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Snack

Peach Melba

Escoffier’s famous dessert: peaches poached in vanilla syrup, served on vanilla ice cream under a fresh raspberry purée.

⏱ 1 hr 30 min (20 min prep, 10 min cooking, 1 hr waiting) 🍽 Serves 4 · 1 peach with ice cream and sauce make aheadfreezer friendly vegetariangluten free
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ContainsMilk. Check the labels on what you buy; brands differ.

Ingredients

Make 4 servings

  • Peaches

  • 4 Peaches, ripe but firm
  • 3 cup Water
  • 200 g Granulated sugar, for the poaching syrup
  • 2 tsp Vanilla extract

  • Raspberry sauce

  • 12 oz Raspberries, fresh or frozen and thawed
  • ⅓ cup Powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp Lemon juice (bottled)

  • To serve

  • 2 cup Vanilla ice cream

Make it yourself

Out of powdered sugar? Make it →

In the planner, Make it on the shopping list swaps the store item for these ingredients and puts the work on your prep day.

Nutrition

Nutrition coming: the USDA numbers for these ingredients are being added.

📜 Where it comes from

Auguste Escoffier (1846–1935), the Savoy (1890–1898) and Carlton (1899–1919) hotels, London.

A Guide to Modern Cookery (London: William Heinemann, 1907; the English edition of Le Guide culinaire, Paris, 1903), No. 2699, p. 778: “Pêches Melba”.

“Poach the peaches in vanilla-flavoured syrup. Dish them in a timbale upon a layer of vanilla ice-cream, and coat them with a raspberry purée.”

The original text, quoted as printed; it is in the public domain.

Escoffier created the dish at the Savoy in London in the 1890s for the Australian soprano Nellie Melba; the year is usually given as 1892 or 1893. His own recipe is just these three things.

What we changed: Measurements and times are ours; we strain the raspberries, as most cooks do.

Escoffier did this work in London before Michelin gave out its first stars (1926), so no star ratings apply.

Internet Archive scan (Cornell University Library)Project Gutenberg textLe Guide culinaire, 1903 (Internet Archive)Auguste EscoffierPeach MelbaNellie MelbaMore from the great kitchens →

Steps

You’ll need: saucepan wide enough for the peaches, slotted spoon, blender or sieve, bowls.

  1. Bring the water and sugar to a boil in the saucepan, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the vanilla.
  2. Lower the peaches into the syrup and simmer gently 5 to 8 minutes, turning them, until a knife slides in easily. Lift them out, let them cool a few minutes, and slip off the skins. Halve and pit them.
  3. Cool the peaches in a little of the syrup, then chill at least 1 hour. (Save the rest of the syrup for iced tea or fruit salad.)
  4. For the sauce, purée the raspberries with the powdered sugar and lemon juice, then press through a sieve to remove the seeds. Chill.
  5. To serve, put a scoop of ice cream in each bowl, set two peach halves on top, and spoon the raspberry sauce over.
Make aheadPoach the peaches and make the sauce up to 2 days ahead; keep them covered in the fridge.
❄️ FreezerThe raspberry sauce freezes well for up to 3 months.
↺ LeftoversRefrigerate poached peaches in their syrup up to 3 days.
🧒 With kidsKids can press the raspberry purée through the sieve with the back of a spoon.
Shortcut swapOut of season, use canned peach halves in juice, drained, and skip the poaching.

Our own adaptation of a public-domain recipe, in our own words. Nutrition is estimated from USDA FoodData Central and changes with brands and portions.