Outspoken chef Anthony Bourdain once referred to this dish as an “abomination” on his travel food show “No Reservations,” which aired its last episode on the Travel Channel in November 2012, but I think it sounds pretty heavenly, don’t you?
The Hangtown Fry was concocted during the Gold Rush in the 1800s in Placerville, California, (formerly Hangtown) when a prospector walked into the El Dorado hotel after he unearthed enough gold nuggets to set him up for life and asked the cook to serve him the most expensive meal on the menu.
The cook recited the priciest, most indulgent ingredients on the menu to the nouveau rich gentlemen — eggs, bacon and oysters. The ingredients were near impossible to retrieve because they had to be shipped from far away. The prospector then said with glee, “Scramble me up a whole mess of eggs and
oysters, throw in some bacon and serve’em up. I’m
starving. I’ve lived on nothing much more than canned beans since I got to
California, and at last I can afford a real meal.”
There you have it, the birth of the Hangtown Fry. Don’t you love it when a dish comes with it’s own legend?
Hangtown Fry
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
¼ cup flour
7 eggs
½ cup bread crumbs
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
4 strips cooked bacon, crumbled
2 scallions, thinly sliced
Hot sauce, for serving
Instructions
Pat oysters dry, and season with salt
and pepper; set aside. Put flour, 1 beaten egg, and bread crumbs in 3 separate
bowls. Dip each oyster in flour, then egg, then crumbs; place on a floured
plate. Heat butter in a 12″ nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add
oysters; fry, flipping once, until golden brown, 6–8 minutes. Whisk remaining
eggs in a bowl; season with salt and pepper. Add eggs to pan with half the
bacon and scallions. Cook until eggs are just set, about 3 minutes. Smooth over
top; cover, and cook until top is set, about 5 minutes. Transfer omelette to a
plate, and garnish with remaining bacon and scallions
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