This weekend the ladies of Phi Mu here at College of Charleston hosted an oyster roast to benefit the Children's Miracle Network Hospital, and I was excited to go for a good cause and good food!
It was a great event, with a DJ, a photo booth and awesome burgers, hot dogs and mac and cheese. Though what I couldn't wait for, unsurprisingly, were the steamed oysters, spread out on a table and ready to shuck and eat standing right there.
In case y'all can't tell, I'm a sucker for oysters. Fried, steamed, baked, I'll eat them, so this event was the highlight of my week, especially since I got to try a new local concoction at the same time. Right before I walked over to the roast with my roommate, I dragged her into Caviar and Banana's to pick up a bottle of Red Clay Hot Sauce to bring with us.
You read that right! I brought my own bottle of hot sauce to an oyster roast. Ridiculous? Maybe, but is it really ridiculous if it's in the name of good food? I didn't think so. This particular brand was developed by Geoff Rhyne, the sous chef at Leon's Fine Poultry & Oyster Shop here in Charleston which opened this past spring in a refurbished garage on upper King. The sauce is made with fresno peppers, a medium heat pepper that looks similar to a jalapeno but is a bright red when fully ripe and ready to use. Mix these with white wine vinegar and salt and you've got a pretty standard recipe for a sauce that can be used everyday. So what makes this one stand out? Unlike dear old Texas Pete or Frank's, this one is aged in used whisky barrels from High Wire Distilling Co. The flavor is slightly sweeter than you might expect from a hot sauce, but also has a mellow, tangy aspect to it that makes it a perfect match for those briny steamed oysters, scrambled eggs, or a good barbecue sandwich. It's a great everyday hot sauce, with no gimmicks and no insane heat that makes it impossible to actually enjoy the flavor.
In the Post and Courier article that inspired me to go and try this stuff out for myself, Rhyne explained that the sauce was originally developed for The Ordinary, and that he knew it was a hit when staff politely had to ask customers not to steal the bottles of it from the tables. Today, it's still served as one of three hot sauces made in house for the raw bar at The Ordinary, as well as on the tables at Leon's. Caviar and Bananas is the only retail location downtown, but I have a feeling that won't last long. This stuff deserves a spot on the shelf right next to the staples that any spicy-food lover already keeps, and I know that when I go back to C&B to replace this bottle, I'll have a response when the cashier asks me if this stuff is as good as everyone keeps saying. Wholeheartedly, yes it is.
