How to eat fish and seafood.

Fish. If fish is served whole, cut off the head. Hold the fish with the fork, slit the fish, from head to tail, with the tip of the knife. Open it out flat, insert the tip of the knife under one end of the backbone and gently lift it out by moving your fork in a twisting motion. Place the backbone on the edge of the plate. Cut the fleshy part of the fish with your knife and fork. (Usually, fish is prepared in this way by the server directly before service.) Remove small bones from your mouth with your thumb and forefinger, and put them on the side of the plate.

Oysters. For clams and oysters on the half shell, hold the shell with your hand and use an oyster fork to remove the whole clam or oyster. Dip it into cocktail sauce with the fork and eat in one mouthful. It is suitable to pick up the shell and drain the juice into your mouth.

Lobsters and crabs. Lobsters and hard-shelled crabs can be difficult to eat. The

claws should be cracked in the kitchen so that you don’t have to crack them at the table. Use your fingers to put apart the claw shells and extract the meat. You can use a nut pick or oyster fork to do this. Then, dip the meat into butter or sauce, and pop it into your mouth. Put the small claws from the body with the fingers and place the open ends between the teeth so that the meat and juice can be sucked out. The larger meat portions from the lobster tail should be cut with a knife and dipped and eaten with a fork. Crab is eaten in a similar manner.

Mussels. Pickled or smoked mussels are served and eaten with toothpicks.

Otherwise, mussels are eaten from the shell. Hick up the mussel, place the shell tip

in the mouth, and suck out the mussel and the juice. Place the empty shell on an empty plate or butter dish.

  Shrimps. If the shrimp in an individual cocktail is too large to eat in one mouthful, bite off a manageable piece from the seafood fork. Then, dip the remaining portion,  and eat it. When shrimp is served as a finger food at a buffet, it is, of course, not permissible to dip a bitten shrimp into a bowl of sauce to be used by others.

Caviar. Caviar is usually served in a small bowl over ice, with a spoon put in it. Take a small spoonful and place it on your plate. Then take one or two pieces of toast and put them on your plate. Use a knife to put the caviar on the toast, and serve yourself whatever type of garnish you like, such as crumbled hard-boiled egg or grated onions.

Vocabulary

slit                                                     сделать длинный разрез

tail                                                     хвост

insert                                                вставлять

twisting motion                                вращательное движение

backbone                                          хребет

gently                                           аккуратно

thumb                                      большой палец руки

forefinger                                         указательный палец

clam                                                  съедобный морской моллюск

shell                                                  твёрдая оболочка (раковина, скорлупа)

eat in one mouthful                    съесть за раз

drain                                            вылить (освободить от жидкости)

claw                                              клешня

crack                                                расколоть, колоть                                                   

pull apart                                         отделить

extract                                              извлекать

suck out                                            высасывать

in a similar manner                    подобным образом                                     

permissible                                       разрешённый                                                                      

crumble                                            крошить

grate                                                 тереть на тёрке

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