Eat and love, sing, digest: these are the four acts of this comic opera called life.
“Eating and loving, singing, digesting: these are the four acts of this comic opera called life, which vanishes like the foam from a bottle of champagne. »...
Giacchino ROSSINI (1792-1868),
Profession of faith without complex of one of the greatest lyrical composers of the century, born in Italy and died in Paris.
All his portraits testify to this and Théophile Gautier cannot help writing: “He is of the most monstrous size. It's been six years since he's seen his feet. The brass of his orchestra shows a certain preoccupation with the saucepan that does not leave him, even in his most sublime inspirations. »
The author of the Barber of Seville was as gluttonous as his genius. Accustomed to the greatest restaurants in the capital - La Tour d'Argent, Chez Bofinger, la Maison Dorée - he seeks out the rarest dishes and does not hesitate to give recipe ideas.
At the Café Anglais, one of the most popular addresses on the Boulevard des Italiens, he asked to be served beef cut in the round from the tenderloin, topped with a slice of foie gras and a slice of truffle - greedy for everything, he loved foie gras and truffles called “the Mozart of mushrooms”.
Frightened, the butler told the truth to the Master, this dish is unpresentable: “Never mind, pass the dish behind the guests' backs”.
Is that why this ever-successful dish is called tournedos?
Perhaps.
