Posted on 04/10/2025 4:39:52 PM PDT by nickcarraway
This is one sweet and salty combo that we'd never imagined.
Stacey Leasca is an award-winning journalist with nearly two decades of newsroom experience. She is also the co-founder of Be a Travel Writer, an online course for the next generation of travel journalists.
Longer days and shorter nights are finally here, and the warmer weather is creeping in. Yes, my winter-weary friends, summer is just around the corner. And with all the campfires we'll enjoy once we can actually sit outside, s'more season will have finally arrived.
But this year, rather than biting into the traditional combination of marshmallow, Hershey's milk chocolate, and graham cracker, one seafood spot wants you try something new.
Fleet Landing, a seafood restaurant and raw bar in Charleston, South Carolina, recently launched its new Sm’oyster, which it calls a "bold and unexpected take on the classic s’more experience." As the name implies, the dessert includes a roasted oyster topped with chocolate, toasted marshmallow, and graham cracker crumble.
16 Oyster Recipes From Rockefeller to Chowder Although it's safe to say oyster s'mores aren't trending online yet, users on social media have been experimenting with savory s'mores recently. The snack typically involves toasting cheese over a fire, then sandwiching it with crackers and charcuterie.
This isn't the first time Fleet Landing has tested a sweet shellfish creation. Chef Lucas Hanagriff, the raw bar manager of the restaurant, tells Food & Wine that "in thinking about what we could do special or different, the thought of a dessert oyster crept in. I had never seen or heard of such a concept in my limited oyster eating and research." He explains that earlier this year, he was inspired by an unexpected treat: Girl Scout Cookies.
"A certain chocolate and mint cookie was left in my presence after hours, and while I enjoyed one staring at oyster shells, I wondered what a salty version would be like," he jokes. "This led to our first dessert oyster: an oyster topped with crushed chocolate and mint cookie and vanilla bean whipped cream (or ice cream). It was nice to enjoy, but I felt like something was missing."
Hanagriff notes that his team gets "plenty of requests" for baked oysters Rockefeller. However, working at a raw bar with no oven makes this a difficult request to fulfill. Still, it got his wheels turning, and he thought, "What if we had a torch, like for crème brûlée, that we could use on an oyster? Smoked oysters are done aplenty, so we passed on that option. Well, the wheels continued to turn, and as we had previously played with a dessert oyster, the following thoughts led to torching a marshmallow or something similar."
And this quickly led the team to s'mores.
"I started to envision brûléeing the fluff in front of the guest, to bring a more unique level of service to such a small plate. As it turns out, the smells generated from roasting the marshmallow tend to take the guest on a tour that gets them smiling before they even enjoy the oyster," he shares.
If you're skeptical about what this tastes like, Hanagriff says it's similar to a saltier s'more. And as anyone who's ever tried salted chocolate will tell you, adding an unexpected touch of salinity can be incredibly delicious.
"Much like salted caramel, the flavors work well together. We don’t use a regular marshmallow. We make a fluff from sugar, honey, and egg whites. The use of honey really helps bring out some flavors shared with the graham cracker, which are enriched in the torching process."
At first, Hanagriff says, most people look at the staff like they "have two heads when we tell them we have a dessert oyster to offer." He notes that this is fair considering he's never seen a dessert oyster on a menu either. But according to the oyster expert, the most common response from those who do try the treat is usually, “Why does that work?!”
How to Pair Oysters and Cocktails If the sweet side of shellfish isn't quite your thing, you'll find plenty of other oyster innovations at Fleet Landing. The restaurant offers a secret menu — which we have some rare insight into — that includes options like a caprese-style oyster, a coastal martini oyster topped with cucumber, mint, and gin, and even a Buffalo oyster with candied bacon, Buffalo sauce, wildflower hot honey, and a sliver of celery as a garnish. If you're interested in trying items on the secret menu, just talk to your server while visiting the restaurant.
The restaurant loves to come up with creative new ways to serve this ingredient, because it's still all about the oyster. As Hanagriff says, "God and mother nature already made the oyster perfect, so we like to try and take that greatness to another level."
Love oysters fried ... can tolerate roasted. No raw or as a sweet dessert.
Let me try to explain to you about unclean foods. We live in a world that was prepared for us. Every creature that exists is for us to use for our benefit.
However, not all things can be eaten by us as they have other purposes or are foods for creatures that are meant for us to eat.
For example, if I were a 5 star Michelin chef and I prepared a bowl of viruses and bacteria that was made to perfection, would you eat it. I assure you that it would be delicious? What about black flies and their larvae form? A little marination in red wine and smoked in a hickory oven. Would you eat my preparations? Probably not.
You recognize in principle that there are foods that a human should not eat. However, those foods were still prepared for some other creature to eat. Those foods, for other creatures can be eaten by them without harm and the bad things about those foods filtered out by other animals and good nutrition is absorbed. Then those animals that eat black flies are then eaten by another creature who does the same thing. This process goes on until an animal that we are supposed to eat has been prepared for us to consume it. Oysters clean the ocean. It absorbs a lot of poison the process. However, the animals that eat the oyster is either fit for us to eat or they are eaten by an animal that is fit for us to eat.
So the animals we can eaten are representative of bugs and bacteria and oysters that have gone through mother nature’s filtering system.
Totally AGREE
I don’t know about you, but I don’t eat raw meat or raw fish.
Cooking to the proper temperature kills bacteria, so I tend to overcook a little to make sure. I tried a cooked oyster many years ago but didn’t care for the taste or the texture. I am aghast that anyone would deliberately consume raw oysters.
I do gamble with chocolate chip cookie dough and cake mix bowl
and beater cleaning. So far, I have never been zapped by a small amount of raw egg in those two instances.
On the Eastern Shore of Maryland there were huge shell piles left by the indians. I remember roads paved with crushed shells.
You’re on! I could go for some etouffee and beignets, too, me.
Better check the weather down there first, though:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahh8ctxlr2I
You reminded me of a New Orleans story.
Was sitting on a balcony on bourbon street at a restaurant no longer around called, I wanna say Seaport, or something similar.
The owner was a creole woman in her 80’s.
Ordered the sampler, included jambalaya, etoufee, fried catfish, red beans and other stuff. Drinks were being consumed.
About halfway through dinner, a bunch of people came out the drag bar across the street.
A fight was happening.
We continued our dinner watching a Cher impersonator and someone that looked like Divine start slapping the hell out of each other.
Dinner, and a free show!
Mais la! Great NOLA story! I love it.
Drinks are always being consumed in Louisiana comme ca, bruh. Lots of free shows, too.
Wish I could get over this hankering for an oyster PO Boy. It just won’t go away.
starvation is a great motivator
I hate regular s’mores, and the cutesy name just makes them complete insufferable. This is three clicks below that level
🤢
If you thought a food was great, but it had a cutesie name, would you not eat it?
I like S’mores, once in a rare while; however, this DISGUSTING, STOMACH TURNING variation is the pits!As far as I’m concerned, it’s INSTANT GARBAGE, should anyone have the temerity to ever attempt to serve me such a thing.
Commercial, as opposed to high quality made by a confectioner, marshmallow in disgusting and inedible. I don’t like the cutesy names a lot of fast food items are given, I do eat them, but I know of no high quality food that has a cutesy name
Foie gras? Bird’s nest soup?
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