champs
But for the second, Gallet took on four professionals from across North Carolina, two of them former US champs. With a deep breath and a knife kiss, he finished his pile of 24 in just 1 minute, 48 seconds — a full 30 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.
“If they were stock car drivers, everyone here would know their names,” said Tres Hundertmark, the contest emcee.
Organized by the NC Coastal Federation, the oyster summit aims to maintain and build the state’s oyster industry, whose wild and farm-raised value now tops $30 million, a near-tenfold increase over the past decade.
“The theme this year is ‘Resilient coasts for future roasts,’ “ said Erin Fleckenstein, the foundation’s oyster program director.
NC oyster trail
In recent years, the farm-raised shellfish surpassed wild oysters in North Carolina, and the state maintains an oyster trail map detailing both restaurants and tours.
“An oyster that’s farmed is living the same life as an oyster in the wild,” said Margo Metzger with Visit NC. “They cohabitate, and those oysters can be eaten all year round.”
Pulling off his shucking gloves, cleaning his knife, the US champ offered this victor’s commentary on his performance.
“These aren’t my oysters,” he said humbly. “I’m not used to these. I shuck big ones.”