Oysters in the shell

Form

In the shell

Typical weight

50–100 g

Typical thickness

20–30 mm

Cut

Not a cut of anything

The cleanest arrangement of anything in the catalogue: the food arrives sealed in a vessel that holds its own liquid, so it goes on the grate cup side down with nothing added and comes off when it has opened. That is a real convenience and it hides a real subtlety, which is that opening means the adductor muscle has let go, not that the flesh has reached any particular state — an oyster that has opened is cooked, and one left on afterwards keeps cooking and shrinks and toughens. Take them as they open rather than waiting for the last one. Balance matters more than it sounds: an oyster that tips loses its liquor to the fire, which is both the loss of the best part and a flare-up. The safety position is the same as for mussels and is the general one for live bivalves — this catalogue holds no oyster-specific duration and states none.

It came out tough

Prawns, scallops, squid, lobster or octopus came out rubbery — 3 distinguishable causes.

Still raw in the middle

Some mussels or oysters did not open — 1 distinguishable cause.

Cooling, keeping and reheating what is left is general guidance for barbecue leftovers. Neither UK authority publishes anything specific to oysters in the shell, and BBQHQ does not invent a distinction they do not make.

• The cooking rates BBQHQ holds for fish are written for 'fish' as a category rather than for this species. Applying them here would be a guess about how this particular fish behaves over fire.

• No institutional publisher has been found giving a grilling duration for this shellfish. The visual cues published here are what the available sources actually support.

What we know we’re missing records what was searched for each of these, and what would settle it.