Fredrik Linifors will represent England at the World Oyster Opening Championship in Galway after winning the Speed Shucking Oyster Open in a Mayfair final judged by actor Stanley Tucci. The contest tested speed and precision: competitors raced against the clock and faced a panel that deducted points for broken shells, damaged oyster meat and grit.
Sixteen shuckers began in the first round, each tasked with opening twelve giant native oysters. The fastest and cleanest then advanced to a final where they had to open thirty under the same conditions. Linifors, who works at Notting Hill Fish Shop, won by combining steady hands with exacting technique.
Quincy Coulter Young of Rocks Oysters, one of the country’s fastest shuckers, told the crowd that repetition is what made him quick. “The secret is not being scared of stabbing yourself in the hand,” he said, explaining he learned the skill growing up with an uncle who was head chef at Wright Brothers in Borough Market.
Tucci, who joked he had expected a wine tasting, inspected the shucked oysters and sampled them cautiously, using a fork rather than taking them straight from the shell. Around two hundred spectators watched from a tent set up at Bentley’s, the century-old Mayfair restaurant that hosted the event and that serves 10,000 oysters a week.
Richard Corrigan, who bought Bentley’s in 2005 and supervised the contest, said oyster shucking requires charm and strong arms. He warned the work can be hazardous, saying “It’s likely you could absolutely rip your bloody hand off,” and recalled injuring his hand during Bentley’s opening week 22 years ago.
Corrigan used the event to underline a wider point about oysters as an environmental indicator. He described moving his supply away from the Mersea, Colchester area because of proximity to sewage outfalls and now sources oysters from Loch Ryan, the west coast of Ireland and Jersey. He argued that knowing where waters earn blue-flag status matters for the quality of bivalves on restaurant menus.
Linifors’s victory closes this chapter in Mayfair and sets him up to compete for an international title in Galway next weekend, bringing a distinctly British speed-shucking technique to the World Oyster Opening Championship.
