“It’s not surprising that the Hangtown Fry became a status symbol for those prospectors who had struck it rich.”
n a cold Sunday morning during the California Gold Rush of 1849, a man named Jim Austin was strolling into the Wild West town of Hangtown (now Placerville) when he saw a coyote chase a rabbit into a thicket of
A Wild West Dish Reimagined in Silver Lake
Silver Lake
According to the 1949 book What’s In A Name? a hungry Austin walked into Hangtown’s pretentiously named Restaurant de France and asked, “What’s the most expensive grub you’all got?” Eggs and oysters, the chef replied. “All right, mix me up a dish of both,” Austin said. “I reckon this nugget will pay the bill.”
Back to hub
Next Story
Scroll Down
Presented by
But the Hangtown Fry hasn’t disappeared from California eateries entirely. In 1928, the Los Angeles Times published its own recipe, and it was served in several LA restaurants in the decades after, often with crackers mixed in or creole sauce on the side.
And thus, the Hangtown Fry was born. Austin’s story is one of many legends of the dish, which usually includes equally expensive bacon scrambled in or laid on top. In another version, a condemned man in Hangtown asks for fresh eggs and oysters from the far-off Puget Sound as his final meal, aware that it will take days. As authorities search for the elusive ingredients, he escapes, never to be seen again.
In reality, the dish’s origin story and even when it was created remain murky. According to NorCal historian and writer Ellen Osborn, whose new research into the origin of Hangtown Fry is set for the summer edition of Around Here Magazine, the dish started to be mentioned in earnest by historians around the Gold Rush centennial in the 1930s and ’40s. “Its origin was not noted by contemporary writers,” she says. “The earliest mention I found was connected with the Blue Bell Café [in Placerville], where it was featured on their menu, and that dates back to 1938.”
Whatever the true tale of the Hangtown Fry, all three ingredients were definitely luxuries in the rural Wild West. “Since eggs alone sold for fifty cents in the general store…and bacon and oysters were practically worth their weight in gold, such a meal, cooked and served, might easily run six or seven dollars,” writes food historian Lila Perl in Hunter’s Stew and Hangtown Fry. “It’s not surprising that the Hangtown Fry became a status symbol for those prospectors who had struck it rich.”
According to Osborn, the dish has all but disappeared from restaurants in and around Placerville. “Sadly, I do not know of any restaurant with Hangtown Fry still on the menu,” she says. “That is one reason I wanted to do a story about it, to try to convince at least one of them to offer it.”
To make it at home, she offers up a recipe from Placerville’s Mountain Democrat Newspaper in 1948:
Sauté six strips of bacon. Warm three medium oysters separately then add them to the bacon. Beat four eggs and pour them over the bacon and oysters. Fry the whole business until brown, then turn and serve it to the customer with the bacon and oysters looking at him.
It’s still on the menu at Millie’s Cafe, the iconic Silver Lake breakfast joint that’s served unpretentious food since 1926 to chatty entertainment prospectors searching for their own kind of box-office gold.
Also explore...
More coming soon...
Hank Jenkins Believes in the Power of Plants
Tap to read more
Silver Lake, LA
Sponsored by
Swipe Up
Back to hub
Next Story
More coming soon...
Explore Your Neighborhood
Click here
Explore Your Neighborhood
Click here
Fitting in perfectly with Silver Lake’s pioneering, out-of-the box spirit, Millie’s version of the Hangtown Fry consists of three scrambled eggs with bacon, smoked oysters, onions and bell peppers, sauteed in marsala wine. Order it on DoorDash and taste the salty, briny scramble that once was allegedly worth its weight in gold.
Fitting in perfectly with Silver Lake’s pioneering, out-of-the box spirit, Millie’s version of the Hangtown Fry consists of three scrambled eggs with bacon, smoked oysters, onions and bell peppers, sauteed in marsala wine. Order it on DoorDash and taste the salty, briny scramble that once was allegedly worth its weight in gold.
KATE HOPKINS / CC BY 2.0
Discover Silver Lake’s Hidden Painted Stairways
Tap to read more
Silver Lake, LA
Discover Silver Lake’s Hidden Painted Stairways
Tap to read more
Silver Lake, LA
O
Words by HADLEY MEARES
Photography by ANNIE GREGORY
manzanita trees. Without much to do, he decided to follow the animals and stumbled upon a patch of blood in the January snow. Next to it was a shining stone of pure gold.
n a cold Sunday morning during the California Gold Rush of 1849, a man named Jim Austin was strolling into the Wild West town of Hangtown (now Placerville) when he saw a coyote chase a rabbit into a thicket of manzanita trees. Without much to do, he decided to follow the animals and stumbled upon a patch of blood in the January snow. Next to it was a shining stone of pure gold.