MOF

No, Pink Slip Gourmet is not becoming R rated.  MOF is not a vulgar abbreviation although the initials could be misconstrued as such.  Instead, it stands for Meilleur Ouvrier de France, which literally translates to Best Worker of France.  Best Craftsman is somewhat of a better translation, though.  Anyway, it is NOT easy to become a MOF, especially in the culinary realm.  The competition is very stiff and the judges are non-forgiving. I mean, they are French, right?  They certainly can't be understanding and personable. So, when you see a Chef walking around school or in a restaurant with the red, white and blue distinction around his neck, you are at the very least impressed.  Quite frankly, I stand still in awe when I see one. 

That being said, it was quite a surprise to me bright and early on Wednesday morning (after a night at the baby bottle fondue place) to have a MOF standing at the head of the kitchen when I arrived.  He was there to teach us how to shuck oysters and other various shellfish.  I'll just say this:  the man is a shellfish shucking machine.  I have never seen anything like it.

Demonstrating the oyster.

My turn to try.

After a few failed attempts...success!

Kyoko's not so sure about the oyster she just put in her mouth a 8:30 am.

On to scallops.

He showed us how to slowly open it so as to not puncture the scallop itself. 

My turn.  This one was not as hard as the oyster to open, but definitely was more time consuming to extract from the shell because of all the excess "goods" in the shell that aren't needed.  Any by "goods" I am referring to the hermaphrodite section of the scallop as well as its two beards.

We then moved on to tiny clams.

They are so tiny it's hard to get a good grip when opening them.

Time to taste the baby clams.

Moving on to humongous mussels. (P.S. the guy on the left with the medal around his neck is a MAF: best apprentice in France).

Mussels galore.

Sea Urchins were last.

And I must admit that despite their appearance, they are quite tasty.