Beef Wellington to eggs Benedict, this is how 13 classic dishes got their names
Is the French fry French? Did Caesar inspire a salad? Was beef Stroganoff named after a Russian tsar. Who were the women behind crepes Suzette? Find out how 13 classic dishes got their names.
From your Bloody Mary and eggs benny at brunch to your hamburger and French fries for dinner, the food-lover’s everyday life is filled with famous dish names that have become part of modern Aussie parlance.
But where did these names come from?
It’s claimed that beef Stroganoff was named after a member of the Stroganov family, who were among tsarist Russia’s outrageously wealthy elite from around the 16th to the 19th century. They even owned half of Siberia at some stage. However, exactly which one of them earned the honour is unclear. Some say it was created by a French chef employed by Count Pavel Aleksandrovich Stroganov (1774-1817), a military commander and politician. The chef dreamed up a dish that combined French mustard with Russian sour cream, and named it after his employer. Others say that it was created for Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganov (1770-1857). When old mate Grigory was in his dotage, he lost all his teeth, and could no longer chew steak cooked the regular way. So he was given beef stewed in a creamy sauce instead. Naww. Whatever the truth of the matter, it’s a comfort food classic.
It’s believed that beef wellington was named after the first Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, after his victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. It’s basically an English version of the French filet de boeuf en croûte – beef fillet wrapped in pastry. It’s quite possible that, considering the Brits had just been at war with the French at the time, serving dishes with a French name might not have been welcome at fancy dinner parties. So they took a posh French recipe and bunged an English-sounding name on it instead.
Various theories abound here. The earliest claim comes from 1921, from a young French bartender named Fernand Petiot, who was working at the New York Bar in Paris. He created a cocktail on the spur of the moment – vodka and tomato juice – and named it ‘Bucket of Blood’. Amazingly, it didn’t catch on at the time. When he later worked in the US, he dressed up the recipe with additions like celery salt and Tabasco and named it the Red Snapper. How it went on to get the name Bloody Mary is unclear, but some say the tomato juice represents the blood shed during the reign of Queen ‘Bloody’ Mary Tudor. Hell of a hangover cure, whichever way you name it.
Sadly, Caesar salad has nothing to do with Roman emperors, murdered or otherwise. Instead, this salad is apparently named after the man who invented the recipe – restaurateur Caesar Cardini. An Italian immigrant, Cardini lived in the US, but opened a restaurant in Tijuana during Prohibition to attract thirsty Yanks looking for a cheeky tipple. During an extra-busy Fourth of July celebration in 1924, restaurant supplies were running low, so Cardini improvised with what he had, and added in a dramatic table-side salad tossing to make it look more special. Several other staff members also claim to have been the recipe’s creator, as did Cardini’s own brother, Alex. But it was Caesar who ultimately conquered in this particular instance.
Another famous dish whose origins are disputed, so we’ll just go with the most dramatic version. In 1895, a young waiter named Henri Charpentier was working at the Café de Paris in Monte Carlo on a night that the Prince of Wales of the time (Albert, later King Edward III) was dining there. Among his party was a beautiful young woman named Suzette. While preparing their dessert, the waiter accidentally burnt the sauce he was preparing. He thought it ruined, but a taste revealed the opposite. As Charpentier later wrote in his autobiography, it was “the most delicious medley of sweet flavours I had ever tasted…That accident of the flame was precisely what was needed to bring all those various instruments into one harmony of taste.” He presented it to his royal highness, who raved about it. But when it was offered to name this new dish after the prince, his maj demurred, and instead suggested it be named after Suzette. Much nicer than ‘crepes Albert’, that’s for sure.
There are three origin stories behind eggs Benedict, all from the Big Apple. One is from a chef in Delmonico’s Restaurant in Lower Manhattan who claimed that, in the 1860s, he created the dish for one of his regular customers – a Mrs LeGrand Benedict. She had become bored with the menu and wanted something different. Surely ‘eggs LeGrand’ would have been a better choice here? Missed opportunity, for sure. A much later claim comes from the 1960s, when a bloke wrote to the New York Times to say that the dish was created by his uncle’s friend, Elias Cornelius Benedict, a New York banker. But that’s not very exciting. So we’re going with our favourite version, from a certain Lemuel Benedict. A retired Wall Street stockbroker, apparently Lemuel wandered into the famed Waldorf-Astoria one morning, after a night on the tiles, and ordered “buttered toast, poached eggs, crisp bacon and a hooker of hollandaise”. The hotel’s maitre d’ was so impressed, he put the dish on the menu.
Just like Hawaiian pizza isn’t from Hawaii, the French fry may not actually be French at all. According to the BBC, everyone’s favourite crispy potato treat was invented in Belgium. The story here comes from the Belgian city of Namur. Apparently the people here loved their fried fish, and when a particularly cold winter in 1680 led to the rivers freezing over, they couldn’t fish, and had to find something else to fry up instead. Whether it’s true or not, it has to be said that ‘Belgian fries’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. However, they’ve been added to UNESCO’s list of cultural treasures all the same. So, why ‘French’ fries? One theory is that the name comes from the term used to prepare the potatoes – frenching. Others claim that US soldiers stationed in Belgium in WWI came up with the nickname, assuming the dish was French as that was the language the Belgian army spoke. They then brought the idea home with them. Whichever way you fry it, they’re bloody delicious.
This one’s a bit of a head scratcher. The name ‘hamburger‘ comes from the German city of Hamburg, yes, but the connection here is unclear. It could come from an adaptation of a Hamburg sausage, or a Hamburg steak, both of which came with bread. Of course, over the years, there have been countless people claiming to have come up with the idea, but considering it’s really just meat in a bun, it’s not a particularly groundbreaking one. In fact, recipes for meat patties date back as far as the first century AD, well before Ronald McDonald strolled into town. So this is likely just one of those gradual etymological evolutions that’s left us with the ultimate takeaway meal. And for that we are truly grateful.
Finally, a dish with a straightforward story. According to culinary bible Larousse Gastronomique, the quiche as we know it today originated in the Lorraine region of France sometime in the 16th century. While you’ll find quiche recipes of all descriptions today, the original quiche Lorraine contained only eggs, cream and ham or bacon in a dough shell. Our version includes cheese. Because, sacrilege or no, cheese always makes everything better.
Back in the mid-18th century, the Earl of Sandwich (yes, it’s an actual place in Kent, England) had a problem. He loved to gamble, but he also got hungry. To avoid any breaks in the game, he would ask his servant to bring him meat between two slices of bread. That way, he could continue to play cribbage while sating his hunger, without getting his cards all covered in gravy. While the concept of eating things wrapped in bread certainly wasn’t new to other countries or cultures, for the English aristocracy, it was a novel idea. The Sandwich trend soon caught on, and the name stuck.
One sandwich, many origin stories. This classic combo could come from a Jewish grocer named Reuben Kulakofsky, who lived in Omaha, Nebraska, in the 1920s and ‘30s. He used to order a sandwich made from corned beef and sauerkraut at his weekly poker games, which were held at the Blackstone Hotel. The owner eventually put it on the menu. Omaha still claims to be the birthplace of the Reuben sandwich to this day. Another claim comes from Arnold Reuben, owner of Reuben’s Delicatessen in New York. According to several sources, Arnold invented the ‘Reuben special’ in 1914 . Then there’s someone not called Reuben at all – Alfred Scheuing worked as a chef at Reuben’s Delicatessen, and reckons he came up with
This unfortunately named dessert does not, in fact, have anything to do with doodles. Instead, the term comes from an abbreviation of the Old English term for pudding – ‘puddick’. The spotted part is from the currants that are added to the batter. So now you know.
The tarte Tatin gets its name straight from its creators – sisters Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin, who ran a hotel in 19th-century France. According to the story, this upside-down tart was the result of a kitchen accident. Stéphanie was making an apple pie, but – and here there are two versions – she either forgot about her apples stewing in sugar for too long and then, in a panic, just threw some pastry on top and bunged it in the oven. Or, she just got distracted and accidentally put the pie in the oven upside down. As you do. Either way, the ‘tarte des demoiselles Tatin’ was a hit with guests and soon became hugely popular across France. And either way, poor Stéphanie comes out looking like an idiot. Let’s take a moment to give her some love. Muddleheaded or not, she came up with a pretty awesome dessert.
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