Salisbury steak; Oscar; Waldorf Salad; Snip Doodles

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SALISBURY STEAK

     John Ayto's A GOURMET'S GUIDE: FOOD & DRINK FROM A TO Z (1993) has:
"Salisbury Steak  (...) The term is first recorded in 1897...."
     John Mariani's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN FOOD & DRINK (1999; thank
goodness it's a second edition, "completely updated, revised, and expanded")
has:  "The term dates in print to 1895."
     This is from SUPPLEMENT TO THE TABLE (1890) by Allessandro Filippini (a
famous Delmonico's chef and a prolific author), pg. 38:

_1470. Salisbury Steaks._--Procure tow pounds of fine rump of beef, pare off
all the fat, then place it in a Salibury chopping machine and chop it until
very fine; remove from the machine, put it on a table, discard all the
sinews, then season with a pinch of salt (a tablespoonful), half a pinch of
pepper (a heaped teaspoonful), thoroughly knead all together, then make six
balls of equal size.
     Pour a tablespoonful of sweet-oil on a plate, lightly and gently roll
each steak in the sweet-oil, then place them on the broiler and broil for
three minutes on each side; remove from the fire, dress them on a hot dish,
decorate with little water-cress, and serve.
     If no Salisbury machine be on hand, chop the beef very fine on a wooden
board.

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OSCAR OF THE WALDORF

     It's Oscar time.
     I read through OSCAR OF THE WALDORF (1943) by Karl Schriftgiesser, but
there was no "quiche."

Pg. 31:  In its great days, which Oscar knew so well with the eyes of youth,
such dignitaries as...and Colonel Joe Rickey, the Washington lobbyist who
invented the gin rickey at this same bar, ate and drank and slept and talked
within the confines of the turbulent hotel.

Pg. 59:  Mr. Baker, the Society editor of the _Herald_, came up to Oscar as
he stood in the background, fascinated with the sight.  (The 1893 opening of
the old Waldorf at the site now occupied by the Empire State Building--ed.)
     "Look at them strutting and preening along that corridor," he said.
"Just like peacocks.  Not a bad name for that corridor--Peacock Alley.  Mind
if I call it that in the paper tomorrow?"
     Oscar says that he wouldn't have minded anything that night.
     "Sounds like a good name," he told the reporter.  Mr. Boldt came by just
then and it was repeated to him.  He said the words over, smackingly, behind
his beard and looked out at the throng.  "It fits," he said.
     And so Peacock Alley got its name.  From that night it became known
throughout the country as the Main Street of Fashion.  Some thought it an
actual street, and mail has often been addressed to it since.
     "Peacock Alley was no part of the original plan.  Mr. Hardenbergh did
not design it with any such idea in mind.  To us," "says Oscar, "it was just
a corridor in the hotel.  Why ladies decided to congregate there that night,
nobody knows.  But they couldn't have selected a more fitting background, a
more elegant rendezvous."

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WALDORF SALAD (continued)

     Ayto:  "the term is first recorded in Leiter and Van Bergh's _Flower
City Cook Book_, 1911."
    Mariani:  "The dish was supposedly created by maitre d'hotel Oscar
Tschirky (Tschirsky--ed.) of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City,
which opened in 1893.  (The Waldorf opened in 1893.  The Astoria opened in
1897.  Again, this book is a second edition--ed.)  By 1896, when Tschirky
(sic) compiled _The Cook Book by "Oscar of the Waldorf_," the recipe--given
without comment--called for only apples, celery, and mayonnaise, and the
salad later became a staple item in most hotel dining rooms and other
restaurants.
     "Waldorf Salad" is also in THE CHICAGO RECORD COOK BOOK (1896), pg. 503.

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SNIP DOODLES

     "Snip Doodles" is on page 12 of APPROVED ENDURING FAVORITES (1932,
Women's Overseas Service League).
     "Snickerdoodle" is on page 7, col. 1, of "CENTRAL" COOK BOOK (1933,
Central Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY).
     Anybody want recipes?
    What's the earliest on "fried green tomatoes"?  Want that next?