Lowcountry Cuisine Spring/Summer 2019

lowcountry cuisine LC 21 www.LowcountryCuisineMag.com | www.CharlestonRecipes.com All Year Long O ur host was running late, so we decided to pitch in and help get ready for the evening’s festivities. Cold beverages in hand, we stoked the fire and made sure there were plenty of coals for cooking. We cleared off the sheet of plywood atop a pair of rickety sawhorses and laid out some hardware store oyster knives, cotton gloves, a roll of paper towels, a sleeve or two of saltine crackers and a bowl of homemade cocktail sauce filled with a heavy-handed portion of horseradish. The veterans in the crowd had their own knives – usually monogrammed and past groomsmen’s gifts procured from a local downtown jewelry store. Someone grabbed a garden hose and proceeded to wet down the burlap sacks holding the oysters. The piece of sheet metal that lay across the fire pit was smoking and burning off any impurities. One of our crew searched the yard for a container to hold water, which would later be used to keep a large piece of old burlap wet as it lay over the half-bushel of oysters that would soon be roasting on the makeshift cooktop. The gray clusters of oysters were dumped on top of that old sheet metal with a loud sizzling sound and a giant puff of steam rising into the cold night air. The wet burlap was placed over the top to trap in the heat and help steam the shellfish open. We all stood around the fire awaiting the arrival of our friend, but, more importantly, the first shovel-load of salty Lowcountry goodness onto that plywood table. It was the dead of winter in South Carolina, and the long-anticipated oyster season was in full swing. After all, it was a month with an “r.” The Lowcountry’s “white boot warriors” have been harvesting wild oysters for years. Oystering is a backbreaking and laborious job that is not for the faint of heart. Like anything else, oyster harvesting has evolved over time. The increased demand for oysters 12 months of the year, along with advances in technology and technique, have made it possible for oysters to be available anytime of the year. The days of traditional wild oyster farming – which are subject to the tides, temperature and environmental conditions – are not over but greatly BY MICHAEL COCHRAN Oysters Photos courtesy of Lowcountry Oyster Company. Lowcountry Oyster Company’s Trey McMillan.