Word Search: Dishes that are delicious, no matter how much they change
We learn how additions to salads and desserts have just made them better over time
Nothing succeeds in putting a smile on our faces, quite like a delicious dessert.
Click start to play today’s Word Search, where you can spot various desserts. And if you’re not someone with a sweet tooth, you might spot a salad or two! Don’t forget to visit Gulf News’ Food section for cooking guides, features and recipes.
Some dishes are just so perfect in their classic style, no matter where you go in the world, you can expect to taste the same delicious flavour and enjoy the texture that you’re used to. Others undergo changes over time, but each version remains delicious and worth returning to, over and over again.
In our Word Search today, the Waldorf salad is one such menu item. Originating at its namesake hotel in New York, US, on March 14, 1893, it was introduced during a charity ball honouring a children’s hospital – the very first event held at the hotel.
The salad’s simplicity is often touted as the reason for its success. It was originally a classic three-ingredient combination of apples, celery and mayonnaise. But as its popularity increased, people around the country began to supplement it with their own additions – from chopped walnuts to oranges and even marshmallows. Even the Waldorf in New York, where it is still served, has upscaled its salad, adding red and green grapes, candied walnuts, and an emulsified mixture of Dijon mustard, olive oil, vinegar, egg yolk and white truffle oil. It’s clear no matter how simple or complex the salad, it’s beloved decades after it first hit customers’ plates.
A dessert from today’s puzzle, the peach melba, is another classic. Legendary French chef Escoffier is said to have invented the cool, creamy ice cream treat during the late 1890s for an Australian opera singer named Nellie Melba. Melba was a guest at the Savoy Hotel in London, where Escoffier was chef, and she sent him tickets to her performance in the Wagner opera Lohengrin. The production was exquisite, and in one iconic scene, it featured a boat in the shape of a swan.
Coming away from the opera, Escoffier was inspired. The next evening, he presented Melba with a dessert of fresh peaches served over vanilla ice cream in a silver dish, perched over a swan carved from ice. He originally called the dish pecheau cygnet or ‘peach with a swan’. But a few years later, when Escoffier helped opened the Ritz Carlton in London, he altered the dish slightly, adding a sweetened raspberry puree syrup, and called it peach melba. The rest, as they say, is history.
Which classic dish is your favourite? Play today’s Word Search and tell us at games@gulfnews.com.