Chesapeake Oyster Loaf

By: Molly53
Feb 29, 2008

“Oyster loaves” have been served for many decades, though the oysters were not fried, at least in the earlier days; the bread was hollowed out, rather than split; and butter was commonly used, rather than lettuce or tomato. La Médiatrice, or “the peacemaker,” was the name given the oyster loaf in New Orleans in the 1800s: “Men out late carousing in the French Quarter brought home the golden toasted loaf, hollowed out and stuffed with hot creamed oysters or perhaps buttery fried oysters, as a peace offering to their jealous wives. The loaves were sold all over the Quarter for pennies. In 19th-century oyster-crazed America, the loaf was known elsewhere too. The original Joy of Cooking (1931) includes a recipe, although by then the loaf had metamorphosed into Creamed Oysters in Bread Cases, which sounds better suited to a ladies’ lunch than to making marital amends.” From the Southern chapter of the United States Regional Cookbook, Culinary Arts Institute of Chicago, 1947.