As a professional classical musician who thought he knew a lot about Rossini... This article was fantastic. Unfortunately it didn't mention that he wasn't just

As a professional classical musician who thought he knew a lot about Rossini... This article was fantastic. Unfortunately it didn't mention that he wasn't just getting fat off of crap food. He was friends with the greatest celebrity chefs in Europe, including Antonin carême ("the father of haute cuisine", inventor of souffle), Casimir Moissons, and Francois Chateaubriand (yes, that's where the steak comes from). Rossini himself published two cookbooks, one exclusively about recipes with truffles, and invented many dishes. The most enduring dish is probably Tournedos Rossini, which he invented with Moissons to top the Chateaubriand steak. It's a filet mignon with foie gras, and about $200 (today's price) worth of black Périgord truffle. The legend is that when Rossini described his custom order to a cook, the man said he couldn't bear to see it made. "So turn your back, then!" Said Rossini - "tournez le dos". Two favorite anecdotes: a biographer was interviewing people in Rossini's neighborhood, and asked the grocery owner up the street about the composer. The guy had no idea Rossini was a great composer, but "if he knows as much about music as he does about food, he must be a very great composer indeed!" And Rossini himself used to say that he had only ever cried three times in his life. Once, when his first opera flopped. Once, when he first heard the great violinist Paganini play. And once, when he attended a boat party, and witnessed a beautiful truffle-stuffed turkey fall overboard. For more about Rossini and food, this is probably a good start: https://behind-the-french-menu.blogspot.co.at/2012/06/tournedos-rossini-after-150-years-still.html?m=1 https://behind-the-french-menu.blogspot.co.at/2012/06/tourne...