OOPS!

by Chewy

There is no doubt that some accidents have lead to great discoveries and inventions. Everything from Isaac Newton’s apple knocking, to glue that wouldn’t stick post it notes, to burr covered dogs leading to Velcro. Things are the same in the culinary world as well and those “oops!” have lead to some masterpieces. One example, if you are to believe the story, is salt water taffy (Taffy, A Sticky Situation) where the Atlantic Ocean recreated the whole taffy industry.

I also picture a scenario where prior to a dinner party, the hostess places the dessert in the middle of the table as a center piece. Just as she is lighting the candles, her adroit husband, open wine bottle in hand, trips over the dog and splashes some on her dessert. Startled and upset she drops the match and whoosh……flambé is invented. It could have happened.

There are some more reliable mishaps that have ended up being quite the sensation. Take for example the chocolate chip cookie. Did you grow up thinking this came from the Nestle labs, slapping the recipe on every package of their chocolate morsels? The last part is accurate but the recipe comes from a failed baking experiment. Credited to Ruth Graves Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn (has a nice ring to it) in Whitman Mass, the now famous Toll House cookie recipe was really a work of substitution. Legend has it that in 1930, Ruth ran short of baking chocolate and decided to use smashed up pieces from a bar of semi-sweet chocolate. Adding these to her dough, she was pleasantly surprised to find that the chocolate did not melt into the batter as planned. Nestle later acquired the rights to the recipe and became a global giant.

Another misstep occurred in 1905 in San Francisco. Eleven year old Frank Epperson wanted to make soda pop and mixed soda powder with water. Using a stick to stir the concoction, he accidentally left it on the porch overnight. The next day, Frank discovered it had frozen solid with the stick still in it. Fast forward 18 years, Frank decided to market his childhood invention. Meeting with instant success, he patented the idea. Originally dubbed the “Eppsicle”, his children implored and convinced him to rename it “Popsicle”. The original 7 flavors have now grown to 30; the most popular flavor being classic orange.

St. Louis has long taken great pride in our next entry, the ice cream cone. During the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair an ice cream seller ran out of dishes. A nearby Syrian pastry vendor, Ernest Hamwi, rolled his pastry into a cone so the ice cream could be scooped inside. An instant hit, it has competition on originality. Appears and Italian immigrant, Italo Marchiony, had also paired these two items and acquired a patent for it earlier in the year.

photo by becco

Our final entry comes from down under. One hundred years ago, Lord Lamington (governor of Queensland at the time), accidentally dropped a cake in some melted chocolate. It was then decided to cover it with coconut so it wouldn’t look so messy. Thus the Australian Lamington was born, and enjoyed ever since.

The lesson we can take away from these legends is always to keep an open mind. Never fear to cook outside the lines, improvise, substitute and experiment. If mishaps occur, and they will (Kitchen Klutzes Unite), trust your eyes, nose, ears and mouth and smear it, dust it or slather it with an interesting ingredient. Perhaps your gaffe will make the “famous desserts created by mistake” list.