Food & drink takeaways - 26 August
A curated taster menu of every day’s food & drink associations
The disputed origins of a potato delicacy, dishes and cocktails to celebrate scientific genius and an English painter inspired by fruit.
Just some of the delights that 26 August brings to the food and drink table.
Click on the links for extra helpings
Food firsts
1837
As with references to the origins of many popular and classic dishes, the beginnings of delicate souffle potatoes {header photo} are rooted in contradiction. Some chroniclers will say no more than the 1830s, some will narrow it down to 1837 but food historian Janey Clarkson in her immense volumes Food History Almanac: Over 1,300 Years of World Culinary History, Culture and Social Influence pinpoints 26 August (although even she includes a disclaimer to tradition. . . )
"Tradition has it that souffle potatoes were created on this day. The occasion was the opening of the first railway line in France from Paris to St Germain-en-Laye. King Louis Phillipe and Queen Marie Amelia were running late for the ceremony so, the story goes, the chef removed the potatoes from the pan in which they were frying. When the royal guests arrived he put the potatoes back in the pan, in the fat, and the potatoes puffed up – and voila! Souffle potatoes were 'invented'"
Food and drink toasts
There's a close relationship between food and science so it's no surprise that a couple of scientific breakthroughs connected to 26 August should be given culinary honours.
In the case of the encyclopaedic drinks website Difford's Guide, it's the suggestion of a Parma Violet Spritz cocktail to celebrate the patenting of his newly-discovered colour of mauvene – an artificial dye – by English chemist William Perkin on this day in 1856.
In the case of the inspired recipe-a-day blog site Book of Days Tales, it's a Coq au Vin to celebrate the birthday in 1743 of French chemistry pioneer Antoine Lavoisier, who discovered the role that oxygen played in combustion.
Food birthdays today are:
1975
Samoan-born New Zealand chef proprietor of Mere in London and TV personality, MasterChef: The Professionals, Saturday Kitchen
1976
Two Michelin star British chef and restaurateur, subject of the documentary film, A Matter of Taste: Serving Up Paul Liebrandt and known for his eccentric style
Food in art
Still Life with Fruit and Vine Leaves by English painter Martha Darley Mutrie, who was born on this day in 1824.
According to the Victoria & Albert Museum, one of the sites where her work is exhibited: "Mutrie specialised in flower and fruit pieces."
