Subject: Re: Hangtown Fry

From: [email-masked] (Bruce R. Fortnum)
Date: 03 Feb 1995 15:31:40 GMT

>From  a San Francisco bill of fare around 1850:

Grimalkin steaks       25 cents

Bow Wow soup            12 cents

Stew ratified                 6 cents

The stew seems overpriced.  But perhaps the portions were large.

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From: [email-masked] (Bruce R. Fortnum)
Date: 26 Feb 1995 14:55:55 GMT

Hangtown, California?  Never heard of it.

Here's the way I heard ti:

Peter Parker, from Stepney Green, was one of thousands who streamed into San
Francisco after gold was discovered in nearby Sacramento.  Population soared
from  800 in 1848 to 25,000 in 1849.

The United States has just finished winning a war with Mexico and changed the
name of Yerba Buena to San Francisco.  Adventurers, renegades, rounders and
misfits from around the world came seeking their fortune in the gold rush and
Peter Parker was one of these.

He took a look a the competition and slim pickings left in prospecting and
mining, the odds of making a find, then opened a saloon instead.  He called
all females 'Missy' and all males 'Billy' .  It saved him from remembering
names which he was not good at.

His saloon was at Pacific Avenue and Kearney Street, smack dab in the middle
of a district called the Barbary Coast, named after a notorious pirate centre
on the North African coast.  It rivalled Shanghai, Rio and Hong Kong for
style and ambience.

Lounging semi-naked ladies and lots of mirrors were part of his saloon decor
but the drinks were honest and the food was hearty.  Rowdy behaviour was not
unknown.

Some of the lucky and smart immigrants made fortunes and became respectable. 
They built mansions on Nob Hill and formed the San Francisco Vigilance
Committee to rid the city of its worst criminals and to put a lid on the
soaring crime rate.  They became known at 'the Vigilantes' and were not
loved.  The Barbary Coast was their favoured hunting ground.

The Vigilantes were effective, though.  So much so that San Francisco became
known as Hang Town.

Thus Hang Town fry was invented in Peter parker's saloon.  Story goes that a
miner who struck it rich ordered the most expensive items in Parker's saloon
to be fried up in celebration - eggs, oysters and champagne.

Parker, in typical English modesty, gave credit to his two chefs - one
Italian and the other Chinese - both named Billy.

I've got a modern recipe if anyone wants it.

Cheers
Bruce Fortnum
F&M