On June 14, 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte and his French troops claimed victory over Austrian forces near the northern Italian village of Marengo. Napoleon, having won his first major victory as the First Consul of France, was famished.
He requested his personal chef, François Claude Guignet, nicknamed Dunan, create a dish fit for celebration. Dunan hurriedly improvised a recipe, sending the troop’s officers to find ingredients in the marshes and villages settled around the battlefield. One officer returned with tomatoes and fresh herbs, another with chicken and eggs, and a last one with crayfish that were fished from a swamp. Dunan concocted a hearty yet bright stew of chicken and tomatoes braised with white wine, livened up with orange zest, and garnished with fried eggs and crayfish.
