What Is Melba Sauce? And How to Make It
This classic raspberry dessert sauce dates all the way back to the late 19th century, and was named in honor of a famous opera singer.
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By Fraya Berg for Food Network Kitchen
Fraya is a chef and a contributing writer at Food Network.
Dame Nellie Melba, an Australian opera singer in the early 20th century, was so famous that not one, but two foods were named after her: melba toast and the subject of this article: peaches melba (topped off with melba sauce).
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What Is Melba Sauce?
Created famous French chef Auguste Escoffier for Dame Nellie Melba, this sauce is a combination of puréed, strained fresh raspberries, red currant jelly, sugar and cornstarch. It's the topping for the dessert peach melba - a dish that consists of a poached peach, vanilla ice cream and melba sauce. Melba sauce is sometimes served over ice cream, fruit or cakes.
History of Melba Sauce
Helen Porter Mitchell was an operatic soprano known around the world as Dame Nellie Melba in the Victorian era. Performing around the world from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, she garnered popularity beyond anything an Australian had ever known. Chef Auguste Escoffier created the dish peaches melba to honor her when he cooked at the Savoy hotel in London. In the 1890s, he also created melba toast in her honor. These days, melba toast is more popular than peaches melba, with several store-bought flavors available in every grocery store in the U.S.
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Melba Sauce Uses
Tart raspberries pair well with most sweet foods, so it stands to reason that raspberry sauce is also be tasty with most desserts.
You can drizzle it on pound cake, ice cream and fruit and use it to add raspberry to milkshakes or smoothies.
Add it to a squirt bottle to easily squeeze beautiful patterns of sauce over your desserts or on the dessert plate itself. Try squeezing a pool of sauce onto a plate, dragging it across the plate with a spoon to create a graphic line and placing a slice of lemon or fruit tart on top of it.
How to Make Melba Sauce from Raspberry Jam
Making Melba Sauce is so easy when you start with raspberry jam instead of whole fresh raspberries.
Empty the contents of a jar of raspberry preserves into a saucepan and add 1/2 cup red currant jelly and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Simmer for 10 minutes to meld the flavors, then immediately strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds.
Store in the fridge for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 2 months.
Recipes for Peach Melba and Variations
Stephen Murello, Stephen Murello
Poached peaches are the real deal in this classic peach melba recipe. Frozen berries are fine to use when fresh berries aren’t at their peak.
Renee Comet, 2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
A more modern take on the classic from the 1890’s, with berries and jam and frozen yogurt.
RYAN DAUSCH
Grilling the peaches in a packet instead of poaching is so easy, and the cooked raspberries make an instant sauce.
Renee Comet, 2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
The peaches for this dessert are sauteed and the raspberries are tossed in at the end. Ginger snaps bring some crunch.
Clarissa Westmeyer, 2011 Kalman & Pabst Photo Group
Buying the crepes makes this dessert easier, giving you time to make the curd filling.
Peaches, raspberries and brandy come together in a skillet pie that’s best served warm with caramel sauce and in true melba style, with vanilla ice cream on the side.
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