According to legend, pommes soufflées were discovered by chance on what date?

According to the famous legend, pommes soufflées were discovered by chance on 24 August 1837.

The story places the discovery at the Pavillon Henri IV in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris. Queen Marie-Amélie and other dignitaries were delayed after inaugurating the first passenger steam railway in France, leaving chef Jean-Louis-François Collinet to hold the potatoes. When he returned the partially cooked slices to hot oil, they allegedly puffed into crisp, hollow pillows.

Pommes soufflées are made by frying potato slices twice. The first fry partially cooks them; after cooling, a second, hotter fry causes them to inflate and turn golden. Their dramatic shape comes from steam expanding between layers of the potato as the exterior seals.

The date is a legendary attribution, not an uncontested historical fact. The discovery story has been disputed on several grounds, so the careful wording is “according to legend.” That qualification is important: the date is the canonical answer to this trivia question, while the broader claim that Collinet invented the dish remains part of culinary tradition rather than firmly established history.