It cannot be anything else than Tiramisù.
Above all: do you know the meaning of the word “Tiramisù”?
It is a compound word, made from “Tira” present imperative of the verb to pull or to pick , plus the pronoun “mi”, which is “me” and finally the adverb “su”, that is “up”: “Pick me up” is the translation.
It seems to be elaborated in the pretty city of Treviso, in the region Veneto.
This is Treviso, a city that straddles several rivers and canals.
bdr bdr
More detail about the beginning of the Tiramisù?
It was inventated in a brothel.
Now the meaning makes more sense.
The preparation is easy and also simple: a few ingredients assembled to become the most renowned and most “clicked” dessert on the web.
Lady’s fingers dipped in coffe and layered with a sauce made by raw eggs, sugar and mascarpone cheese. It is all.
But why our clients-guestes-friends say that the Tiramisù at GiglioCooking school in Florence ( which is not even in Veneto, as we are in Tuscany!) ”This is the best ever” ?
It is not a secret anymore.
Quality of the ingredients is fundamental, for sure.
The secrets are in the procedure and I am going to tell you right now.
Before I want to do a make a disquisition on the term “light”: a light Tiramisù doesn’t exist. It is all a fact of texture: our is airy and fluffy. Which means: delusive and dangerous.
Our Tiramisù is missing whipping cream – that helps with lightness – .
Still we are far from the real “lightness”. Counting the calories will give an answer: 350 calories per portion.
Raw eggs?
Ok… if you are sure about their safety. In Italy the egg are checked, washed and printed one by one only after it is has been verified they don’t carry any risky bacterium. Anyways, “pasteurization” is a safe thing to do.
The eggs must be separated: egg yolks and egg whites.
With the egg yolks we prepare a Zabaione, cooking it on a double boiler and bringing them to 85°c – 185 F, the temperature at which bacteria die, as the bioligist Pasteur – actually the first micro-biologist – discovered in 1800.
This operation can be tricky, as the eggs start to coagulate at 62° c – 144 F: thus before we bring them to the right temperature they can become an omelette.
The trick is a good manual whisk and a costant “whipping” at increasing speed in the bowl. The “speed” will cheat on the eggs: they will not realize that the heat is coming from an actual burner .
As soon as the temperature is right, the Zabaione must be poured out in a cold container – it can’t remain in the hot bowl: finally they will realize that the heat is real! – and then in the freezer to cool down ad quick as pobbicle, avoiding the passage at room temperature, where the bacteria would jump in the yummy mixture to make a party.
For the whites the action is just a bit more complicated: they must be whipped until they look like snow. A simple syrup, same amount of sugar and water must be brought to the beginning of caramelization, 121° c – 250 F.
Easy to use a termometer, but also doable without: listen to the noise of rain made by the water that, transforming into vapor, goes up and out of the pan.
When the water is finished, also the noise changes, exactly like when it stops to rain. The borders of the syrup start to be pale yellow. It’s time: 121° c.
Clear but already caramel: it means that, touching a cold surface, the liquid caramel, solidifies. Which makes the operation a bit tricky.
So, start the electric beaters in the egg whites, beating and stirring, at the same time pouring the hot syrup, and making so it goes to touch every single drop of the entire volume of the “snow”, actually cooking it without coagulating it. Just pasteurizing it.
I know: you are thinking that, to be able to do that, you need 5 hands….
Not true. Try!
Below you find the “best Tiramisù ever”:
TIRAMISU’
Ingredients for 6:
250 gr (8 oz) Mascarpone cheese
3 eggs
105 gr (3 1/2 oz) sugar
250 ml (1 cup) strong Italian coffee (better from an Italian coffee pot)
1 tbs Rum
16 Savoiardi (Lady’s fingers)
1 tbs cocoa powder
Separate 2 eggs.
In a bowl whip up the two egg whites until firm. Meanwhile make a syrup with 60 gr of sugar (3 oz) and same weigh of water and bring it to 121°C (247 F) and pour it still hot in the egg whites while beating.
Put the “Italian Meringue” in the fridge.
In a double boiler beat the two egg yolks plus one whole egg with the remaining sugar – 45 gr, 3 tbs – until fluffy. Add the Rhum and bring to 85°C (185 F). Pour the “zabaione” immediately in a cold bowl and then immediately in the freezer or, better, in a flash freezer.
When the yolk mixture is cold, add the Mascarpone and mix well. Fold the egg whites (Italian meringue) into the cream.
Dip the biscuits into the coffee and place them side by side on the bottom of a rectangular serving dish. Pour half of the cream over the biscuits and make a second layer of biscuits, dipped in the coffee. Cover the top with the left cream.
Sprinkle the cocoa on top of the Tiramisù and refrigerate at least one hour before serving.
Marcella Ansaldo © 2022
Photos by Marta Mariuz © 2022