Melba toast

[After Dame Nellie MELBA.]

WORD HISTORY   The familiar foods named for Helen Porter Mitchell are not recognizable as such unless one knows her stage name was Dame Nellie Melba. This famous opera singer of the late 19th and early 20th century, who took her last name from her native city of Melbourne, inspired others to honor her by naming things such as "soaps and sauces, ribbons and ruffles" after her. Perhaps the best known of such honors are Melba toast and peach Melba. Auguste Escoffier, the famous chef, is thought to have had a hand in both. Melba toast is said to be derived from the crisp toast that was part of Dame Melba's diet during the year 1897, a year in which she was very ill. The hotel proprietor César Ritz supposedly named it in a conversation with Escoffier. Pêche Melba was said to have been created by Escoffier for an 1892 party honoring the singer at the Savoy Hotel in London, although neither Escoffier nor Melba agreed with this version of events.

Originally a split slice of toasted bread, retoasted; now a thin slice of bread dried in the oven to a golden-brown colour. See also zwieback.

Also created by Auguste Escoffier for opera singer Dame Nellie Melba (see melba sauce), this toast is exceedingly thin and dry. It's sold packaged in most supermarkets and is used to accompany soups, salads and the like.

Melba toast is a very dry, crisp, thinly sliced toast often served with soups and salads or topped with either melted cheese or pâté. It is named after Dame Nellie Melba, the stage name of Australian opera singer Helen Porter Mitchell. The term is thought to date from 1897, when the singer was very ill and it became a staple of her diet. The toast was created for her by chef (and fan) Auguste Escoffier, who also created the Peach Melba dessert for her. The hotel proprietor César Ritz supposedly named it in a conversation with Escoffier.^[1]

Melba toast is usually made by lightly toasting bread in the normal way of making toast. Once the outside of the bread is slightly firm, it is removed from the toaster and then each slice is cut laterally with a bread knife to make two slices that are half the original thickness of the bread. These two thin slices are then toasted again to make Melba Toast.^[2]

Notes

Another way of acquiring Melba Toast is to buy it at the grocery store or a local farmer's market.

1. ^ Humes, James C. (1978). Speaker's Treasury of Anecdotes About the Famous. Harper and Row. pp. 19. ISBN 0060120080. 
2. ^ Great British Cookbook - Melba Toast

See also

• Peach Melba
• Toast

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