Tofu

Today, tofu — also known as bean curd — tends to divide opinion. To some, it’s a nutritious, low-fat protein source that serves as a key ingredient in many vegetarian and vegan diets. To others, it’s a tasteless, rubbery mass of crushed, boiled soybeans. Love it or loathe it, tofu has been around for a long time, and various theories exist as to its invention. Some say it was developed by Liu An, a Chinese scholar and ruler of the Huainan Kingdom who lived from 179 to 122 BCE. Another theory argues that it was invented accidentally some time before 600 CE, when a careless cook, probably in northern China, seasoned a pureed soybean soup with unrefined sea salt, causing the whole thing to curdle and produce a tofu-like gel. Neither theory is based on hard evidence, however. Historians tend to agree that the use of tofu dates back to the Han dynasty, from 206 BCE to 220 CE.

Pancakes

This beloved breakfast food has been sizzling on griddles for longer than you might think. Evidence suggests that pancakes — flat cakes made from batter and then fried — were prepared and consumed by our prehistoric ancestors. Analysis of starch grains on 30,000-year-old grinding tools indicates that Stone Age cooks made flour to create a primitive form of flatbread — a kind of proto-pancake. The first written records of pancakes come from the ancient Greeks and Romans, who sweetened pancakes with honey. We also know the British ate pancakes during the Elizabethan era; their version was often very rich and may have included rose water, sherry, eggs, ale, or butter (or any combination thereof). Shakespeare himself mentions pancakes in his play As You Like It, but these were traditional pancakes eaten on Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday in the Christian faith), which were made with beef and dipped in mustard.

Cheesecake

Today, cheesecake is a common option on modern dessert menus, yet its origins can be traced back to classical antiquity. The earliest known cheesecake recipe — or something akin to cheesecake — comes from the Greek physician Aegimus, who wrote about making cheesecakes in the fifth century BCE. (Some historians have suggested that cheesecake was even served to athletes at the first-ever Olympic Games in Greece, as far back as 776 BCE.) The ancient Romans later adopted and adapted the recipe. Cato the Elder’s farming manual, De Agri Cultura, written in 160 BCE, features several recipes for cheesecakes, including a sweet version called savillum and a savory cheesecake called libum. 

Popcorn

Americans consume around 14 billion quarts of popcorn annually. But popcorn predates movie theaters and microwaves by thousands of years. Archaeological digs in Peru have revealed that people were eating popcorn as far back as 6,700 years ago. In North America, meanwhile, an ear of popcorn found in a cave in New Mexico was dated to be some 5,600 years old. Popcorn was an important part of the Aztec and Inca diets, and many European explorers first came upon this now-ubiquitous treat through contact with Indigenous peoples in the U.S. Around the year 1612, for example, early French explorers through the Great Lakes region noted that the Iroquois often popped their corn. 

Yogurt

The precise origins of yogurt are unknown, but we do know that this fermented dairy product has been part of the human diet for millennia. According to some historical accounts, yogurt was discovered accidentally thousands of years ago by nomadic herdsmen. These nomads carried milk in pouches made of animal skins, which contained naturally occurring enzymes that caused the milk to ferment, inadvertently producing an edible food — yogurt — that had the benefit of lasting longer than milk. Some of the first recorded accounts of yogurt — as well as its health benefits — are found in Indian Ayurvedic scripts from around 6000 BCE. The word itself is believed to have come from the Turkish word yoğurmak, which means to thicken, coagulate, or curdle.

Bread

Everyone knows bread has been around for a long time, but it may be surprising to learn that bread is so old, it even predates the advent of agriculture. Researchers have found evidence that prehistoric hunter-gatherers engaged in bread production using wild cereals as far back as 14,400 years ago — predating the development of farming by at least 4,000 years. Archaeologists discovered the charred remains of flatbreads at an archaeological site in northeastern Jordan. When analyzed, these remains revealed that ancient humans had collected the wild ancestors of now-domesticated cereals such as barley, einkorn, and oat, which they then ground, sieved, and kneaded prior to cooking. 

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Old-Fashioned

The old-fashioned cocktail we know today was the result of trial and error throughout the 19th century. One early predecessor was Thomas’ “Gin Cocktail,” which was similar to an old-fashioned but with gin instead of whiskey or bourbon. Credit for the drink as we know it today is often given to the bourbon distiller Colonel James E. Pepper. He is said to have created the cocktail at the Pendennis Club in Louisville, Kentucky, and then introduced the recipe to bartenders at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City, leading to a rise in its popularity — though it’s possible the story is apocryphal.

Before the name “old-fashioned” was christened, a similar concoction of whiskey mixed with bitters was known as a “Whiskey Cocktail,” according to Difford’s Guide. In the 1870s, bartenders began adding ingredients like absinthe and Chartreuse, so customers began ordering “old-fashioned Whiskey Cocktails” when they wanted a simple drink.

The 1888 Bartenders’ Manual by Theodore Proulx includes one of the earliest printed recipes for the old-fashioned: “one-half lump of sugar… add a little bitters, syrup and absinthe… twist a piece of lemon-peel… drop in two or three pieces of ice, one jigger of whisky… and strain into another glass.” Bartenders and patrons alike loved the drink for its simplicity, as it provided an easy alternative to the increasingly complex cocktails of the time. It wasn’t until the 20th century that several now-commonplace modifications were made to the drink, including adding maraschino cherries and orange zest.

Manhattan

When it comes to the origins of the Manhattan cocktail, the one thing historians know for certain is that it was created in the 19th century. But how it was created remains in dispute, as many of its origin stories are somewhat dubious. The most oft-repeated story claims it was invented in 1874 for a dinner held by Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston Churchill’s mother, in honor of New York Governor Samuel J. Tilden. But historians cast doubt on the claim, suggesting she was actually back in England at the time while pregnant with Winston. Another more probable, yet still uncertain story is that the cocktail was invented by a bartender named “Black” — possibly a man named George Black, according to Difford’s Guide — in the 1860s. Black purportedly worked at a tavern on Houston Street in New York City called the Manhattan Inn, hence the drink’s name.

In any case, the Manhattan cocktail made its way into recipe books in the 1880s. An 1882 column in The Olean Democrat referenced the “Manhattan Cocktail” (also known as a “Turf Club” or “Jockey Club” cocktail) as a mixture of bitters, whiskey, and vermouth. In 1884, recipes for two types of Manhattans appeared in O.H. Byron’s The Modern Bartenders’ Guide. The “Manhattan Cocktail, No. 1” was made using French vermouth, whiskey, Angostura bitters, and gum syrup, while the “No. 2” variant contained “Curacoa,” Angostura bitters, whiskey, Italian vermouth, and ice.

Martini

According to cocktail expert Simon Difford, nobody is certain as to the exact origin of the martini — a classic mix of either gin or vodka and dry vermouth, garnished with a lemon twist or olive. But one of the leading theories is that the martini was derived from a popular boozy beverage called the Martinez. The Martinez, which has unclear origins of its own, is a cocktail made of equal parts gin and sweet vermouth, with a quarter-ounce of maraschino liqueur, a few dashes of Angostura bitters, and an orange twist. Some think that the Martinez was invented by Thomas at his Bay Area saloon for a customer who was traveling to the nearby city of Martinez, California. But those who live in the city of Martinez itself say that it was created by a local bartender. Either way, the first known printed recipe for a Martinez appeared in Byron’s 1884 cocktail guide.

The first known print recipe for a “Martini Cocktail,” meanwhile, appeared four years later in Harry Johnson’s Bartender Manual. The drink contained gum syrup, bitters (specifically the Boker’s brand), “curacoa” (curaçao), Old Tom gin, and vermouth. This recipe was quite similar to that of another cocktail at the time,  the Marguerite, which was made with Plymouth gin, French vermouth, and orange bitters. It wasn’t long until the very first recipe for a “Dry Martini” was printed, in the 1904 French cocktail book American-Bar Recettes des Boissons Anglaises et Américaine. The recipe specifically called for dry vermouth in place of the sweeter vermouths that were commonly used at the time. Martini recipes became simpler as time went on, and both curaçao and orange bitters were largely removed by the 1940s.

Blue Blazer

Though the drink has fallen out of fashion, the Blue Blazer was one of the most spectacular cocktails created during the golden age. Its origins date back to the 1850s, but it became a widespread sensation after Thomas’ Bar-Tenders’ Guide was published in 1862. Thomas purportedly conceived of the Blue Blazer while working at a gambling saloon in San Francisco. The drink itself was rather simple, but the showmanship that accompanied it won over the hearts of patrons.

The recipe is reminiscent of what we know today as a hot toddy, and begins by mixing “1 wine-glass” of Scotch whisky with boiling water in a silver-plated mug. The mug is then lit aflame, and its fiery contents are poured between two mugs “four or five times,” creating a visually stunning arc of blue flame. Per the instructions, you then add one teaspoon of white sugar and a lemon peel to cap it all off. This dramatic performance delighted onlookers, including Ulysses S. Grant, who once witnessed Thomas make the drink firsthand. 

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Chicken Fricassee

Fricassee, a French loanword, is both the name of a dish and the cooking process used to create it. To fricassee a chicken is to first sauté it in fat, then stew it in a stock that is eventually thickened with flour. The result is a stewlike dish of tender meat in a light roux gravy. As is typical of stew and similar dishes, many variations existed: Sometimes tomatoes were added; sometimes dumplings; sometimes it was served with biscuits. The flexibility of the dish was part of what made it popular; fricassee was known to be a favorite dish of Abraham Lincoln.

Succotash

A vegetable stew that has its origins in Indigenous cookery, succotash is an Anglicization of the Narragansett word msickquatash. The classic base of succotash is the trio of produce known in agricultural circles as the "Three Sisters": corn, beans, and squash. The dish had two main variants based on the season. During spring and summer, succotash was made with fresh corn and lima or string beans, while in winter it was made with dried corn and dried white beans. Both versions were cooked with butter or pork fat, and a little milk. 

In the 20th century, succotash became a common commercial canned food product, and the dish became associated with bland and overcooked cafeteria mush — a far cry from its origins as a harvest meal. As a result, succotash fell out of favor as the century progressed, but 21st-century cooks have been rediscovering the appeal of the original made-from-scratch dish.

Oysters

Today, raw oysters on the half shell are most often associated with upscale dining, but in the 19th century, oysters were a staple food, prepared in a multitude of ways. They were grilled, fried, roasted, stewed, baked in pies, even pickled. They were eaten in sandwiches, used as turkey stuffing, made into soups and sauces, or composed into dishes such as Hangtown Fry, an oyster and egg dish that, according to a 1933 cookbook, looked “like an egg pancake with oysters mixed in.” Oysters became so popular that by the late 1800s, households tended to keep specific plates for them — oyster plates had between four and six indentations in them, in order to cradle an oyster shell in place. 

Because of their incredible abundance, the popularity of oysters transcended class — they were eaten by rich and poor folks alike. But oyster harvesting was not done sustainably. In New York City, which was considered the oyster capital of the world during the 19th century, pollution, landfill, and overharvesting compromised the oyster beds of New York Harbor to an extent that the oysters became inedible. The oyster beds were closed permanently by 1927. 

Turtle

In the 1800s, turtle meat was a protein most often associated with upper-class dining. Preparation for turtle and terrapin was labor intensive — Maude C. Cook’s 1887 cookbook Three Meals a Day contains directions for the laborious process, which required removing the shell. In part because of the difficult preparation, turtle was rarely eaten at home; the meat was most commonly served in a banquet setting. Another reason was the sheer size of the turtles, which averaged between 50 and 300 pounds. The typical preparation of turtle was in turtle soup, considered a delicacy throughout the 1800s.

Over time, overharvesting led to the endangerment and near-extinction of the terrapin, and Prohibition made it difficult to get sherry, which was considered an essential seasoning ingredient for turtle soup. While the popularity of turtle waned during the 1920s, it recovered after World War II, only to mostly disappear by the dawn of the 21st century.

Baked Beans and Brown Bread

Brown bread was a steamed puddinglike loaf made from rye, wheat, and molasses. Mainly popular in New England, the bread was an affordable food that took advantage of lower prices for rye and wheat in that region. Brown bread was prepared by steaming it in a can, which resulted in a cylindrical shape, and it was served sliced into rounds. Baked beans were the traditional accompaniment, and had been since colonial times. Though it’s rarely seen in other parts of the U.S., the dish is still a popular food in New England today.

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