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Roast Oysters in the Shell
Select large oysters; wash and wipe them; place with the upper shell down in order to catch the juice over the hot coals. When they open their shells, remove the shallow one; save the juice in the other; place both oysters and shells on a hot dish-send while hot to the table, allowing each person to season with butter and pepper to suit the taste.
This is grilling, not roasting in the modern sense: the oysters cook in their own liquor over direct heat until the shells gape. Almost everything depends on which way up they sit.
- Which shell downAn oyster has one deep cupped shell and one flat shallow one. Set them cupped side down so the liquor pools rather than hissing into the fire; the flat shell is the "shallow one" you lift off after they open. The original's phrasing is confusing, but the intent is clear from the instruction to catch the juice.
- Heat and time"Hot coals" means a bed burned down to grey ash with no flame. Large oysters generally gape in 3 to 6 minutes; a gas grill on high, lid closed, does much the same. Once open they are done, and another few minutes shrinks them to erasers.
- Any that stay shutDiscard oysters that refuse to open, and any that were already gaping and unresponsive before cooking. A live oyster clamps tight when tapped.
- PreparationScrub the shells under cold running water with a stiff brush rather than just wiping; grit on the outside ends up in the liquor when you lift the top shell. Keep them cold, in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, never sealed in water or plastic.
- Steadying themA shallow bed of coarse salt or crumpled foil on the grate keeps the cups upright and stops them tipping their liquor. Long tongs and a folded towel are needed for lifting; the shells come off searingly hot.
- Seasoning at tableThe recipe leaves seasoning to each diner: butter and pepper. Have the butter already at room temperature so it melts into the hot liquor instead of cooling the oyster.
- YieldThe recipe gives none. Reckon six large oysters per person as a first course, a dozen as a light main, and cook in batches so each round reaches the table hot.
- Who should skip themOysters cooked only until the shell parts are barely heated through. Anyone pregnant, immunocompromised, or with liver disease should avoid lightly cooked shellfish entirely.
Roasting oysters in the shell over an open fire is one of the oldest ways of eating them and needs no equipment beyond the fire itself. Nineteenth-century oyster cellars and seaside "roasts" worked exactly this way, and the practice persists in the Chesapeake and Lowcountry oyster roasts still held every winter. The confident tone here reflects how cheap and abundant oysters once were: eastern beds supplied them by the barrel to inland cities by rail, and a cook could assume large oysters in quantity for a family supper. The habit of letting each person season their own with butter and pepper marks this as informal eating, closer to a communal table than to more elaborate preparations.