How Would You Like Your Mammoth? by Uta Seeburg

Author:Uta Seeburg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Experiment
Published: 2024-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

c. 1880 CE

Dishes Named after Bismarck

German Empire

It’s the golden age of the German Empire, defined by cities growing at a dizzying pace, temple-like warehouses, colonial stores permeated by the subtle fragrance of coffee and chocolate, Prussian military zeal, and the shining myth of the empire’s foundation. Chancellor Otto von Bismarck is a universally revered leading light in this era, a hulk of a man with a striking moustache and a penchant for substantial meals. As is common practice for modern hero worship, during the peak of the cult of Bismarck, everything possible was named after him: a dye, a group of islands in the South Pacific, soaps, ships—and lots and lots of dishes.

The dishes honored, unprompted, with the stateman’s name were probably loosely connected to Bismarck’s own culinary preferences. They were united by a certain fearlessness when it came to dealing with difficult ingredients, which was typical of nineteenth century cuisine (ultimately, “fat is fuel for the body’s machine,” as Hedwig Heyl wrote in her 1888 book ABC der Küche, or The ABCs of Cookery),25 as well as an honest, deeply German masculinity. A good example of this is the “Bismarck oak”—a Swiss roll covered with buttercream colored brown using cocoa and other ingredients such as pistachios or candied citrus peel, to give it the appearance of a gnarled, moss-covered oak (a symbol of Germany); pieces of its felled trunk would decorate confectionery shops.

There was also the invention of the “alla Bismarck” style of preparation, now more familiar in Italian cuisine, which simply referred to the practice of topping a steak or fillet with a fried egg. Then there was the much more elaborate “sole filets à la Bismarck.” The filets would be filled with truffled minced fish, oysters, mussels, and crab tails and, to finish, the dish would be doused with a light mixture of white wine sauce and hollandaise. Of these creations paying homage to the Iron Chancellor, the only one to have stuck in the collective memory is the pickled “Bismarck herring,” a dish that makes even the most disastrous night of drinking forgettable come the morning.

The nineteenth century was teeming with these kinds of culinary odes to victorious regents and statesmen. You need only recall poulet marengo, named after one of Napoleon’s victories, and puff pastry–wrapped beef Wellington, dedicated to the duke who rode to victory at the Battle of Waterloo. Both dishes, much like the “à la Bismarck” creations, were the subjects of somewhat fanciful anecdotes. It is not at all clear how true these stories are, but they were superb hooks for the Prussian art of conversation, carried out night after night at the tables of aristocrats and the bourgeoisie. According to one legend, “beef” Wellington was first served on the battlefield immediately after the victory, made with the flesh of the horses on which the French had ridden to catastrophe. One can easily imagine a Prussian officer listening to this story and gleefully demanding a second helping of victory beef.

Naming dishes after political idols is an intentional act of cultural consolidation and myth-making.

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