You ate it here first
By Don Rittner
We discussed last week the absurdity shown by some congressmen over trying to punish France by changing the names of French Toast and French Fries. As a loyal American, It’s my patriotic duty to see that our elected representatives not repeat this embarrassment. Let’s make public some other locally produced firsts.
Potato Chips
Potato chips were first created and served in Saratoga Springs, just up the road from Troy, in 1853. An American Indian Chef (not chief) named George Crum worked at the Moon Lake Lodge’s restaurant and on the menu were French-fried potatoes. To get back at a customer who didn’t like they way he prepared them one evening, he cut potatoes very thin and fried them to a crisp. Ironically, the customer loved them and before long everyone who came to the restaurant did too. "Saratoga Chips" became so popular Crum opened his own restaurant. In 1932, Herman Lay, a traveling salesman in Nashville, sold chips from Atlanta to Tennessee to grocers out of the trunk of his 1929 touring car. In 1938, he bought the business and put his name on it. He became the first successfully marketed national brand of chips, and in 1961, he merged his company with The Frito Company, the Dallas-based producer of snack foods to increase distribution. What originated, as Saratoga Chips, became nationally known as Lay’s Brand Potato Chips. Let’s be thankful though that they were NOT invented in Buffalo!
Cole Slaw
Peter Kalm, a Swedish botanist who traveled around the world spent some time in Albany in November 1749 and ate a special dish prepared by a Mrs. Visher who lived on Columbia Street in Albany. Here is what he described:
"My landlady, Mrs. Visher, prepared today an unusual salad which I never remember having seen or eaten. She took the inner leaves of a head of cabbage, namely, the leaves which usually remain when the outermost leaves have been removed, and cut them in long, thin strips, about 1/12 to 1/6 of an inch wide, seldom more. When she had cut up as much as she thought necessary, she put them upon a platter, poured oil and vinegar upon them, added salt and some pepper while mixing the shredded cabbage, so that the oil etc., might be evenly distributed, as is the custom when making salads. Then it was ready. In place of oil, meted butter is frequently used. This is kept in a warm pot or crock and poured over the salad after it has been served. This dish has a very pleasing flavor and tastes better than one can imagine. She told me that many strangers who had eaten at her house had liked this so much that they not only had informed themselves of how to prepare it, but said that they were going to have it prepared for them when they reached their homes." This is the first record of Cole Slaw, which of course is Dutch for "cabbage salad."Pie Ala Mode
Professor Charles Watson Townsend of Cambridge Village, just north of Troy, dined regularly at the 1885 built Cambridge Hotel in the 1930’s. He often ordered ice cream with his apple pie. Mrs. Berry Hall, a diner seated next to him, asked what it was called. He said it didn’t have a name, and she promptly dubbed it "Pie a la mode." Townsend liked the name so much he asked for it each day by name. When Townsend visited the famous Delmonico Restaurant in New York City, he asked for pie a la mode but when the waiter proclaimed he never heard of it, Townsend chastised him and the manager; how could such a famous eatery not have a daily item that a small hotel in Cambridge N.Y. had? The following day it became a regular at Delmonico and a resulting story in the New York Sun (a reporter was listening to the whole conversation) made it a country favorite with the publicity that ensued.
And finally, let’s not forget the contributions by two Troy RPI graduates. Dr. James H. Salisbury (1823-1905), a nutritionist and physician created one of the first health diets and is famous for his Salisbury steak (which should be eaten three times a day according to him). Eben Horsford (1818-1893) was a civil engineering student and was intrigued by the chemistry of bread and efforts to replace yeast as a leavening agent. He produced a blend of calcium acid phosphate and sodium bicarbonate making the first commercial baking powder. It is still being made today by Rumford Baking Powder, a company that Horsford started with George F. Wilson.