Today is International Women’s Day and this morning I got to thinking about dishes that are named for women. Often they were named by men to honor or recall or fete women, actual or fictional, but that doesn’t bother me.
I learned a thing or two in going down the Google rabbit hole chasing dishes to share with you. Here are just a few, in no particular order. Each dish name is a link to a recipe or more (possibly true, often unverified) information.
Pizza Margherita
Crepes Suzette
Pavlova
Sally Lunn
Anadama bread
Lady Baltimore Cake
Desdemona Cakes
Lorna Doone cookies
Peach (Peche) Melba
Marie biscuits
Chicken/Seafood/Mushroom Tetrazzini
Victoria Sponge Cake
And, of course,
Proust’s Madeleines
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon orange flower water (optional)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons soft (but not melted) butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
confectioner’s sugar (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°
Butter 20 (or 24, depending on the size) madeleine tins.
Combine the eggs and sugar and beat until pale in color. Sift in the flour and fold in gently.Divide the batter among the molds, filling them 3/4 full.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the madeleines have risen and are barely browned.
Turn out onto rack and allow to cool. Dust lightly with confectioner’s sugar just before serving.
***
Are you thirsty by now? How about one of these?
Shirley Temple
Bloody (or Virgin) Mary
Mary Pickford
Rose Kennedy
Margarita
Ginger Rogers
Had enough? I know this is only the tip of the iceberg, so be sure to let me know what I’ve missed or forgotten, OK? And, let us celebrate all year ’round!
and then make soup 
What a fun topic, Rachel! I had not heard of some of the dishes and I thoroughly enjoyed clicking on the links to read about them. Very entertaining and inspiring. Thank you!
By: Kathryn Roth on March 8, 2019
at 4:20 pm
Now that was a fun project…you probably could have gone on for a long time.
By: Karen on March 31, 2019
at 11:50 am