Kaiser Roll (1916); French Fries (1915)

Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM
Wed Aug 28 03:00:19 UTC 2002


   Someone from a certain un-named magazine ("just for kids") asked me,
through David Wilton, about "kaiser roll." and "french fries."  That's
me--free antedates of any term within 24 hours.  Or your money back.
   This is part of that magazine's series on food etymologies.  Maybe someone
else explained about my work on the "hot dog."  I was in David Graulich's HOT
DOG book, but see also his book on FRENCH FRIES (which would not have the
information below).


KAISER ROLL

    This originated in Vienna (and is called Kaisersemmel).  I don't have a
good German reference for it, because when I was in Vienna recently, I was
researching cookbooks 1840s and earlier.  And then the library's copier
broke, so I couldn't even do that.  "Kaisersemmel," like the
"Kaiserschmarren" dessert, is probably a later "Kaiser" name for something
that was baked under a different name much earlier.
   OED has 1927 for "Kaiser" and states that it's shortened from "Kaiser
Roll"--which OED has from 1978!

   7 April 1916, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 6 ad:
_WARD'S
_TIP-TOP_
_BREAD_
(...)
PARKER HOUSE ROLLS
FRANKFORT ROLLS
NEW YORK ROLLS
FRENCH ROLLS
VIENNA ROLLS
TIP-TOP ROLLS
KAISER ROLLS
MUFFINS


FRENCH FRY

    This has nothing to do with the French Revolution and the guillotine!
What dumb internet site has that?
    It means deep-frying certain foods.  I found the term (French frying) in
use in early 1800s cookbooks, but it's earlier than that.  I can't re-check
the PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE 1700s database because the NYU library is on summer
hours right now.
   OED has 1894 for "French fried potatoes," but that term was common in
American cookbooks of the 1880s.  I think I found "French fried potatoes" in
the 1870s.
   OED has 1918 for "French fries."

   21 July 1901, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. SM19:
   Observe how I take this point of the blade and extract the eyes and bad
spots in the potato, without haste, waste, or trouble!  Now I take this end
of the cutter and  slice, and there you have the cubes or rectangles I would
say for the famous French fry.

   Morrison, Anna Daly, 1884-1957, _Diary of Anna Daly Morrison, September
1915_, in DIARY OF ANNA DALY MORRISON, THOSE WERE THE DAYS, Boise, ID:
Em-Kayan Press, 1951, pg. 16:
(Found on NORTH AMERICAN WOMEN'S LETTERS AND DIARIES computer database)
   Soon after we had deposited our grips, the dinner bell rang and we hied
ourselves to the mess tent for a mammoth meal of huge steaks, mountains of
French fries and quarts of coffee.



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