Padded Oysters

Rachel Rappaport

Padded oysters (also occasionally called "patted" oysters) get their name both from the method--coating the oysters in crumbs-- and the practice of binding two oysters together in a single patty. It's a bit of an old fashioned technique but you still see it on the menus of more homey seafood joints in the DelMarVa. A few churches in the Baltimore area still hold padded oyster fundraisers in the fall. The oysters sold at Sterling's were most often padded unless you lucked out and got one giant oyster.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

• 1- pint oysters in liquid
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups cracker crumbs I hand-crushed saltines
• freshly ground black pepper
• canola oil for frying

Instructions

 

• Pour the oysters in a colander or sieve placed inside a bowl. Place the bowl with the draining oysters in the refrigerator one hour. Place the strained oysters in a bowl. Set aside.
• In a shallow bowl, beat together the eggs and 2 1/2 teaspoons of the oyster liquor (the liquid from the jar of oysters). Set aside.
• Whisk together the breadcrumbs and pepper in a small bowl.
• Meanwhile, heat 1 1/2 inches of canola oil in a large skillet.
• Dip two oysters in the egg mixture. Sprinkle some seasoned bread crumbs in your hand. Place the oysters side by side in your hand over the bread crumbs. Pat more bread crumbs on to the top to fully coat. Set the oysters down on a pattern. Repeat for remaining oysters.
• Fry in oil, about 2 minutes on each side, unti

My thoughts:

When I first moved to Remington, my grandpop who was born in 1914 and grew up in Pigtown back when Pigtown got its name thanks to the pigs running from the trainyards through the streets heading towards the processing plants, came to visit. He pointed out that on the end of my street, Miles Ave, there was a take out seafood place, Sterling’s, that he had gone to back when he was a traveling rug cleaner decades before I was born. He said I should try the oysters. Of course, I did and it became a favorite place for take out. The staff was a bunch of characters and the food was always freshly fried and delicious. I loved getting a platter of oysters, coleslaw and potato salad. Sterling’s is unfortunately gone due to the aging of the owners and the unwillingness of anyone to take over to keep it open. Luckily I was able to re-create the oysters of my memories here.

My recipe and story first appeared in a community cookbook project by Aden Weisel called Potluck: Remington.

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