"System D, arguably, reached its heyday in the Victorian-era railway hotels, where the menus were huge and it was not unusual for an extra two hundred guests to show up wanting, say, the Fricasse of Lobster Thermidor — for which only fifty portions were available. Suddenly, Thermidor for fifty was transformed into Thermidor for two hundred. Don't ask how. You don't want to know."
fun fact: Thermidor - after which Sauce Thermidor and derived dishes like Lobster Themidor are named, is a month in the French Republican Calendar, specifically: the second month of summer, going approx. from mid-July to mid-August.
Neil Gaiman who introduced me to the French Republican Calendar in a story set during the French revolutionary period (The Sandman #29). I didn’t have easy access to an encylopedia (or the Internet) in the early nineties so Thermidor was the only month I knew for a long time.