This Steak Dish Inspired Charlie Chaplin To Make His Own Recipe

Comedic silent film icon Charlie Chaplin was often praised for his portrayal of characters who experienced difficult times. In his movies, his characters often experienced extreme bouts of hunger; but in real life, Chaplin became known as a bit of a gourmand.

In fact, Chaplin is known to have contributed a recipe to a 1922 cookbook called "The Stag Cookbook: A Man's Cookbook for Men" by C. Mac Sheridan. It was designed to help men of the 20th century become better cooks in the kitchen. Chaplin provided his recipe for steak and kidney pie, which was one of his favorite dishes.

In Chaplin's version, he combined steak, beef kidney, and a small onion as the main ingredients. To make this dish, you cut the meat into pieces, then sprinkle it with flour, salt, and pepper, and finally add it to the pie crust with an egg, the onion, and water before covering it with a pastry topping. All you have to do from there is bake and enjoy. If you'd like to make a steak and kidney pie yourself, there are certain techniques you should employ and mistakes to avoid when making meat pie, one being the way you cook the pastry shell. Of course, you can start by choosing the best pastry for your steak pie and create a piece of culinary history.

Charlie Chaplin shared this love of food by contributing recipes to charity cookbooks that championed causes of the time. He provided a recipe for an apple roll to the 1916 cookbook "Celebrated Actor-Folks' Cookeries" to benefit the Red Cross and the Actor's Fund. In the same year, Chaplin contributed a recipe for the Chaplin Nut Salad to a cookbook that included recipes from the day's leading male actors. The dish is similar to a Waldorf salad but without the chicken, made with cantaloupe instead of grapes, and featuring celery, apples, mayonnaise, and nuts. You can enjoy one version of this salad by preparing a recipe for a Waldorf salad sandwich; just omit the chicken if you'd like to make Chaplin's version. Chaplin continued to be involved in sharing recipes throughout his life.

To add to his food-related legacy, there is also a popular cocktail called the Charlie Chaplin that's based on his favorite cocktail. The drink is made with sloe gin, apricot liqueur, and fresh lime juice. The Charlie Chaplin cocktail has its own unique history, too, as well as a modern reformulation.