You could wait for a night out to enjoy the briny pleasure of raw oysters, but preparing them yourself at home is easier than you might think. They’re increasingly available online directly from farmers, and they tolerate shipping exceptionally well because they can survive out of water for days as long as they’re kept fridge-cold. And if you have an oyster knife—an inexpensive, thick, dull blade that functions as a lever to pry the shells apart without cutting into them—you can shuck them yourself for a fraction of restaurant prices. (Here are our recommendations for oyster knives.)
The following four-step method makes it simple to shuck raw oysters, and roasting them first, as we do in our recipe for Roasted Oysters on the Half Shell with Mustard Butter, makes shucking even easier.