In addition to pizza, there are many dishes that each of us has tried at least once, named after famous people. We want to give you a gastronomic history course and tell you about some of our favourite dishes.
Pizza Margarita
One day in 1889, King Umberto I and his wife Margarita were walking through the streets of Florence and, hungry, they decided to try the food of the poor. They treated the royalty to a flatbread with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. Margarita liked this unremarkable dish so much that when she returned home she ordered it to be added to the menu and served to her regularly.
Eggs Benedict
In reality, it’s not just an egg, but a sandwich. It is made using as fresh an egg as possible – the yolk should remain creamy.
The poached egg is placed on toast and garnished with hollandaise sauce. The broker Lemuel Benedict once ordered toast with boiled eggs, bacon and hollandaise sauce. The restaurant’s maitre d’, Oscar Tschierke, was so delighted with the resulting dish that he put it on the restaurant’s menu immediately. Today, the dish is considered a complete breakfast, complete with salmon, chicken and herbs.
Beef Stroganoff
This dish appeared in our homeland in the 19th century. The famous Moscow chef Stroganov cut beef legs into 2-centimetre-thick slices and, beating them with a hammer, made them 5-7 millimetres thick. Then he sliced the prepared thin slices crosswise, dipped them in salt and spices and fried them in oil. After frying, he stewed them with cream.
Rossini Salad
The great composer is said to have invented this salad himself. Its full name is the Tour de Rossini. The salad is made with beef, salted and fried in hot oil until crispy. Bread is toasted, meat is placed on it and liver pâté is spread on it. Rossini used to make this dish when he was on tour and served it to his friends. It is still a popular dish in Italian cuisine today.
Dessert “Pavlova”
This delicate dessert was named after Russian ballet legend Anna Pavlova and was invented in 1935 by Albert Sachs. The chef saw the ballerina perform during her tour of Australia and New Zealand. Inspired by the star’s beauty and grace, he came up with a pastry masterpiece that is still very popular today.
Charlotte pie
This popular pie was invented at the court of King George III of Great Britain and his wife Charlotte. The classic charlotte is an open pie with apples, vanilla and cinnamon.
Legend has it that the King was fond of sweets, but he was jealous that all the sweets had been invented by the French, Italians and even Germans. He wanted a simple but tasty dish that would be known everywhere. He asked his chef to come up with such a dish. And he succeeded in pleasing the monarch, who named the cake after his wife.
Ronald Reagan’s soup
In 1986, the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, publicly stated that he was tired of French soup. A major campaign was launched to invent and popularise a ‘typically American’ soup. The result was a soup made of beef, tomatoes, green peppers and grits.
Rockefeller’s Oysters
The recipe for this dish is still unknown to anyone! In 1889, Jules Alcitore, son of the first owner of Antoine’s, invented it and named his creation after the wealthiest American at the time. These oysters are still served only in this restaurant.
Napoleon Cake
Today there are so many variations of this delicious dessert made of puff pastry and cream. In France and Italy this cake is called “A Thousand Layers”, in the UK “Creamy Slice”, in Belgium and the Netherlands “Tempus” and in Hungary “French Royal”.
Here it became known as “Napoleon” in 1912, during the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Napoleon Bonaparte’s expulsion from Russia. The new cake was made in the shape of Napoleon’s famous triangular hat.
Carpaccio
The famous Italian Renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio became famous for the abundance of red hues in his paintings. Much later, it was this feature of Carpaccio’s creative style that gave its name to the cold appetiser of thinly sliced raw beef. It is thought to have been invented in Italy for a certain aristocrat suffering from anaemia.
