Rolled oyster is a baseball-sized seafood dish that is found only in and around

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. It consists of three raw oysters dipped in an egg-milk cornmeal batter called ''pastinga'', rolled in cracker crumbs (hence the name), and deep fried. They were first served by Italian immigrant Phillip Mazzoni and his brothers in the late 19th century as a free giveaway to their saloon patrons with a purchased beer or whiskey. It is unknown if rolled oysters were actually invented by the Mazzonis, or if the recipe was brought over from Italy with them. During

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

, Mazzoni's remained open by selling these oysters in their new restaurant and it became a popular food item all over town. Today, most seafood restaurants and fish fries in the Louisville area will have their own version of these on their menus.The Encyclopedia of Louisville , Page 768 Home Run Burgers and Fries had a version that was very popular as well.

References

Kentucky cuisine Oyster dishes American seafood dishes Deep fried foods Cuisine of the Southern United States {{Kentucky-stub

See also

References