All the Food That’s Fit to Print

The recipe for peach Melba is thought to date back to 1893, when Nellie Melba and Auguste Escoffier were rubbing elbows at the Savoy Hotel, in London. One version of the story goes that Melba, a renowned soprano, sent the French chef tickets to her performance in Wagner’s “Lohengrin,” an opera in which her character, Elsa, summons a swan-shaped boat. The following evening, a smitten Escoffier sent Melba an ice swan bearing a silver dish on its back, with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with raspberry sauce and slices of fresh peach. Escoffier’s decision to represent Melba with sweetness and simplicity is puzzling, given that she possessed neither. Her fits of dramatic entitlement were legendary; “I am Melba!” she’d declare, as explanation for her extravagant dressing-room requests. Escoffier was no peach, either. As his dessert gained popularity, he scorned each new rendition. “Pêche Melba is a simple dish made up of tender and very ripe peaches, vanilla ice cream, and a purée of sugared raspberry,” he wrote in his memoir. “Any variation on this recipe ruins the delicate balance of its taste.”