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Fire Roasted Oysters

oyster roastAn oyster roast is a special thing.

But what exactly is an oyster roast? It’s different from fire roasting oysters.

In coastal America friends gather during the “R” months and shake off a bit of a winter chill over a steaming hot table of oysters.
Nothing fancy.  It’s just oysters (sometimes a bit of grit and mud if you’re really authentic) some hot sauce, saltines, and cocktail sauce.

If you really want to put the “roast” back in YOUR oyster roast read on…

 

Roasting is usually fire, meat and char, right?  You can add the “roasting” back into the cook by preparing your oysters on the half shell first and then add a dollop of specially prepared savory compound butter (recipe below). Shell your oysters being careful to retain as much “liquor” as possible. Loosen the meat and keep in the half shell.

Keep your oysters stable by nestling them on a bed of rock salt (ice cream salt was most readily available) in a large cast iron skillet.  You can try to rest the shells directly on the grate but it may be a balancing act with unevenly shaped shells.

Bonus tips:

roasted oysters
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Fire Roasted Oysters

Using fresh oysters on the half shell (shuck them by inserting the tip of the oyster knife into the joint end of the shell fish and twisting the blade.  Try to keep as much of the briney liquid (also called liquor) in the bottom shell with the loosened oyster meat. Top with a dollop of compound butter and heat shell side down over live fire or coals until edges brown and liquid bubbles.

Ingredients

  • 1 Stick of butter
  • 1 tsp paprika or cayenne
  • 2 cloves of minced garlic
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesian
  • 2 tbls. worchestishire sauce
  • 2 tbls. hot sauce
  • 3 tbls chopped parsley

One dozen raw oysters

Instructions

Mix butter and ingredients other than the oysters in a bowl.  Top each oyster with a tablespoon of butter mixture.  Heat over live flame utilizing coarse salt in a cast iron pan to stabilize. Once sizzling hot top with additional parsley for garnish.

 

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Oyster Months – Oyster Roast Months

Planning an oyster roast? If you need to remember the peak months for oysters and oyster roasts just keep this in mind…

Talk like a pirate!!!

oyster It used to be said that you shouldn’t consume oysters in months without the letter R but due to commercial harvesting and modern refrigeration and other factors it’s just not as big an issue these days unless you’re actually harvesting yourself. Still it’s good to remember that the summer months – that is for most of us watching this episode – are the spawning months for oysters & the meat just isn’t as good – due to how they reproduce the flesh ends up with the a thinner milky texture.

Off season oysters will probably not be as readily available as they will be just due to traditional seasons and when you do find them the price won’t be as good as the R months but don’t be afraid if you see it on a menu in a nice restaurant.

Easy to remember–the Pirates favorite letter is “R” or AAAAhhhhhhrrrrrrrrRRRRR.     Peak months for oysters are September to April when they’re at their best —but for that reason traditional oyster roast are always in colder months they contain the letter “R”– September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April.

In South Carolina the tradition is to steam oysters not really literally “roast” them but steam them on a flat metal pan under wet burlap bags…

Oyster – roast -( the word roast starts with the letter R by the way) the Pirates favorite letter something to remember. for more tips tricks other fun stuff head on over to www.barbecuetricks.com