Mixed Grill
A “mixed grill” is a dish of grilled or broiled meats and vegetables. “Mixed grill” is cited from at least 1904, in a London newspaper; the term is often identified as British and the earliest citations verify this. A 1914 citation (below) stated that mixed grill was “very popular in England for luncheon.”
Mixed grill quickly became popular in New York City’s fashionable restaurants and hotels. By at least 1909, “mixed grill” was being served by a Ladies’ Mile establishment. By at least 1911, “mixed grill” was served at the Waldorf hotel.
The term “mixed grill” has expanded beyond English grill offerings and is used worldwide.
“I found this on the local café menu—idemx rilgl. It was mixed grill” is a mixed grill joke.
Wikipedia: Mixed grill
Many regional cuisines feature a mixed grill, a meal consisting of a traditional assortment of grilled meats. Versions of the mixed grill include:
. Brazilian churrasco, typically featuring various cuts of chicken and beef, especially chicken hearts and picanha (rump cover)
. English mixed grill, consisting of lamb chops, lamb kidneys, beef steak, Gammon steak, tomato and mushrooms.
. South American (especially Argentine) asado, featuring cuts of beef, organ meats and sausages (especially chorizo and morcilla, a form of blood sausage).
. Jerusalem Mixed Grill (מעורב ירושלמי) contains chicken hearts, livers, spleen and bits of lamb grilled with onion, garlic and an array of Middle Eastern spices.
. South East Asian (Indian/Pakistan/Bangaldesh etc) : Chicken Tikka Pieces, Lamb Tikka pieces, Lamb sheekh , lamb cutlet, Tandoori King Prawn, Chicken/Lamb Samosa, Roti, Chutney
epicurious—Food Dictionary
mixed grill
A dish of grilled or broiled meats, which can include lamb chops, beefsteak, liver, kidneys, bacon and sausages and is usually accompanied by grilled or broiled mushrooms, tomatoes and potatoes.
The Free Dictionary
mixed grill
n.
A dish consisting of a variety of broiled meats and vegetables
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Main Entry: mixed grill
Function: noun
Date: 1913
: meats (as lamb chop, kidney, and bacon) and vegetables broiled together and served on one plate
MSN Encarta
mixed grill (plural mixed grills)
noun
Definition:
U.K. dish of grilled meats: a dish typically consisting of a grilled meat chop or steak, kidneys, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, and tomatoes
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
mixed grill
British English a dish consisting of meats such as sausage, bacon, liver etc which have all been grilled
(Oxford English Dictionary)
mixed grill, n.
Brit.
A dish consisting of several different grilled or fried items of food. Also fig.
1910 N.Y. Times Mag. 24 Apr. 7/4 The salad and the cheese may be chosen with epicurean taste, but it’s a mixed grill every day where the music is concerned.
1913 W. P. RIDGE (title) Mixed grill.
1922 A. HUXLEY Mortal Coils 201 ‘Two mixed grills,’ I said..to the waiter.
1936 J. C. GOODWIN One of Crowd xix. 271 Speakers’ Corner is a mixed grill of apostles and propagators, of oddities and crudities, of fanatics and eccentrics.
1967 D. CAMPBELL in Coast to Coast 1965-6 21 It takes me half an hour to get outside the mixed grill and the ice-cream and coffee.
1973 Times Lit. Suppl. 21 Dec. 1555/3 The audience will be a mixed-grill of faculty, students, alumni, businessmen, and perhaps a few who have simply wandered in from the rain.
1997 B. MORROW Giovanni’s Gift i. 83 We caught a creelful of small trout to add to the mixed grill of ribs and chicken.
12 December 1904, Des Moines (Iowa) Capital, “Old World Hotels” (from the London Express), pg. 5, col. 3:
He now goes in for a “mixed grill” at the Cafe de Paris (Monte Carlo—ed.), and buys his cigarettes at a tobacconist’s.
Chronicling America
1 September 1907, Los Angeles (CA) Herald, “Chefs of all nations will meet in London,” pg. 3, col. 3:
A strenuous time will be spent in the model kitchens, where friendly warfare among the frying pans will be indulged in. White capped rivals will prove their mettle over the “mixed grill,” or win the “blue riband of the grate” when tossing an elusive pancake.
Google Books
A Pocket Dictionary of Foods & Culinary Encyclopaedia
By Charles Herman Senn
Published by The Food & Cookery Pub. Agency
1908
Pg, 73
A Mixed Grill consists of a selection of grilled cutlets, bacon slices, tomatoes, and sausages. The whole neatly dressed on a dish and served with mashed ...
12 May 1909, New York (NY) Times, pg. 5, col. 3 ad:
Special Mixed Grill Luncheon, 50c
(Simpson Crawford Co., Sixth Avenue, 19th to 20th Street—ed.)
24 April 1910, New York (NY) Times, “Where Music Soothes While Lobsters Broil,” pg. SM7, col. 4:
...the salad and the cheese may be chosen with epicurean taste, but it’s a mixed grill every day where the music is concerned, with a little slice of Chopin, maybe, a morsel or Wagner, and a few trimmings of Victor Herbert to garnish up the clatter.
23 August 1911, Indianapolis (IN) Star, pg. 14, col. 4 ad:
Mixed Grill, with Baked Potatoes…50c
(Budweiser Cafe—ed.)
23 November 1911, St. Albans (VT) Daily Messenger, pg. 6:
“Mind you, I’m not kicking because Yale was beaten,” continued Shevlin as he ordered oysters and a mixed grill at the Waldorf, where he is living temporarily, for Shevlin commutes daily between New York and New Haven during his coaching period at Yale.
31 October 1912, Boston (MA) Journal, “Jane Eddington Among the World’s Cooks—England,” pg. 7:
On the next floor is another great grill, and the eaters are asking for a loin chop or a mixed grill or lamb’s kidney, or they pick out what they will have as they pass in.
9 November 1912, Boston (MA) Journal, pg. 12 ad:
Maxim’s Mixed Grill 75c
18 January 1914, Washington (DC) Post, “Culinary Art of Stage Folk,” magazine, pg. 46?, col. 7:
Mixed grills, so popular in the English restaurants, are among the homely food that comes to the table.
The mixed grill consists of lamb kidneys split and broiled with bacon, a sausage, a chop, a giant mushroom, and a tomato, this being the individual portion going to each guest, smoking hot under a cover with deviled gravy. The charm of this food, fresh from the fire, done just right, without burning or undercooking, has never waned with Britishers of all classes.
22 March 1914, Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette, pg. 6, col. 4:
“Mixed grill” is the name of a combination of familiar goods served in appetizing fashion at men’s clubs and leading restaurants. it consists of a lamb chop, a slice of English bacon, a link sausage, and a piece of lamb kidney, broiled together and served with French fried, white or sweet potatoes.
12 June 1914, Des Moines (Iowa) Capital, “Mixed Grill Good As Light Dinner” by Mary E. Lee, pg. 15, col. 5:
A mixed grill is very popular in England for luncheon, but it would be as good as a light dinner or supper.
The following recipe makes enough for three persons: Three lamb chops, one-half pound of sausages, four kidneys, two tomatoes and a half pound of mushrooms. Grill the chops, sausages, and kidneys together, slice the tomatoes and fry with the mushrooms. The mushrooms and the tomatoes should not be cooked long enough for the slices of tomatoes to lose their shape. Arrange the meat on a platter, lay the vegetables around the edge, garnish with parsley and serve. No gravy should be used with this dish, not even the juice from the mushrooms and tomatoes, or the flavor will be spoiled and the grill will look messy and unappetizing.