By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MARCH 11, 2025 | The flowering trees are blooming, the weather’s getting warmer, and March has an “R” in it. It’s a great time for an oyster roast.
The succulent mollusk from the sea is enjoyed raw by some, while others enjoy its stew. But we prefer the roasted oyster, complete with cocktail sauce with plenty of horseradish and a squirt of lemon, soda crackers, and Rolling Rock beer. Mighty tasty!
An oyster roast is not a passive activity. You have to work to open the oysters when they are raw. Once a person has popped the shell open, you pry open the shell to get to the meat.
When in south Georgia, we attended our first oyster roast given by the men of an Episcopal church at the Georgia Forestry Services grounds on a ten degree night in December. Oysters won’t spoil in weather like that. Our first roast in Gwinnett was back in 1975, and we’ve been to an oyster roast here every year since.
An oyster roast is fairly simple to put on. All you need is a sheet of metal, eight cement blocks, three bags of charcoal, and plenty of wood to keep a hot fire going. Add to it croaker (feed) sacks, a couple of flat shovels, a five gallon bucket and a water hose to spray the oysters. You are set to begin. Hint: be sure to have arranged the cooking area so that the water runs off the hot metal sloping away from you.
We’ve used a 4×8 foot sheet of quarter-inch steel to spread the oysters for cooking. But you can use a smaller sheet, or even a piece of old tin. Place the blocks where the corners of the metal will sit. Out the charcoal bags between the blocks, slice open the bags, spray on the lighter fluid, and set the fire. Do this about 1.5 hours before the roast is to begin. You want the coals to be thoroughly gray before you start cooking.
About 15 minutes before cooking, put the cold metal sheet above the fire. But first, throw plenty of firewood on the gray charcoal and get a hot fire going quickly.
Now is the time to take a bushel of oysters, dump them onto the hot metal, and spread them out. Have your croaker sacks already dripping with water and seal them over the oysters. Immediately start spraying the croaker sacks to keep from burning. Meanwhile, the oysters steam themselves under the cover of the sacks. Keep spraying the sack to keep them wet.
After 12 minutes, use a shovel to uncover one sack and check the oysters. If most of them have popped open slightly, they are done. If not, cover and cook two minutes more before checking again. The cooking time primarily depends on how hot the fire is, and if the wind is blowing.
Once done, lift the sacks, scoop oysters into five-gallon buckets and rush to the tables where guests are waiting. Then load more oysters and cook more, until the guests have had enough.
Tell all coming to wear older clothes, for opening oysters can be sloppy.
- WARNING: Suggest each guest bring an old leather left-handed glove (unless they are right-handed, etc., the opposite). That’s to protect the hand when handling and opening the oysters. We saw one former Gwinnett police chief put a sharp knife through his unprotected left hand once!
Keep cooking, slurping and enjoying nature’ s most difficult item to enjoy from the ocean. Thank goodness for the months with “R’s.”
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