Happy Birthday Benjamin Thompson, foodie inventor extraordinaire

by Emily Matchar, Posted Mar 26th 2008 @ 3:00PM

Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count von Rumford (March 26, 1753 - August 21, 1814) was an American-born physicist best known for his work in the field of thermodynamics. A Loyalist during the Revolutionary War, he was rumored to be a spy for the British and ended up having to flee to Europe, where he spent most of the rest of his life.

But let's give the guy some slack, as he invented the pressure cooker, the kitchen range and the technique for making Baked Alaska (though the dish was not named until 1876 at Delmonico's in New York in honor of the newly acquired territory), as well as a double boiler and a drip coffee pot. Rumford Baking Powder is named after him, as it was invented by a professor in the endowed Rumford professorship in physics at Harvard.

Rumford demonstrated that beaten egg whites acted as a good insulator for ice cream. He called the resulting dish 'omelette surprise.' I'm gonna venture to say that 'Baked Alaska' has a nicer ring. So let's honor the Count today with some ice cream, sponge cake, and meringue. Here's a recipe.

Source

Filed Under: Science
Tags: Baked Alaska, BakedAlaska, dessert, Ice Cream, Inventions

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-27-2008 @12:22PM Erin said... ObPedant: Alaska wasn't a state until 1959. It was acquired as "Seward's folly" in 1870 and wasn't even officially a territory until 1912.
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