Kettner in 1877, in his Book of the Table, called Sidney Smith (1771–1845) the ‘witty canon’, and his poetic recipe, much quoted but rarely understood, has sometimes been taken to be a joke because it was assumed to be a recipe for potato salad, which, of course, it is not. It is an excellent mayonnaise or thick dressing, based on potato: try it with tomato salad or with a cold salmon trout or salmon or with any grilled fish.