|
|
History of the Mandoline
Slicer
At the very beginning,
the slicer was not yet called the mandoline. But it
without any doubt has very old origins. Effectively
the first illustrated culinary book was published
in 1570 by Bartolomeo Scappi who was pope Pius VI's
cook. One of his book's illustrations shows a small
board with a central cutting blade and with other
small perpendicular blades to cut vegetables into
thin sticks. We are not able to give an exact date
but, given the details of the drawings, such a slicer
had probably existed for a long time. The musical
instrument, the Mandoline, was created in Italy near
Naples. Its ancestor, called the "Mandorre" was an
instrument with stiff strings. This name was probably
used for the cooking instrument before the Second
World War. However, it was well-known from 1949.
Then, a man from "Haute-Savoie" born in Morzine, made
the first metal version. In this way, a wooden vegetable
slicer invented by Mr. Marcel Forelle, from Toulouse
in the south of France, in 1930 was modernized. The
cooking instrument was given the name of the musical
one because cooks "play" their mandoline in the same
way as musicians. It is often said that at the beginning,
the mandoline didn't have a folding stand. The cook
simply held it pressed against his chest to slice
the vegetables directly above the dish. It is interesting
to notice that in professional cooking, other equipment
takes the name of musical instruments such as the
piano and the guitar.
We would be interested in any information about the
mandoline over the centuries. |
BACK
|
|
