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.