These 10
dishes were invented by accident
Some of the greatest discoveries have been made by accident and
it’s no exception when it comes to food. Mistakes, or in other words fails,
have this unpredictable, paradoxical probability that somehow they might flip
into their opposite: great successes. Take for instance X-rays, penicillin,
post-it notes, play-doh, chewing gum, the microwave oven, and fireworks, which
was actually invented by a cook in China. All have come from mistakes.
Such is also the case with some delicious foods that were born
out of a marvelous confluence of laziness, resourcefulness, luck or just pure
failure. From a frozen sweet to an upside-down tarte, we chose 10 of your
favorite foods that are the result of pure serendipity.
1. CRÊPES SUZETTE
Who invented it? Henri Charpentier
When? 1896
What happened? Improvisation
In 1896, the 16-year-old waiter Henri Charpentier,
tried to extinguish a flaming pan with pancakes. It was the day that Prince of Wales Edward VII
visited Monte Carlo’s Café de Paris and requested a special dessert just for
him. Henri accidentally caught a pan of liqueurs on fire and thinking quickly,
he threw the crêpes in the hot sweet sauce and served them. The Prince loved
them and asked for the dessert’s name, to which Charpentier replied Crêpe
Princesse, after him. But future King Edward requested that it be named in
honour of his companion, named Suzette and voilà ! Crêpes Suzette were
unintentionally -but luckily for us- born! There are more scenarios for the
invention of this flaming dessert, but it doesn’t really matter. What matters
is sweet pancakes soaked in booze.
2. TARTE TATIN
Who invented it? Stéphanie &
Caroline Tatin
When? 19th century
What happened? Laziness
The upside-down dessert was created because a tart was forgotten
in the oven. It was in France, in a hotel owned by two sisters, Stéphanie and
Caroline Tatin, in the 19th century. Stéphanie was making an apple tart but
accidentally overcooked the apples, so tried to rescue it by putting the pastry
base on top, and voilà ! A masterpiece was created. The French did it again.
3. CHOCOLATE CHIPS
Who invented it? Ruth Graves Wakefield
When? 1930
What happened? Resourcefulness
The chocolate chip cookie was first made
by Ruth Wakefield, who had one day ran out of baking chocolate, so she smashed
up a bar of semisweet chocolate and added it to her batter hoping it would all
melt together. But the pieces remained intact: what resulted was a cookie with
chunks of chocolate, and so the chocolate chip cookie was born. Soon, her hotel
was known for its chocolate chip cookies. In 1997, to honor the popular
recipe’s origin, the state of Massachusetts designated the chocolate chip
cookie as its official state cookie.
4. POTATO CHIPS
Who invented it? George Crum
When? 1853
What happened? Revenge
George Crum, an American chef that in 1853 was tired of a
customer who was complaining his fried potatoes were not thin enough. So Crum
decided to take his revenge by making them inedible. He sliced them thinly,
baked them to a crisp and covered them with salt. The customer loved them and
the rest is history.
5. BEER
Who invented it? Mesopotamians
When? About 10,00 years ago
What happened? Luck
Beer would never exist if the Mesopotamians’ storage spaces were
dry. When they began storing grains for bread, their storage spaces
occasionally became damp, which caused the grains to ferment. This fermentation
process resulted in the earliest beer. We should all raise a glass to that
first Mesopotamian who was brave enough to sample the strange liquid.
6. SANDWICH
Who invented it? John Montagu, 4th Earl of
Sandwich
When? Sometime in the 1700s
What happened? Gambling problem
John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich just needed
both hands to gamble. Some believe Motagu couldn’t leave a particularly intense
gambling game, so he requested that meat should be brought to him between two
pieces of bread. Montagu’s refusal to get up for a meal resulted in one of the
greatest culinary advances in history.
7. COCA-COLA
Who invented it? John Pemberton
When? 1886
What happened? Addiction
Coca Cola was first invented as a substitute to morphine.
Pemberton was a wounded veteran who had become addicted to morphine. He sought
to create a replacement to stave off his addiction. Through some experimenting
in his pharmacy, he created a tonic (the original Coca Cola formula) that
contained small amounts of cocaine as well as the caffeine-rich kola nut. In
1887, another Atlanta pharmacist, Asa Candler, bought the formula for Coca Cola
from Pemberton for $2,300. By the late 1890s, Coca Cola was one of America’s
most popular fountain drinks, largely due to Candler’s aggressive marketing of
the product as a soda.
8. LEA & PERRINS
WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE
Who invented it? Lord Marcus Sandy, Lea &
Perrins
When? 1838
What happened? Ageing
This amazing sauce was a result of a ‘second try’. Without the
mistake of two chemists, meats or salads wouldn’t be as tasty. In the early
1800’s, Lord Sandys commissioned chemists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry
Perrins to the task of recreating a recipe he had tasted in Bengal. Lea and
Perrins attempted the sauce, but did not like the result, so they left the
sauce in jars in a cellar. Two years later, the two stumbled across the sauce,
decided to taste it and found something amazing: This ageing period improved
the flavours vastly and soon became a hit.
9. POPSICLES (ICE LOLLY)
Who invented it? Frank Epperson
When? 1905
What happened? Absentmindedness
Young Frank Epperson left a glass of soda on his San Francisco
front porch with a stirring stick in it. By the next morning the drink had
frozen and when he pulled the stick, the drink came with it. In 1924, he
applied for a patent for his new discovery, which he originally dubbed the
“Epsicle”. Eventually, his kids would refer to the frozen pop as Pop’s ‘sicle,
causing Epperson to change the name. In 1923, Epperson sold the rights to
Popsicle® and today, the company sells 2 billion ice pops annually, with cherry
being the most popular flavor amongst its consumers.
10. ICE CREAM CONES
Who invented it? Ernest Hamwi
When? 1904
What happened? Love thy neighbour
At the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, when an ice-cream vendor run out
of dishes. To help him out, Hamwi, a neighboring concessionaire, rolled the
waffle-like pastries he was selling (called zalabis) into a cone so that the
ice cream could be held inside. Talk about an accident that turned out
oh-so-right.
Source: http://magazine.foodpanda.in/10-dishes-were-invented-by-accident/
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