Melba toast is a very dry, crisp and thinly sliced toast

Toast

Toast is bread that has been browned by exposure to radiant heat. This browning reaction is known as the Maillard reaction. Toasting warms the bread and makes it firmer, so it holds toppings more securely...

 often served with soup

Soup

Soup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...

 and salad

Salad

Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...

 or topped with either melted cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

 or pâté

Pâté

Pâté is a mixture of ground meat and fat minced into a spreadable paste. Common additions include vegetables, herbs, spices, and either wine or cognac, armagnac or brandy...

. It is named after Dame

Dame (title)

The title of Dame is the female equivalent of the honour of knighthood in the British honours system . It is also the equivalent form address to 'Sir' for a knight...

 Nellie Melba

Nellie Melba

Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...

, the stage name

Stage name

A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...

 of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 singer Helen Porter Mitchell. Its name is thought to date from 1897, when the singer was very ill and it became a staple of her diet

Diet (nutrition)

In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management...

. The toast was created for her by chef and fan Auguste Escoffier

Auguste Escoffier

Georges Auguste Escoffier was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. He is a legendary figure among chefs and gourmands, and was one of the most important leaders in the development of modern French cuisine...

, who also created the Peach Melba

Peach Melba

The Peach Melba is a classic dessert, invented in 1892 or 1893 by the French chef Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel, London to honour the Australian soprano, Nellie Melba. It combines two favourite summer fruits: peaches and raspberry sauce accompanying vanilla ice cream.In 1892, Nellie Melba...

 dessert for her. The hotel proprietor César Ritz

César Ritz

César Ritz was a Swiss hotelier and founder of several hotels, most famously the Hôtel Ritz, in Paris and The Ritz Hotel in London...

 supposedly named it in a conversation with Escoffier.

Melba toast is usually made by lightly toasting bread in the normal way of making toast

Toast

Toast is bread that has been browned by exposure to radiant heat. This browning reaction is known as the Maillard reaction. Toasting warms the bread and makes it firmer, so it holds toppings more securely...

. Once the outside of the bread is slightly firm, it is removed from the toaster and then each slice is cut laterally with a bread knife to make two slices that are half the original thickness of the bread. These two thin slices are then toasted again to make Melba toast. Melba Toast is also available commercially, and was at one time given to infants who were teething

Teething

Teething is the process by which an infant's first teeth sequentially appear by emerging through the gums. Teething may start as early as three months or as late, in some cases, as twelve months. The typical time frame for the first teeth to appear is somewhere between six and nine months...

 as a hard food substance on which to chew.

In 1925, the Mayo Brothers

Mayo brothers

The Mayo brothers were Charles Horace Mayo and William James Mayo, who with the help of their partners, co-founded the Mayo Clinic. The original partners in the practice were the Mayo brothers, Drs. Stinchfield, Judd, Graham, Plummer, Millet and Balfour...

 prescribed the "Eighteen Day Reducing Diet" to Ethel Barrymore

Ethel Barrymore

Ethel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors.-Early life:Ethel Barrymore was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew...

. It included Melba toast, which made the toast very popular at the time. Melba toast can also be used to make stuffing

Stuffing

In cooking, stuffing or filling is an edible substance or mixture, often a starch, used to fill a cavity in another food item...

 or dressing.

See also

• Peach Melba
  Peach Melba
  The Peach Melba is a classic dessert, invented in 1892 or 1893 by the French chef Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel, London to honour the Australian soprano, Nellie Melba. It combines two favourite summer fruits: peaches and raspberry sauce accompanying vanilla ice cream.In 1892, Nellie Melba...
  
  
• List of foods named after people
• Toast
  Toast
  Toast is bread that has been browned by exposure to radiant heat. This browning reaction is known as the Maillard reaction. Toasting warms the bread and makes it firmer, so it holds toppings more securely...
  
  
• Mrs. Cubbison's Foods
  Mrs. Cubbison's Foods
  Mrs. Cubbison's Foods is a company that specializes in stuffing products . Founded in the U.S. in 1948 by Sophie Cubbison, Mrs. Cubbison’s Foods has grown to include other products, such as croutons and meatloaf mix.-History:...
  
  
• Old London Foods
  Old London Foods
  Old London Foods is a company that is best known for its Melba toast products, that is a subsidiary of Nonni's Food. Originally based in the Bronx and called the King Kone Corporation, the company changed its name to Old London Foods, Inc., in May 1960 to match their best-known brand of food...