Oysters

A 100 years ago, my dad was living in Lyndonville, VT.  His father was a conductor on the Boston-Maine railroad that had a route up through Vermont all the way up to the Canadian border.

So my dad used to tell it, his father used to come in every so often with a sack of oysters from some guy in Boston who shipped them up into the interior.  Down the block from where he lived was a country store and in it they sold Vermont Common Crackers.  The rest is legend.

Enjoy this recipe. It is the one my dad's dad made for him and he could never get enough.

Pint or so of select oysters
sleeve of saltine crackers (sub for Common Crackers)
pint of 1/2 and 1/2
a stick of butter

Directions:

Use a little butter and coat a small backing dish or some small over proof  dishes
Melt the butter and crush the crackers and toss them in the butter over low heat.
Take some of the crackers (butter toasted) and line the bottom of your dish
Top that layer with oysters and repeat until your run out of oysters (obviously) - reserve the oyster liquor
Light cracker layer on top
Pour in 1/2&1/2 until it is 1/2 way up the dish more or less...but kinda covers the top layer of oysters...also use the oyster liquor in this step. Don't add much salt if you use the oyster liquor. Fresh ground pepper to taste.
Warm in a 375 oven for 30 minutes or so until the liquid is hot enough to make sure the oysters are poached

Serve warm.  Get there first or you won't get any.  Here it is close version...some folks use parsley or spinach but that is up to you.