These 10 dishes were invented by accident

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 4^th 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/