“Whatever you do, please do not wash your oysters! If a little shell breaks off into an oyster, remove with a small instrument or tweezers instead of washing. Try to keep as much of the oyster’s natural liquor in the shell as possible. It’s delicious and is one of the things that makes a freshly shucked oyster so good.” – Josh Niland

“Oysters are best freshly shucked. Unopened, they’ll keep refrigerated for 3-5 days; if buying them opened, ask that they be shucked without washing, to retain the delicious juices, and serve the same day.” – Roberta Muir

“Buy pouches of blue mussels, which have at least a week’s shelf-life. Steam them open and serve on the half-shell with a vinaigrette, or with seasoned breadcrumbs finished under a hot grill.” – Roberta Muir

“In my last book, At Home, I had quite a lot of fun writing what I called essays. ‘Fear of Fish’ is an essay about why people don’t like fish and why they bloody well should… There’s a variety of reasons. The first, I think, is that fish is expensive, and people are frightened of not doing it particularly well. Also, I think a lot of people don’t regard fish as particularly interesting. [But] nothing is as exhilarating as fresh fish simply cooked. It doesn’t matter how much you think you don’t like fish; if you get a perfectly fresh fish, cooked well, simply, you’re going to love it.” – Rick Stein

“Diversifying how we cook fish makes for a simpler experience. If you’re going to feed 12 people, the last thing you want to do is buy 12 individual fillets of fish. Try to imagine the beauty of cooking a whole roast pork belly, or a whole lamb shoulder, then apply that thinking to the world of fish. Think, ‘I’ll take that whole side of fish, I’ll grill it, and then take it to the table and show everybody how beautiful it is’. And then everybody can dig in and make a mess of it, and cut their own portion as they go. I think that’s a more fun way of using fish.” – Josh Niland

“Whole fish make a striking centrepiece and are easy to prepare. Rainbow trout have beautiful skin and delicate pink flesh; they’re great value and versatile – perfect for poaching, baking or barbecuing – and one fish serves 1-2 people. Skinned leatherjacket trunks are an excellent introduction to whole fish, as the heads have been removed. Their fillets also lift easily off the bones.” – Roberta Muir

“So we buy whole prawns, king prawns. We obviously use the prime meat for serving the prawns. We then utilise the prawn shells for making butter – a roasted prawn head butter. Which is so tasty and so rich and has so much umami… and you get everything out of the products. Inside a good prawn there’s such a tasty bit of coral in there that you just extract out”. – Jason Staudt

“Almost all prawns are frozen – whether they’re fresh or cooked. They all come frozen because they are normally frozen directly on the boat. Fresh prawns are a bit of a myth – they’re freshly frozen. But you want to stay with the Aussie ones, because they don’t use chemicals to preserve them. So they are the best ones to get.” – Adam D’Sylva

“It denatures the proteins. If you cook a frozen piece and a fresh one, look at how much moisture content gets released, because freezing breaks down the cell walls and releases natural juices. The skin never gets as crispy and it will always taste somewhat flattened.” – Adam Hall

“Should lobster replace ham on the Christmas table in Australia? I think we should seriously consider it. Split and grill with a butter of your choice, or steam and serve cold with a salad of mangoes. We have great lobsters all around Australia, so try to buy local, if you can. South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania are great for spiny lobster, and Western Australia produces a brilliant tropical one.” – Phil Wood

“Green (raw) frozen rock lobster tails are better value than whole rock lobsters and easier to prepare. If you like the appearance of a whole one, baby Western rock lobsters are generally available in December at good prices.” – Roberta Muir

“Look for certain ratings, like GoodFish is a good rating… Buy from smaller producers. And just ask… if someone that is selling something doesn’t actually know, it’s probably not the right product for you to be buying… The knowledge just needs to be there.” – Jason Staudt