Here are some golden steps for perfecting how to eat and enjoy an oyster.. and a few tips for making the most of the experience

Step 1 # The primary thing to remember is that oysters are finger food, so you pick it up with your hands gently.

Step 2 # Take your tiny fork and sort of move the oyster around in its liquid-filled half shell to make sure it's detached.

Step 3 # Then put down your fork, pick up the shell, and slurp down the oyster from the wide end—it's more aerodynamic that way. Chew the fish one or twice before you swallow it.  It's an urban legend that you are supposed to let it slide down your throat without biting into it. Think of an oyster like a grape: if you don't chew the grape, you won't get the full flavour.

Step 4 # You want the meat and all the liquor that comes with it so do your best to swallow it all.

Step 5 # Finally, you "lay the shell back on the platter face down," a signal to your server that you’re finished.

Oysters usually come with various accoutrements (lemon, cocktail sauce, a mignonette sauce of red-wine vinegar and shallots), but it's up to you whether you want to garnish your Oyster. You can also use your tiny fork to transfer the condiments like shallots in a dish of mignonette (a piquant sauce made with vinegar and shallots that you sprinkle on top of the oyster) to the meat à la European tradition aka LeFevre . 

I recommend only using simple condiments like lemon or mignonette, at least on the first go, so as to savour the flavour unadulterated. When and if you opt to use condiments, do it sparingly: a squirt of lemon, a dot of cocktail sauce, or a touch of horseradish.

Traditionally oysters are named based on the bay or location where they are grown, and the oysters take on the characteristics of that water. This usually depicts whether or not the oyster is small or large and are described as sweet, rich, buttery, salty or firm.

What oysters do you order to show you are an oyster snob?  

1. Sydney Rock Oysters from the south and mid north coast "sweet and delicious"
2. Pacific Oysters "Large meaty, less succulent, far more rubbery" 
3. Moon Flat Angassi Oysters aka Clair De Lune from Batemans Bay. 

Author: Amanda King