Here it is. Classic California Gold Rush grub. But you can’t get it in Auburn. You have to travel the winding road to Placerville to enjoy. Or make it yourself.

It’s called a Hangtown Fry. The “Hangtown” comes from the public hangings that marked Gold Rush justice in Placerville as well as in neighboring communities like Auburn. This was “street justice” at its cruelest, with no trial and a hot-headed, impromptu jury. In fact, until a few weeks ago, you could find an effigy of a hanged man “strung up” in front of one of the downtown’s bars (the watering hole recently moved). And if you look at the Placerville Police Department patch closely enough, you’ll see a noose suspended from a tree.

The “fry” part is a little more legendary. A little tamer, too.

Seems a gold seeker was able to make a strike near the town and ended up at a local eatery with a poke full of gold and a hankering for a fine meal to celebrate. He asked for the best the house had and it turned out to be eggs (rare and hard to ship), bacon (another delicacy in those days because it usually was shipped “around the Horn” from the eastern U.S., and oysters (from the coast, salted and shipped in barrels).

Today, the only place Media Life could find to order a Hangtown Fry in Hangtown was at the Hangtown Grill in downtown Placerville, in the shade of the city’s old bell tower. The eatery has a huge storefront window to watch people pass by on the historic street. The oysters appeared to be tinned, which is OK, but some recipes call for them to be fresh and breaded.

While oysters aren’t for everybody, if you’re willing to stay in a historical moment, you can taste a real example of local history – and a dish that’s said to be the original version of California cuisine.

The question to ponder while munching on the subtle melding of flavors is why Auburn hasn’t developed its own signature dish?