MBP 15" 2009 - Cannot Install System

El Capitan OS-X 10.11.x is the newest OS this system will support. If your USB installer is failing to boot up then I suspect you have either a bad USB or you need to alter the date and time to be set back to 2010 so the installer works. Apple has a date window set in the installer if its too old it won't work!

By default, the MBP 15 from 2009 usually should come with 10.6 Snow Leopard. For some odd reason Apple decided to not support Sierra for the MBP, but for the cheaper MB. As for El Capitan, it should work (depending on your specs)

The El Capitan disk maybe is not bootable, has only the installer on it and thats why doesn't show up. If you don't have another computer to create another bootable El Capitan disk, try recovery mode again, with the computer off hold down CMD+R and press power after that, see if it works that way. Sierra and High Sierra will not work on that machine, El Capitan is the highest it can go.