Peach Melba was created by chef Auguste Escoffier (1846 – 1935), also connected to Downton (Alfred apprenticed at his cooking school). She dined in the best restaurants in Europe so of course was acquainted with Escoffier, who was with the Savoy at the time. She sent him a pair of tickets to come see her in the Wagner opera Lohengrin. In the opera, there was an impressive swan boat.
The next night after dinner at the Savoy, Escoffier served Melba a dessert of poached peaches served on ice cream in a dish set on a swan carved out of ice. At the time, he called it “Pecheau Cygne” (Peach Swan.) A few years later, when Escoffier and César Ritz opened the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, he added a sauce of puréed raspberries to the dish, and renamed it to Pêche Melba.
Escoffier’s recipe for Pêche Melba (Melba Peaches) in The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery, was quite simple: “Poach the peaches in vanilla-flavored syrup. Put them in a timbale upon a layer of vanilla ice-cream, and coat them with a raspberry puree.”
This is a particular favorite of Prince Charles.
The Royals Love Pêche Melba
Ingredients
- 6 large peaches
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 cups water
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 medium vanilla bean
- 3 pints raspberries
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 fresh mint,
- 2 pints vanilla ice cream (or frozen yoghurt)
Instructions
- Combine in a pot the wine, water, sugar, and vanilla bean and bring to a slow simmer.
- Cut peaches in half and mark an X on the bottom of each peach.
- Add peaches to simmering liquid and poach for 2-3 minutes until soft, the time will depend on the ripeness of the peach.
- Remove from the liquid with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Prepare the raspberry sauce. In a blender puree 2 pints of raspberries, 1 Tablespoon sugar, lemon juice and ½ cup of the poaching liquid, sieve to remove the seeds.
- Scoop vanilla ice cream in a bowl add one peach ½ and drizzle with raspberry sauce and garnish with raspberries and fresh mint.
