Waldorf Salad

Waldorf Salad

Johann Jakob Astor left his birthplace Walldorf near Heidelberg when he was 16. His father did not earn enough money as a butcher to feed all the children from his two marriages. Johann Jakob started working in London for his brother, Georg Peter, who made woodwind instruments and pianos. He saved the money he earned to emigrate to America.   He arrived in New York on 24 March 1784 where his brother Heinrich was already working as a butcher.

Johann Jakob used the experience he gained in London, set up a musical instrument business and imported instruments from his brother in London to New York. This secured the young immigrant's livelihood. In 1785, he got involved in the fur trade which was very lucrative. He used the money he earned to buy land and property in Manhattan, which he let. Monopoly was his game, and he was good at it. When he died, aged 74 in 1848, he was the richest man in America and his estate was worth 20 million US dollars.

Just as every Monopoly player knows, his great-grandson William Waldorf Astor (one "l" was lost in the USA) knew that you could earn more money with hotels than with rental property. In 1893, he opened the 13-storey "Waldorf Hotel" on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street. In 1897, his cousin John Jacob Astor IV followed with the "Hotel Astoria" right next door, which was four floors higher. The combined "Waldorf-Astoria" was the biggest, tallest and best hotel in the world at the time.

The Swiss native Oscar Tschirky was hired as chef de cuisine at the "Waldorf hotel" in 1894. Tschirky had previously worked as porter, waiter and ship's steward and then in "Delmonico’s", the most elegant restaurant in New York at the time. Nasty gossip maintained that scrambled eggs was the most difficult thing that Tschirky could cook. Tschirky did not call himself chef de cuisine, but instead Maître d’Hôtel – and is considered the inventor of Waldorf salad, which can be looked up in his book "The Cookbook, by Oscar of the Waldorf V2" published in 1896.

The recipe is in fact very simple. Celery and sharp apples are peeled and chopped up, mayonnaise is poured over them and then walnuts are spread over the top – voilà. Oscar Tschirky's creation was met with enthusiasm in the glamorous world of the grand hotel and is considered one of the classic party salads today.

Numerous variants were developed over the course of the next 100 years, with poultry and boiled ham, seeded grapes and raisins, with celery stalks, sliced hazelnuts, yoghurt, strawberries, parmigiana strips and white truffle oil or purée.

Oscar Tschirky was a man much in demand during his life. He prepared numerous large banquets and parties for presidents and kings. However, when he was offered the position of hotel manager of the Waldorf-Astoria, he declined respectfully. He wanted to remain what he was, especially since his salary was extremely high, even for conditions in New York.

In 1928, the Waldorf-Astoria on Fifth Avenue was sold for 20 million US dollars; the son of the immigrant Johann Jakob Astor had bought the building and land for 20,000 US dollars in 1827. The Empire State Building stands at the spot today. In the new Waldorf-Astoria opened on Park Avenue in 1931, the bistro "Oscar" reminds you of the talented inventor of Waldorf salad.