There are foods whose names point only to one person. Bechamel sauce named after a Marquis, the well known Caesar salad was named after an Italian immigrant and roast beef named after a Russian diplomat had a very interesting story.

It's true. Not everything who's named after a marquis or other royal figures are under the rigor of gourmet eating. At the same time, we can not ignore the stories behind the names and taste them almost daily.

1. Bechamel Sauce

A white sauce, considered one of the sauces "mother" of French cuisine, Bechamel is prepared by pouring milk over a mixture of butter and flour and heating them on low heat. And becouse is named after a marquis from the eighteenth century is not without some preparation intrigue turned around its rightful inventor.

A version of the story says that a similar type of sauce came to France with Queen Catherine de Medici cooks (1519-1589) during her movement to marry with Henry II. It was not the only loan made from the Italian cuisine to France at the time, and the hypothesis might even contain some truth. Another name floated is that of Duke Philippe de Mornay, known for obtaining other somewhat similar sauces. Add to the list the chef Francois Pierre Varenne, often credited for starting the phenomenon of "haute cuisine".

From a historical fact or simply by random, name Bechamel does not evoke Mornay nor cooks from Italian and French cuisine, but one of the bankers of the court of King Louis XIV.

Without training in the kitchen or any evidence that he participated in composition and mode of preparation, Marquis Louis de Bechamel would be enough to name the famous sauce by trying to find a way to serve a kind of dried fish. More likely is that La Varenne, chef of the same king, to name the sauce after Marquis's name as a compliment to him.

2. Caesar Salad

Although even for the most famous salad in the world known the inventor is not well known, definitely the culinary world consensus seems to point to a head restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico. One day of July 4, extremely busy chef ran out of ingredients, so he had to made a hastily dish. He used the salad, garlic bread croutons, Parmesan cheese, boiled eggs and sprinkled them with lots of olive oil and Worcestershire sauce.

In 1926, Alex Cardini, cook's brother, joined the Tijuana restaurant. He took the recipe, added anchovies as a personal touch and began to promote it as a salad for aviators. The preparation has been gaining popularity, Alex decided to put his brother's name - Caesar.

3. Stroganoff Beef

The first appearance in Russian cookbooks in 1861, recipe Beef a la Stroganov reached a success only after the fall of the Tsarist Empire and the onset of the Second World War.

Early rise of the favorite dish of the elites left from the kitchen of Count Paul Stroganoff, a Russian diplomat in St. Petersburg.

His chef, Charles Briere, frequently participate in competitions with others "Chefs" of wealthy local family, and at one competition, he presented reinterpretation of the classic Russian recipe. After he won the prize, the name of the dish remains the same with his employer's.

4. Pizza Margherita

Every time you order a pizza Margherita you make a journey in 1889, 28 years after the unification of Italy.

Queen Margherita of Savoy was in Naples to celebrate the moment, and Raffaele Esposito, one of the local chefs, prepared in her honor a pizza with the three colors of the Italian flag.

On the soft bed of mozzarella pizza is the white, green substitute for basil, and red was replaced obviously by tomatoes. To go even further, "il pizzaiolo" named the pizza after queen's name.

5. Sandwich

We can not talk effectively about an inventor of the "sandwich". The first mention of meat wrapped in a pita appear in the first century BC as a Hebrew ritual, continues in medieval Europe and back into the history books with the need for quick meals, and especially cheap, portable, to the industrial age.

Meat bonded between slices of bread are mentioned in writing as "sandwich" for the first time in Edward Gibbon's journal named after the noble title of an aristocrat of the eighteenth century.

The story goes that during a game of cards John Montagu, Earl of Sandwich ordered to his servant meat wrapped in bread to be able to continue playing cards. Excited, the other players have followed requesting "same as Sandwich". The association between the nobility and cold snack remained unchanged since then.

6. Kung Pao Chicken

A typical dish from Szechuan cuisine, China, Kung Pao chicken got its name from a certain Ding Baozhen, Governor of the Province during the Qing Dynasty.

Used to prepare and serve himself dishes for all high-ranking guests. Later, Ding received the Taize Shaobao - protector of the prince - from the imperial court, rank also named Kung Pao. After disappearance of the governor, in his memory, people began to use the rank name for sweet-spicy food.

See below in the image gallery the Culinary Celebrities and their dish.


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