Month: January 2010

   Aw shucks, everybody's gettin' steamed up over big batches of bursting bivalves again this month. It's the 27th annual Lowcountry Oyster Festival, Sunday January 31st at Boone Hall Plantation, hosted by the Greater Charleston Restaurant Association. If you haven't been to one of these, it's a merry mob of thousands who descend on the marshfront areas of Boone Hall, where hundreds of tables are set up, and the steamed oysters(65,000 pounds give or take a shell or two) keep comin' for hours.

  Gates open at 9am and it's $12 per person – children under 12 free – at the gate, but you can pre-purchase tickets from any Association member restaurant for $10 prior to the event. No pets or coolers, but you can buy beer and wine and bark or howl all you want as the savory slivers of salty oyster slide from the gaping shells. It's also advisable to bring gloves and oysters knives, which can also be purchased at the event, although a personal recommendation is a screwdriver(not the drink), becuase the best oyster-opening wedge is one that is flat, and strong.

A long-standing New Year's Day tradition in Charleston is a meal with localy-grown collard greens, which is legendary as a symbol of potential wealth and good fortune.  Another January 1st favorite is Hoppin' John, which is an Anglicization of the French "pois pigeons", meaning pigeon peas, when mixed with rice makes this dish delish. Winter also signals oyster roast season across the coastal plain, with single and clusters of the tasty shellfish being steamed for a singularly-satisfying slurp from the half-shell. Most oysters eaten at outdoor roasts are actually steamed, prepared as simply as throwing a flat pan over an open fire and covering oysters with a wet croaker sack until they pop open.