The Hangtown Fry - A Gold Rush Classic, and the Perfect Before Execution Snack!

During the California gold rush, legend has it, a miner who had just struck it rich, walked into a restaurant in Placerville (known then as "Hangtown") and demanded the most expensive breakfast possible. The cook fried together the three priciest ingredients at the time; bacon, eggs and fresh oysters. This delicious and decadent breakfast became known as the Hangtown fry, which is the subject of this video recipe.

Another interesting historical angle to this dish was its popularity as a "last meal" request among those unfortunate souls awaiting a walk to the gallows. Since it often took a few days to procure all three of those ingredients, the condemned man could stall his inevitable fate. Maybe is gang could think of a way to bust him out, and he could brag from that point on how his life was saved by a scrambled egg recipe.

By the way, the original recipe had the raw oysters cooked right into the eggs, but this modernized versions places fried oysters on top of the eggs for a more "fancified" plate. Enjoy!
Click here for ingredients and transcript

Share this post