The recipe is contributed by Lauren Andrews, a CLCL Instructional Services Specialist.

"This dish comes from my Great Aunt Francis, whom we called Auntie (pronounced “ain’t-tea”). Auntie was born and raised in Kentucky so she passed down some true southern, quick, and low-maintenance recipes like this one. There are absolutely no redeeming qualities of this dish when it comes to your health, but it sure does taste good. This dish will always remind me of my family at Thanksgiving so I will always love it. If you do end up trying it, I hope you love it too." ~Lauren Andrews

Ingredients: 

• Small casserole dish (mine is about 6” diameter and about 4” tall) 
• 2-3 Cans smoked oysters 
• 1-2 Sleeves of Townhouse crackers, crumbled 
• 1 Stick of unsalted butter, cut into about 1/8” in wide pads 
• 6-8 American cheese (or cheddar) slices 
• 1-1 1/2 cups Milk 
• Salt and Pepper to taste  

Instruction: 

If baking immediately, oven should pre-heat to 375 F.  

1. Take your crackers and crumble them, either right there in your hands over the casserole dish or you can pre-crumble them nicely in a bag, and cover the bottom of the casserole dish in a layer just thick enough so you can’t see the bottom. 
2.  Place a few pads of butter on top of the crackers (in my small dish I end up doing about 4 pads).
3.  Place enough smoked oysters on top of the crackers and butter/in between the pads of butter to your liking (I use almost a full can for each layer).
4. Salt and pepper to taste.
5.  Add a layer of sliced cheese. I cut my cheese slices in smaller squares to make just one cheese layer (no need to over lap cheese) that covers the entire dish so I can no longer see the cracker/butter/oyster layer beneath.  

6.  Keep layering, repeating steps 1-5 until you fill the dish, allowing an inch or so of space to the top. You should end with a cheese layer on top.  

   • At this point, if you are making this dish for Thanksgiving, (and tend to prep as much as possible the day before, like me) you can cover with foil and set in fridge until you’re ready to bake on Thanksgiving day.  

7.  When you’re ready to bake it, pour the milk over the top so it seeps in and place in oven.  
8. Bake for 20-30 mins or until bubbly.

Depending on what is in your oven, you can bake it covered or uncovered. I have a lot of sides in my oven on Thanksgiving, all needing different temperatures but this dish just needs to get warm, melty, and happy so it’s easy to throw in with other sides that may be more particular.