We are told stories that they came from creative improvisations based on desperation.
Caesar Salad is named after restaurateur Caesar Cardini. The Wikipedia article says:
“His daughter, Rosa, recounted that her father invented the salad at the Tijuana restaurant when a Fourth of July rush in 1924 depleted the kitchen's supplies. Cardini made do with what he had, adding the dramatic flair of table-side tossing by the chef.”
And the Fried Pickle may have come from the Hollywood Café, south of Memphis. On a Saturday night the only things left in the kitchen were some batter for frying chicken or catfish - and a jar of pickles. That story is disputed though.
Also, according to another Wikipedia article, Nachos, which have taken over the world:
“… originated in the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila in Mexico, across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas in the United States. Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Anaya [shown above] created nachos in 1943 at the restaurant the Victory Club when Mamie Finan and a group of U.S. military officers' wives, whose husbands were stationed at the nearby U.S. Army base Fort Duncan, traveled across the border to eat at the Victory Club. When Anaya was unable to find the cook, he went to the kitchen and spotted freshly fried pieces of corn tortillas. In a moment of culinary inspiration, Anaya cut the tortillas into triangles, fried them, added shredded cheese, quickly heated them, added sliced pickled jalapeno peppers and served them. After tasting the snack, Finan asked what it was called. Anaya responded, "Well, I guess we can just call them ‘Nacho's Special.’ In Spanish, ‘Nacho’ is a common nickname for Ignacio.”
Similarly, Cobb Salad is named after Robert Howard Cobb, the owner of
the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant. In 1938 either he or his chef put it together
for a midnight meal from kitchen leftovers, with freshly cooked bacon added as
a garnish. There is no such thing as leftover bacon!
Images of Caesar Salad and Ignacio Anaya came from Wikimedia Commons.
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