Recipe: A thousand and one Tiramisùs

2017-03-08 The delicate flavour of mascarpone cheese, enhanced by the intense fragrance of coffee, makes tiramisù one of the most popular Italian desserts in the world.
This delicious pudding recalling traditional Austrian desserts would seem to have been invented in the 1970s by “Alle Beccherie” restaurant in Treviso. Young pastry chef Roberto Linguanotto, who had experience working in central Europe, is said to have been its inventor.
The original name in the dialect of the Veneto region was “tiramesù”, which became “tiramisù”, meaning pull-me-up, in Italian, underlining the dessert’s energising properties and, to some minds, its aphrodisiac qualities.
But the dessert’s origins may not actually lie on the other side of the Alps, for it is very similar to “sbatudin”, a blend of egg yolk and sugar that peasant families in the Veneto traditionally use as a restorative.
Numerous variations on tiramisù have evolved, including a vegan version containing neither egg nor mascarpone and a thousand other versions made with different ingredients. With thin, light biscuits or sponge cake in place of ladyfingers, with yoghurt or ricotta cheese instead of mascarpone to make it lighter, with barley coffee or fruit, ranging from strawberries to pineapple, peaches and berries in place of coffee, with amaretto biscuits or coconuts in place of cocoa.
But we still like the traditional recipe. Here are the ingredients for four: egg yolks(4); egg whites(2); sugar (125 grams); mascarpone (250 grams); brandy (optional, 25 millilitres); sweetened coffee (200 millilitres); ladyfingers (8); unsweetened cocoa powder (to taste).
How to make it: Beat egg yolks in an earthenware bowl with most of the sugar, heating it a little over a pot of hot water. Beat egg whites separately, with the remaining sugar, until they form stiff peaks. Work the mascarpone into the egg yolks, then gently fold in the egg whites, folding upwards to that the mixture remains foamy.
How to layer the dessert in the serving dish or individual bowls:Alternate layers of ladyfingers soaked in sweetened coffee (with brandy, if desired) with layers of the egg and cheese mixture. Refrigerate for a couple of hours.
Before serving, sprinkle cocoa over the top of the dessert.
As you will have seen, Tiramisù is an easy dessert to make: it takes only thirty minutes, plus a couple of hours for it to chill in the refrigerator.

Mariagrazia Villa

Recipe: chef Mario Grazia (Academia Barilla).
Source: Academia Barilla (ed.), Cucina Italiana. I grandi classici della nostra tradizione, Edizioni White Star, Novara, 2012.