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If you’re hosting a big seafood dinner, cleanup can be a nightmare. To make it easy, put down a layer of trash bags or plastic sheeting over the table, then cover that with two or three layers of newspaper. After dinner, simply roll everything up and throw it away. Just make sure your trash cans have tight-fitting lids, otherwise you’ll wake to find that seagulls, raccoons, and any number of nocturnal critters have turned your driveway into an all-night buffet.

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Really fresh fish should be served as simply as possible. You won’t need tartar sauce or other condiments to cover up the flavor.

Boiled shrimp are great with cocktail sauce. If you don’t have bottled sauce, you can make your own by mixing ketchup and horseradish. This is the best way to go if you like spicy foods, since you can make the sauce as hot as you like.

Scallops have such a great sweet and briny flavor, you don’t need to add anything to them.

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Serve up steamed clams with the clam broth and drawn butter. Don’t even think of skimming those delicious milk fats off the top of the butter, as that is where all the great flavor comes from.

Oysters should be served on a plate of crushed ice. If you’re an oyster novice, recognize that these slimy little guys are not really meant to be chewed, just swallowed whole (though if the oysters are very large, rest assured that chewing is, of course, preferable to asphyxiation). You can add a dab of cocktail sauce to each one, then just pick them up, shell and all, hold the edge to your mouth, and slide them down.

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Another option is to make oyster shooters: Drop an oyster into a shot glass, then top with a dash of Tabasco sauce and a splash of vodka.

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Serve up a whole lobster per person, with plenty of melted butter for dipping. To eat the lobster, break off the claws and crack them with a mallet just below the joint of the claw itself. You can also get at the knuckle meat with a mallet. Break off all the legs and line them up next to one another. With a beer bottle or rolling pin, roll over the legs firmly from the thin ends to the thick. Little rods of meat should be forced out the end. Break off the tail where it meets the body. Then snap off all the flat flippers at the very end. Use your thumb to push up into the tail and force all the tail meat out the other end.

Now, inside the body you’ve got this green glop, known as “tomalley,” which is the only no mandatory part of the lobster. It’s actually the internal organs of the lobster. It is edible, and some people consider it a delicacy, but I’ll leave that for you to decide.

Cheers, to your next seafood affair!