Discover Cooking

In 1896, the maitre d’hotel of the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, Oscar Tschirky, came up with a new dish, that he called the Waldorf Salad. The original recipe called only for chopped apples, celery and mayonnaise. Chopped walnuts were later added for some extra texture and are now found in almost every version of this recipe.

What I find interesting is the fact that this dish was not created by a famous, chef, but instead by the hotel manager. Comes to show that you don’t need some special culinary training to come up with a yummy and creative dish. He apparently created the dish for a ’society supper’ to which 1,500 persons came from Boston, Baltimore, and Philadelphia and it was an instant hit.