Jerry Fraser, arguably Australia’s most knowledgeable oyster shucker, blessed with an innate ability to make people, who have never tasted oysters, fall in love with these little bivalves. Born in Inverness, Scotland, moving to Peru as a child (yes he can converse in spanish), then university in Tampa, Florida to study to become a geologist. During his time at university, a new oyster bar was opened called Al’s New Place in Dunedin Beach. The owners asked Jerry whether he wanted a part time job.
In Jerry words: “ I was asked if I wanted to help out for free drinks, oysters, get paid a small salary and meet chicks “ which Jerry did for two years until he graduated in geology in 1982 .
On his graduation his dad told Jerry, that he can be a wealthy man, if he pursued a career as a geologist, yet he might find it a lonely profession, as he would end up down mines, chipping at rock samples, on an oil rig researching soil core samples, yet if he pursued a career in hospitality, he would always have fun with people. Thankfully the mining and oil industry lost, has become hospitalities gain. Those who have met Jerry across the globe, whether it be at Bentleys oyster bar on Swallow Street, just off Piccadilly in London, in hotels and restaurants across the globe, to his home city of Perth, Western Australia, have all experienced the joy of eating freshly shucked oysters.
Jerry spent 7 years at Bentley’s on Swallow Street, just off Piccadilly London
In Perth, if you ask people on the street who Jerry Fraser is, then ask the name of the city’s mayor, most people would know who Jerry is, yet fail to register the name of the mayor. Jerry is a sponsor of the Breast Council Foundation ball an event he has been associated with for 12 years by contributing his time to the foundation. This years event saw Jerry shuck his way thru 100 dozen oysters.
Perth has an abundance of good restaurants and bars, yet when Jerry is shucking oysters, at a venue, he brings an extra dimension of joie de vivre to the establishment. Jerry is gifted with being a combination of girlfriend, psychiatrist, mate, hairdresser, doctor, tour guide rolled into one to the many people who he’s met over the years. Captains of industry, politicians, musicians, actors, the everyday bloke, sporting personalities have all been part of Jerry’s extended table.
Jerry’s guide to opening and appreciating oysters
A muscle called the adductor is attached both to the shell and to the body of an oyster. This muscle is very strong, that opens and allow the oyster to filter water through the body. If the muscle is weaken, then the oyster dies. There is nothing like an oyster shucked to order as the oyster is alive. Jerry told me an oyster is still alive when he handles it, can be kept fresh for three days, as he doesn’t wash them in fresh water. He told me if an oyster is opened and processed i.e: washed in fresh water, in about 3 hours the oyster will start to oxidise developing a film of slime on the meat. To often when eating oysters in restaurants and hotels the wonderful saltiness or liquor of the oyster is lost from being opened too early. Jerry tools of the trade contains over fifty oyster knives from, which he uses a number of favourites, a yellow rubber sewing thimble to protect his thumb, his trademark black apron.
Jerry recommends a good oyster knife with no hilt, for beginners he suggest using a cloth to cover the oyster when opening, in case the knife slips, some fish mongers us chain mail gloves. To open the oyster the tip of the knife should preferably go into the hinge end where the oyster forms a V and with a sideward movement the hinge is popped, then one can cut the adductor muscle on the top side by guiding the knife along the ceiling of the top of the shell (shuck) then discard the top shell, then gently sever the bottom part of the muscle still attached to the cup shaped part of the oyster, turn the oyster around so the wide part is facing you, while retaining the ocean water, often called the liquor, remove any small shell particles then proceed to slurp from the cup shaped half shell. A freshly shucked oyster should remind you of the ocean.
“ Oyster stress out if air freighted as they have to be packaged in polystyrene boxes and are usually in a sealed plastic bag so not allowing them to breathe. That is why ours are delivered in hessian bags which allows them to breathe and in chiller containers (not too cold as this will freeze the meat) “ Jerry Fraser
Opened oyster after the adductor muscle is cut
Jerry favourite french oyster comes from Mont St Michel the boundary between Normandy and Brittany, other areas include Cancalle- Marenne, Arcachon Bay. In Australia he enjoys oysters from South Australia and Tasmania. Minings lost has proven to be hospitality gain. Jerry we can’t call you a diamond in the rough, yet we can call you a pearl of a man. Thanks for bringing the joys of appreciating a freshly shucked oyster to countless thousands, who now look at bivalves in a different light.
Copywright © Alain H Lee August 2015
Maison AlainH 