Marco Pinchot is the executive director of the Nisqually Community Forest. He was previously the director of brand marketing for Taylor Shellfish Farms.

Marco Pinchot

As anyone in the oyster game will tell you, <a href="https://www.taylorshellfishfarms.com/">Taylor Shellfish Farms</a> raises some of the best bivalves in the biz. Around since the 1890s, the company is known for innovation and excellence—and the crew can throw a pretty epic party too. Taylor’s Marco Pinchot has spent years at the company ensuring it operates at the highest standard of sustainability, and he’s picked up some pretty sweet shucking skills along the way. So while we have our <a href="/guides-tools/tips-tricks-quick-easy-way-to-shuck-a-bunch-of-oysters">own quick tricks</a> for cracking into kumamotos and Kusshis, we enlisted him to walk us through the pro technique he teaches to guests of both the oyster beds and the high-end restaurants that stock up on Taylor’s one-of-a-kind offerings. Whether you source your oysters from the left coast or right, his unassailable approach will serve you well next time you snag a few dozen freshies to suck down with Champagne.*OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS: A Series from ChefSteps

At ChefSteps, we love to cook. And we love to share our top tips and techniques with you. But we’re not the boss of everything, and we learn from our friends and colleagues every day. That’s why we created Other People’s Ideas, a new series starring our favorite subject experts. These talented folks are here to help you tackle everything from <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/how-to-make-shanghai-soup-dumplings-with-andrea-nguyen">soup dumplings</a> to <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/how-to-make-pro-pizza-at-home-with-joe-heffernan-of-independent-pizzeria">pizza pie</a>—and have a ton of fun along the way. You down with OPI? Yeah you are. Let’s do this.*

How to Shuck Oysters Like a Pro, With Marco Pinchot of Taylor Shellfish