The King of Oysters (and beers)

Stephen and I were out a few days ago and found some beautiful single oysters.  I took a few home for dinner, but ended up going up to McClellanville instead.  I was still a little hungry when I got home, so I opened a beer, ate a few raw, and then had my own personal oyster roast in the oven.  I will honestly, any time, put these oysters up against any other in the world; they are second to none!

We generally say that one bushel will feed between four and six people depending on what other food you are serving.  For example, if you are having 40 people to your roast and are also serving chili and hot dogs, I would order six or seven bushels of oysters.  If you are having 40 people to your roast and are serving nothing besides oysters, I would order 10 bushels.

One of my favorite things to hear people say, and I hear it a lot, is “I can eat a bushel all by myself”.  I have yet to see this happen, and I have issued the challenge way more than once or twice.  There is a man, though, John Ebersole, who is a good friend of my parents and an ex-linebacker for the New York Jets.  He loves oysters more than anything in the world and I believe he could maybe do it.  More on that later.

I’m not sure what variety of oysters they were, but they were smaller singles that were nice and salty, similar in flavor, actually, to Bull’s Bay Oysters.  I found a vendor and ate all I possibly could pretty much everyday for a couple of months.  They’re very easy to prepare, you just need to like ‘em raw.  On a side note, I was told to avoid raw shellfish in Mexico, but I never had a problem.  Here, we deliver them as fresh as could be, so no worries!  Prepare as follows:

• Fresh Bull’s Bay Oysters
• Whole Lime
• Hot Sauce

All you do to prepare is shuck the oysters and leave on the half shell, severing the muscle holding the oyster to the shell.  Let the oyster sit in the more “cupped” half of the shell.  Squeeze half of a lime into the shell, then fill it the rest of the way up with hot sauce of your choosing.  Slurp it down.  Accompany with a cold Negro Modelo.  Buen provecho amigos!

• bull’s bay oysters
• cake pan
• oven

All you do is set the oven at 425, put the oysters one layer deep in the cookie pan, and put ‘em in the oven.  The only tricky part is how long to cook them.  Generally you will check them in 7 minutes or so, and continue to do so until the shells pop open.  I, however, like them just before the shell pops open when they’re still juicy.  Some people like to cook the snot out of them.  Personal preference…  Enjoy!