Created in 1893 by Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel in London for the Australian soprano Nellie Melba, after he heard her sing Lohengrin at Covent Garden; the swan from the opera became the early presentation (peach on a swan ice sculpture). Escoffier added the raspberry purée only in 1900 at the Carlton, completing the recipe still cited.
Escoffier's 1893 Savoy Hotel invention for soprano Nellie Melba — poached peach, vanilla ice cream, raspberry purée. The raspberry coulis (sauce Melba) is the part most modern kitchens get wrong by cooking it.
Half a poached peach in vanilla syrup, set into a coupe with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a ladle of cold raspberry purée poured over at service. No cream, no chocolate, no garnish in the original. Eaten with a small spoon — the peach yields, the ice cream resists, the raspberry runs down between them. Cold throughout; warm peach is a different dessert.
Escoffier's rule: peach must be poached briefly in vanilla syrup, never raw — raw peach skin is leathery and the flesh weeps water that dilutes the dish. Raspberry purée is uncooked, only sieved and lightly sugared, so the acidity stays sharp against the syrup-poached fruit. Heating the raspberry ruins the geometry of three temperatures (cool, frozen, cold) the dish depends on.
Variations
Pêche Melba classique (Escoffier's original); pêche cardinal uses redcurrant instead of raspberry; American diners drown it in whipped cream the original never had.
On the Palate
Where Peach Melba sits in the British flavor cloud
Ingredients
How it's made
5 steps · 15 min
- 13 min
Begin by bringing a saucepan of water to a gentle boil. Score the bottom of each peach with a small 'X' to make peeling easier. Blanch the peaches for about 2 minutes until the skin starts to pull away.
Watch outScore a shallow 'X' on the base and pull the peaches at two minutes — you want the skin lifting at the cut, not the flesh going soft.
- 22 min
Transfer the peaches to an ice bath immediately to stop the cooking process. Once cooled, gently peel away the skin, revealing the tender flesh beneath.
- 35 min
In a separate saucepan, combine fresh raspberries with sugar over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the raspberries break down into a vibrant sauce, about 5 minutes.
Watch outStir just until the sugar dissolves and the berries break down into a vivid, loose sauce — pull it before it thickens into jam.
- 42 min
Slice the peeled peaches in half and remove the pits. Arrange them cut side up in a serving dish, letting their natural juices pool slightly.
- 53 min
Spoon the raspberry sauce generously over the peaches, allowing it to cascade down the sides. Serve immediately with a scoop of vanilla ice cream nestled beside the peaches, creating a delightful contrast of hot and cold.
Watch outSauce and ice cream go on right before serving so the hot-cold contrast is sharp and the ice cream hasn't started to slump.
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