Tetrazzini is named after which Italian opera star?

Tetrazzini is named after the Italian opera star Luisa Tetrazzini.

Tetrazzini is an Italian-American baked or sauced pasta dish, commonly made with poultry or seafood, butter, cream or milk, cheese, and sometimes sherry or white wine. It may use spaghetti, linguine, egg noodles, or another pasta, and is often finished with breadcrumbs or extra cheese.

The namesake was Luisa Tetrazzini, an internationally famous Italian coloratura soprano. Born in Florence in 1871, she built a major career in Europe and the Americas and became especially celebrated for roles such as Gilda in Rigoletto and Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor.

The dish’s exact origin is disputed. Some accounts connect it with chef Ernest Arbogast and San Francisco’s Palace Hotel, where Tetrazzini made her American debut as Gilda in 1905; others associate it with New York’s Knickerbocker Hotel or with Auguste Escoffier. Those competing origin stories do not change the standard answer to the naming question: the dish honors Luisa Tetrazzini.