With restaurant culture increasing, and the television food channel turning everyone into a food critic, very few restaurants explain the ingredients involved in the classic dishes that they serve. Do you know what you will be eating when served the following menu? And even more importantly do you know the fascinating history behind the names?

Schott’s Food and Drink Miscellany (Ben Shott), is probably the most interesting foodie guide to have on one’s bed side table. Information divulged include facts like Zeus slept on a bed of saffron to more serious stately matters with the menu that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown enjoyed when Blair made a deal with Brown to (eventually) hand over power. (Mmmm….. It seemed to have been a very simple Italian meal and the deal was allegedly already made in 1994!) Although most of the information will make for impressive dinner party talk (rather avoid the asparagus and urine theory), it is the list of Epicurean Eponyms that is probably the most important to remember. 

MADELEINE – light sponge cake. Associated with the C19th French pastry chef Madeleine Paulmier.

SACHERTORTE – rich, dry, rum infused chocolate cake. Invented in Vienna by Franz Sacher (1832).

CHATEAUBRIAND - a thick steak of the beef cut from the middle of a fillet. Named after the French writer and diplomat Vicomte Francoise-Rene de Chateaubriand (1768 – 1848). The steak was probably popularized at the French embassy in London by Chateaubriand’s chef Montmirel.

PEACH MELBA - Ice-cream served with peaches, and raspberry sauce. Named after soprano dame Nellie Melba, by Georges Auguste Escoffier.

BEEF WELLINGTON - Fillet steak in puff pastry. Named to honour the Duke of Wellington (1769 – 1852).

MAYONNAISE – Thick sauce of egg yolks with oil, vinegar and seasonings Named after the Minorcan port of Mahon, which was in turned named after the Carthaginian general Mago, who fought during Hannibal’s Italian campaign.

SAVARIN – Rum laced fruit sponge.Named for writer Jean-Anthelme Brillat- Savarin (1769 – 1852).

PAVLOVA – Meringue with fruit and cream. Probably created in New Zealand (Australians tend to disagree) in honour of the ballerina Anna Pavlova (1881- 1931).

BÉCHAMEL SAUCE – white sauce from flour, butter and boiled milk. Created by and named after the French financier Marquis Louis die Béchamel, a steward to Louis XIV.

WALDORF SALAD – A mixed salad with apples, celery, walnuts, all bound together with thin mayonnaise. Probably the creation of Oscar Michel Tschirky, the maître d’ of the New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel for a special supper in 1896.

CARPACCIO – extremely thin slices of raw beef garnished with oil, cheese, mustard, lemon juice or mayonnaise. Created by Giuseppe Cipriani, the founder of Harry’s Bar in Venice. Like Melba toast Carpaccio was created to ameliorate a diet – this time, that of the Contessa Amalia Nani Moncenigo, who was forbidden to eat cooked meat. It was apparently inspired by the Renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio (1460-1525), known for his use of vibrant red pigment.

PARMENTIER – Antoine A. Parmentier (1737-1813) was the French agriculturalist credited with improving the production and popularizing the eating of potatoes. Parmentier presented potatoes to the French Court in 1785 in an attempt to persuade the king of the benefits of potatoes to the general population. (Upon him was bestowed the singular honour of kissing Marie Antoinette’s hand.) Dishes containing potato are described as Parmentier.

Article Written By: Adele Stiehler & Isabel Landsberg