Peach Melba is a classic dessert made of peaches, raspberries, and vanilla ice cream, created by Auguste Escoffier in the 1890s for opera singer Dame Nellie Melba. The original name was “pecheau cygne,” and the dessert was later improved with the addition of raspberries. The recipe is simple, and frozen fruit can be used if fresh is not available.
Peach Melba is a famous dessert, long a classic in Europe and highly regarded in many other parts of the world. This mix of peaches and raspberries in a sauce with vanilla ice cream was created in the early 1890s by Auguste Escoffier, when he worked at the Savoy Hotel in London. The name derives from Dame Nellie Melba, who was one of the most famous opera singers at the time. Through dessert, Escoffier looked for a way for Dame Melba to eat ice cream, something he loved but feared he couldn’t eat because it would damage her singing voice.
Peach Melba’s original name was pecheau cygne or “fishing with a swan”. He was referring to Dame Melba’s performance in Wagner’s opera Lohengrin to which Melba had invited Escoffier. The play was part of the Knight of the Swan tradition and is based on medieval tales in which a knight arrives in a swan boat. Escoffier loved the swan boat used in the opera and prepared the first peche au cygne with an ice sculpture of the swan.
Later, according to some accounts, Escoffier reinvented the dessert when he went to work at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, and added raspberries to the peaches, renaming the dessert to Peach Melba so no one would forget his inspiration. It is this recipe that has become most famous and has been most published in subsequent cookbooks. This improved version as Escoffier made it is actually simple to make.
Most Peach Melba recipes call for you to blanch the peaches and remove their skins. If the peaches are very ripe, the blanching step may not be necessary and removing the skin from ripe peaches is easy. The peeled and sliced peaches are sprinkled with granulated sugar and left to macerate and cool. The raspberries in Escoffier’s recipe were mashed and then strained, but this step is now much easier by using a food processor or blender to turn the raspberries into a fine sauce. The sauce will be a little runny and should be thickened with powdered sugar. Escoffier recommended straining the chopped berries to remove the seeds, and you can do the same if you don’t mind the seeds and want a smoother sauce.
When the peaches and raspberries are cooled, the ice cream is placed in a plate, bowl or cup and the peaches are layered on top. Next, the raspberry sauce is poured over the peaches and ice cream to produce a wonderful sundae like confection that is bursting with fresh taste. However, there’s no need to wait until these fruits are in season if you can freeze them. You can certainly use frozen peaches and frozen raspberries, or even mixed berries to make an acceptable Peach Melba any time of year, although some people argue that the best Peach Melba renderings always use fresh fruit.
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