Char-Boiled, Roasted Oysters

It was a combination of two regional cooking methods.

South Carolina has developed its form of oyster cookery in the form of an oyster roast.  A fire is built and coals are made to be hot.  Placing sheet metal above the fire on cinder blocks, allows the metal to get pretty hot.  Once it is hot enough, the oysters are thrown on and covered with damp burlap sacks.  The oyster steam, or "roast", in their own liquid until opening, similar to cooking mussels.  Once opened, the bi-valves are dipped into butter.

A New Orleans foundation  restaurant, named Drago's, has been serving up charbroiled oysters for as long back as I can remember.  Walking into the location, you are immediately met with the smell of butter hitting an open flame misted with sea water.  Oyster are placed on the grill with some garlic butter, and sprinkled with cheese.  As the butter melts over the sides, the fat makes the flame ignite and surge around the oysters.  The butter combines with the oyster liquor to poach the little morsels into a bubbling delight in need of some Champagne.

Buy a sack of oyster, keeping in mind that oysters harbor the terroir of the sea, and will taste uniquely different from different water spaces.  Crank the grill on high, and let roll for thirty minutes, until extremely hot.  Make the butter.  Combine room temperature butter with fresh thyme, asiago cheese, lemon zest, splash of white wine, and some sea salt.  Eat one of the oysters raw, to gauge the salinity and factor it in to the seasoning of the butter.  Place the oysters on the grill, and cook until they open.  As they open, pull them from the fire with a set of tongs, between the lips.  Pull the top shell away and let rest off the grill.  Top the oyster with butter, and put back on the flame.  Be careful, as the oyster shell shrapnel can be loud and abrasive, it't hot.  Be careful.  Once the butter is bubbling, in a minute or two, remove and serve with forks.