1,475 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

The painter, the restaurant owners and the opera singer

You might well have noticed that there are recipes involving names that have been so overused (often for any old thing) that they have almost become common nouns.

18 K 4.4/5 (20 reviews)

Keywords for this post:Recipe Name Tatin Carpaccio Melba

Last modified on: September 25^th 2012

For this post: Comment Follow Send to a friend

The painter, the restaurant owners and the opera singer

Here are three examples that you can easily find on the menus of certain restaurants.

Carpaccio

carpaccio Normally a dish of raw beef, sliced very, very thinly, seasoned, covered with a light film of olive oil, and often served "on the plate".

le triomphe de st georges It comes from: From the name of Vittore Carpaccio, a Venetian Renaissance painter famous for the reds and browns of his paintings, red as beef. Some even claim that he was inspired by his painting "The Triumph of St. George".

And often it's: Anything thinly sliced, such as: scallop carpaccio, pineapple carpaccio, and so on.

Tatin

Normally it 's: A delicious tart with caramelized apples baked upside down (the pastry is on top) and turned upside down when serving.

Le restaurant des soeurs Tatin It comes from: From the name of the Tatin sisters, restaurateurs in La Motte-Beuvron, France, who invented this dessert in the early 20th century.

And often it's: Anything with pastry on top (or bottom) that vaguely resembles an upside-down tart, such as: tomato tatin, chicken dice tatin, etc.

Melba

Normally it's: A peach melba, a bowl of vanilla ice cream, raspberry coulis, poached peach, praline almond paste and whipped cream.

From: From the name of a famous Australian singer of the late 19th century, Nellie Melba, for whom the great chef Alain Escoffier invented this dessert.

And often it's: Anything served with vanilla ice cream and Chantilly cream, like: Strawberries Melba, Pears Melba, etc.

And?

Well, I've mentioned the most common, it seems, in French, but you'll notice that it's often linked to a proper noun.

Of course, you can have fun combining them all... " Fraises Melba et leur carpaccio de poires Tatin": In a bowl, a base of vanilla ice cream, a layer of thin slices of caramelized pears, a circle of crisp shortcrust pastry, diced strawberries and Chantilly cream.

But... it looks good too!

Lasts posts

Travel cakes

You may have come across the term "travel cakes" ("gateaux de voyage" in french) for certain pastries, so let's take a look at what they're all about.
January 27^th 20251,799

The aromatic power of sugar

In the kitchen, sugar doesn't just sweeten, it also has an exceptional ability to capture flavors. Combined with aromatic ingredients, such as citrus zest, it acts as a veritable sponge for aromas. By taking the time to let the sugar soak up the flavors, you can transform your desserts, making...
December 25^th 20242,1035

The little trap of thick cream

When you need to add cream to a recipe, you might be wondering: thick (heavy) cream or liquid cream? In most cases, there's no big difference: you can use either. But there is one exception, and that's when the cream needs to be cooked, for a sauce for example, and here the difference between...
December 13^th 20242,9125

Sauce and salad: When and how to mix them?

When dressing a salad, there's a kind of golden rule: add the dressing very shortly before serving, especially if your salad contains crunchy elements such as croutons or fresh vegetables, which will retain their crunchiness or crispiness. But, as is often the case in the kitchen, there are...
November 29^th 20243,0965

No need to boil gelatin

Gelatin is a magical ingredient for making light, creamy, structured desserts, yet it's often misused in the kitchen. A common mistake in some recipes is the idea that it needs to be boiled for it to work properly, but this is a mistake indeed: gelatin melts at a much lower temperature, around...
November 21^th 20242,8755

See all posts Random post RSS feeds

Other pages you may also like

From website to blog

Hello everyone, Today I'm inaugurating the cooking-ez.com "blog". The idea is to have a space for discussion open to everone, but not necessarily linked to a particular recipe or page. I hope the posts will be sufficiently interesting that you'll enjoy reading and discussing them. The...
January 1^st 201117 K3.9

Choosing a chopping board

It's a no-brainer, surely? If you want a chopping board, just find a piece of wood, and Bob's your uncle! You can happily chop away with a knife and not damage the table or worktop. But in reality, it's a bit more complicated than that. You need to be careful what you are buying, in particular the...
May 8^th 201247 K4.6

Different kinds of pastry and dough

When cooking in general, and particularly in baking, we can make and use many different kinds of pastry and dough. All built on the same "base": flour - a powder to which we add fat, liquid or both to produce the dough which is then cooked. .
November 6^th 2012107 K 14.0

What can I use for blind baking a pastry case?

When it comes to home-made desserts, tarts are always popular. They can be divided into two basic types: those cooked with their filling, such as an apricot and almond cream tart, and those where the filling is added after baking the pastry case, such as a strawberry tart or chocolate tart. For...
May 2^nd 2017107 K4.5

When should I change my knife?

I already spoke to you in a previous post about knives, those without which nothing is possible (or almost) in the kitchen, so I'm going to come back to them a bit and try to answer the question "When should I change my knife?
November 2^nd 201712 K4.7