Eponymous Heroes: People

by Marion Watson

I have already written about British places which have given their names to foods, but what about people who have done the same? Some, like Queen Victoria or the Duke of Wellington, may be well known for other reasons but for some, such as Sally Lunn and the Earl Grey, it may be their only lasting claim to fame. Some have had a dish named after them because they were notables when it was invented, for example Anna Pavlova and Chateaubriand, whilst others were responsible for developing the dish themselves, such as the Bath Oliver and Sachertorte. Some, like Queen Victoria and Nellie Melba, have had their name used for more than one dish.

Cakes, desserts and sweetmeats seem to have been creations which allied themselves with notable personalities. The savarin, a large, ring-shaped, spongy cake made from a rich yeast mixture, soaked in a rum-flavoured syrup and filled with fruit and cream was named after Antoine Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), the celebrated French gourmet and writer on gastronomy. Queen Victoria had a sandwich cake created in her honour. It appeared in 1861 in 'Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management', where it was treated more like a dessert than a cake. However it soon became a classic teatime dish. Traditionally it should be made with equal weights of eggs, caster sugar, self-raising flour and butter or soft margarine. I can remember my mother using two or three eggs instead of weights on one side of the scales and then weighing the other ingredients against them. It should be filled with jam and the top dredged with caster or icing sugar. By the by, a Victoria Sandwich is not a sponge cake because it contains fat and is made by the creaming method.

Another Queen who probably lent her name to a dish is Charlotte (1744-1818), the wife of George III. She was an enthusiastic supporter of apple growers and an Apple Charlotte consists of layers of cake or breadcrumbs and sugar, butter plus apples. Sometimes the bread or cake is used to line a round mould and the filling put in the centre. This is characteristic of Charlotte Russe where the mould is lined with sponge fingers and custard replaces the apples. It is turned out and served cold, piped with cream. It is said to have been invented by the French chef Antonin CarÍme, who named it in honour of his Russian employer Czar Alexander.

Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, was responsible for the naming of the Coburg Loaf. This is round and crusty with two slashes on the top. He came from Saxe-Coburg and the loaf was introduced shortly after his marriage to Victoria in 1840. A Sally Lunn is a large teacake made with a rich yeast mixture. Tradition has it that Sally was a pastry cook in Bath where, in the eighteenth century, she made and sold these buns in the streets for over thirty years. And there is still a 'Sally Lunn Teashop' in Bath today. The buns are similar to the French solilem - 'sun and moon cake' - and it has been speculated that Sally herself may have been French and had fled that country to escape persecution.

Another light spongy cake is the Madeleine which is traditionally baked in sets of small cockleshell-shaped tins and is said to be named after Madeleine Palmier, who worked as a pastry cook in Commercy in Lorraine, France in the nineteenth century. The English versions are baked in thimble-shaped, dariole moulds (an individual cup shaped mould used for making puddings, sweet and savoury jellies and creams) and after being turned out are brushed with jam, coated with desiccated coconut and topped with half a glacé cherry. Perhaps Madeline also invented the Palmier: puff pastry sprinkled with sugar or cheese and rolled from both sides into the middle then cut through in half inch (about 1 cm) slices, laid on their side and baked. The other theory is that they got their name because they are palm-shaped.

A much richer affair is the Austrian Sachertorte, that supreme amongst chocolate cakes. It was invented by Franz Sacher, chief pastry cook to Metternich, to serve at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15. It is a chocolate sponge coated with rich chocolate icing although its exact composition led to a famous and lengthy court case. Franz Sacher insisted that the cake should be of two layers sandwiched with jam and this was how it was served in his hotel. But Demel's patisserie believed that it should consist of only one layer, coated with jam and then topped with icing. After a six year law suit Sacher's Hotel won the case and their recipe was declared the authentic one. The hotel still exists in Vienna but my favourite place to eat Sachertorte is at Karlsplatz in a café, which was once the Stadtbahn station. If the weather is good there is nothing better than to sit outside, watch the world go by and enjoy a coffee and Sachertorte.

Moving back in history the almond-flavoured confectioner's custard known as Frangipani gets its name from Muzio Frangipani, a sixteenth century Italian marquis. Whilst living in Paris he created a perfume for scenting gloves based on bitter almonds which is similar to the smell of red jasmine flowers. It was obviously popular because Parisian pastry cooks tried to capture this perfume by adding almonds to the custard they used for filling tartlets, which of course they named after the marquis.

Reaching even further back, St Honorius was a bishop of Amiens in the sixth century and was the patron saint of pastry cooks. At some point further on in time they honoured him by creating the Gateau St Honoré, a pastry circle topped with a ring of choux buns and filled with whipped cream. Sometimes fruit is included and the whole thing finished with spun sugar.

In the twentieth century the trend for names seemed to move away from royalty and the nobility towards the world of entertainment. The Pavlova, a soft meringue cake topped with fruit and whipped cream was created in honour of the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova (1881-1931) during her visit to Australia and New Zealand in the late 1920's. The Australian soprano, Dame Nellie Melba (1859-1931) inspired Escoffier to create the Peach Melba in her honour. Originally this was a very grand affair with a swan carved from ice, then filled with peaches and ice cream and the whole topped with spun sugar. But Escoffier soon simplified it and replaced the swan with raspberry sauce, which was being marketed commercially by 1907. Even so it must have been a much nicer dish than the half a tinned peach, scoop of vanilla ice cream and very watery raspberry sauce so many restaurants serve up today. Dame Nellie has a second, more straightforward, claim to fame in Melba Toast, made by splitting a toasted slice of bread and then toasting or baking it again. It is supposed to have got the name because on returning to London's Ritz Hotel in poor health after touring the United States she was put on a strict diet, which included toast. It was the hotel manager, César Ritz, who announced: "Call it Toast Melba".

Whilst on the subject of strict diet regimes, the Bath Oliver was invented by a doctor in that city and prescribed for his patients who came to 'take the cure' and needed simple food to counteract a surfeit of rich eating. They are unsweetened and very plain and nowadays are usually eaten with cheese. In the United States the word 'graham' indicates a product such as bread or biscuits (cookies to our American readers) made from wholemeal flower. This gets its name from Sylvester Graham (1794-1851), a physician and vegetarian who introduced various theories on dietary reform. Indeed in nineteenth century America vegetarianism was named Grahamism after his philosophy. Graham Crackers are frequently used in American recipes; in Britain Digestive Biscuits can be used as a substitute.

Sometimes a dish gets its name from an imaginary or literary character. Such a one is the Knickerbocker Glory, a confection of ice cream, jelly, fruit and cream, all served in a tall glass. It was first documented in the 1930's and may have been inspired by Diedrich Knickerbocker, the fictitious author of Washington Irving's 'History of New York' (1809).

Military heroes do not get forgotten either, although why a British biscuit is named after the Italian nationalist leader, Guiseppe Garibaldi (1807-82) is something of a mystery. Known colloquially as 'squashed flies' it consists of a layer of currants sandwiched between two thin biscuits and seems to have appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Gambling has its share of contributions to the names of dishes. Most people know that John Montagu, the 11th Earl of Sandwich, could not bear to leave the card table so had his servant put some meat between two pieces of bread, thus giving us that most popular of snacks and picnic foods - the sandwich. Of course it was the Earl of Cardigan gave his name to that button-up woolly garment and itís a thought that had it been the other way round we would have been eating cardigans and wearing sandwiches! Fewer people, however, know about Pierre-Alphonse Buffet (1692-1756). He was a Parisian gentleman and gambler and introduced the practice of having food laid out on a side-board so that guests could help themselves as and when they wished, thereby not wasting precious gambling time by sitting down to a meal. It is said that in his house nothing was ever heard but the soft flutter of playing cards, the murmuring of bets and an occasional oath.

On the question of savouries, besides boots the Duke of Wellington gave his name to a whole fillet steak, parcelled in puff pastry - Beef Wellington. And then there is Chateaubriand, which originally referred to the method of preparing a thick cut of beef fillet, grilled and served with a béarnaise sauce, which was invented by Montmirail, chef to the Vicomte de Chateaubriand when he was French ambassador to London in 1822. Later the name was transferred to the steak itself. Beef Stroganoff, on the other hand, was named after a Russian nobleman, whilst Eggs Benedict was allegedly named after a regular guest at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, whose favourite dish it was.

At a more lowly level the pilchard is said to have been named after Matthew Pilchard (c1780-1842), a fisherman born at St Ives, Cornwall. Although he was always trying to catch larger fish he only seemed to manage to net these small sardine-like ones. His fellow fishermen always threw them back into the sea and did not even bother to give them a name, but poor Pilchard was forced to go to market and offer them for sale to the poorest people until they eventually became more popular.

Curry is generally thought to come from the Tamil word 'kari', the leaf of a plant, or alternatively from the Hindu 'kjura' meaning palatable. There is, however, a theory that the name derived from Sir George Curry (1826-1890). He was a British soldier who spent his entire career in the East India Company and later in the Indian Army reaching the rank of general. He was said to be the first officer in the British Raj to develop a taste for the highly spiced stews enjoyed by the local inhabitants and, as a result, dined alone for many years. His attempts to introduce mutton vindaloo and chapaties to his own soldiers were not a success and nearly led to another mutiny. It was only after Queen Victoria ate some at a luncheon for visiting rajahs in 1869 that 'curry' began to become popular in Britain.

Sauces seem to attract people's names. Béchamel, the basic white, roux sauce, was said to have been invented by the Marquis de Béchamel (1630-1703), a general of Louis XIV. By adding cheese to a béchamel sauce you get Mornay Sauce. Some ascribe it to Philippe de Mornay, a seventeenth century Huguenot writer, whilst others say the honour should go to Mornay Voiron, son of restaurateur Joseph, who reputedly invented it.

Ketchup may come from Malay or Chinese for 'fish juice' but there was also a Noah Ketchup (c1680-1746) of Huron Indian descent who went to Philadelphia in about 1700. After failing to find any satisfactory occupation he began bottling and selling the tomato and mushroom relishes his wife made. Ketchup sauces were quickly taken up by the early settlers and were soon being produced on a large scale, though Noah made very little money for himself.

Marmalade originally meant 'quince jam' and is from the Portuguese 'marmelade', a diminutive of marmelo, quince (marmelo is the Portuguese name for quince). However there is also the story of a Portuguese inn-keeper, born in Lisbon, called Joao Marmelado (1450-1510). He received a large consignment of Seville oranges in settlement of a debt. There were so many that he couldn't use them all before they became rotten so he got his servants to boil them up with sugar in a huge vat. Whilst he thought the resulting concoction unpalatable he had dishes of it placed on tables for his guests who, after trying it with chicken and sardines, were inclined to agree with him. However the next day a party of English merchants arrived. They ignored the sticky mess with their evening meal but the following morning at breakfast proceeded to spread it on toasted bread and then to eat it. On the day of their departure they took with them three hundredweight of Marmelado's concoction.

Fruit and vegetables have their fair share of eponymous heroes. Victoria plums of course, but who were James Greave, the Granny Smith of Apples and William of William pear fame? Does anyone know who the Julienne who gave her name to thinly-cut strips of vegetable might be?

We do know that Jorge-Luis Avocado (1789-1868) an explorer and botanist from Buenos Aires travelled the world in search of unknown fruit and vegetables. He gave his name to that dark green, pear-shaped fruit and he was on the point of attaching it to the Kiwi fruit until he was reminded that he had already given it to something else. His ninety-eight year old mother is reported to have said of him after his death "Jorge-Luis was always in a hurry. If only he'd waited he could have given his name to something nice, like Baked Alaska".

Another fairly unusual fruit is the pomelo, which is like a large, green, pear-shaped grapefruit with a very thick skin. After taking off the outer rind the membrane covering the segments is pulled off and the rather dry fruity bits are pulled out and eaten. This was originally called the shaddock after an English sea captain of that name. He is reputed to have brought some seeds from the East Indies and left them in Barbados. The name changed to pomelo around the mid-nineteenth century.

And what about drinks? Earl Grey gave his name to a tea, which was originally from China and had bergamot oil added to it. The story has it that the recipe was given to the second Earl Grey in the 1830's by a grateful Chinese mandarin whose life he had saved. Nowadays it is usually a blend of teas, often with substitutes for bergamot. Less well known is Lady Grey tea - perhaps she did not like the blend prepared for her husband.

Another story of gratitude is told by the Horlick family. It seems that the founder of the company W Horlick (1846-1936) came to the rescue of an old woman in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. In gratitude she gave him her secret recipe for what became Horlicks, an enduringly popular bed-time drink.

On an alcoholic level many cocktails have been named after the barmen who invented them, for example Tom Collins (although this may not be true), or the place where they were devised, for example Singapore Sling from the Raffles Hotel, or because it was someone's favourite tipple.

Although the word lager is supposed to come from the German word for a 'store', because it was left to mature for a long time, there were two brothers named Gottfried and Sigmund Lager (c1400-1470) who founded a famous brewery in Dortmund. In the 1440's they quarrelled and Gottfried moved to Munich where he prospered by selling this strong, pale beer.

Liqueurs were often named after the monastery where they were invented and made, for example Benedictine and Chartreuse. Others are named after their inventor, such as Adolphe and Edouard Cointreau, who first made this orange-flavoured liqueur in France in the 1840's.

When it comes to buying in bulk remember Matthew Firkin (1620-1683). He was a Deptford inn-keeper who had barrels made for him which were small enough for his customers to carry home quantities of his famous ale. Samuel Pepys records that he so liked Mr Firkin's ale that he took a barrel to his house. Firkin gave his name to this small cask which held nine gallons.

Of course some of these tales may have to be taken with a pinch of salt and I am sure that you can think of more examples that I have missed. However the thought of all these foods puts me in mind, finally, of Sir Oswald Binge (1678-1768) a country squire from Leicestershire, who was famed for the length and volume of his eating and drinking sessions. Feasts he gave might last for several days with guests coming and going while he remained at table, even sleeping there. In spite of exhortations from his doctors to adopt a more moderate life he lived to a ripe old age and left us with a noun in his memory.