Eat to the Beat: Operatic Inspirations

Ah, the opera. Manipulative phantoms, suicidal butterflies and chefs for as long as the fat lady could sing for her supper.

Many excellent dishes have tumbled forth from love-struck chefs’ bubbling cauldrons; the Italian opera belter Luisa Tetrazzini caused an anonymous toque to conjure the humble, but rich and toothsome chicken tetrazzini (check out Giada’s recipe).

And one Dame Nellie Melba managed to have four fab food items created in her honor (peach Melba, Melba sauce, Melba garniture and Melba toast).

There have been a few bloopers, too. The Swedish opera singer Per Janzon caused Jansson’s tempation, a hopefully named but hideously executed Swedish casserole involving grated potatoes, copious amounts of chopped onion, pickled sprats and bread crumbs, all swimming in a gelatinous creamy goo.

The French composer Georges Bizet (Carmen) instigated the nightmarish eggs in a mold bizet (aka eggs cooked in devices lined with minced pickled tongue and served on artichoke hearts). Thanks guys.

The only contemporary singing lady to make a chef’s flames burn a bit brighter is Renee Fleming.

Daniel Boulud dedicated his almost sinful culinary masterpiece to the chanteuse La Diva Renee, and it’s as delectable and complex as any Verdi heroine. Made with buttery sable cookies, hazelnut wafers, milk chocolate Champagne chantilly, chocolate biscuits coated with bittersweet chocolate ganache and an almond-Amaretto biscuit crowned with a milk chocolate emblem emblazoned with the notes of Der Rosenkavalier, it’s begging for an encore.

Last week, the Met’s New York season kicked off with the gala premiere of Robert Lepage’s new production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold. One can only hope that a cultural Reagan-esque trickle-down effect will once again bubble over from the opera into the sizzling pots and steaming ovens of the city’s greatest chefs, nourishing even the most humble nosher.