Short history of famous Italian dessert Tiramisu

Tiramisu is famous Italian cake. The word itself „Tiramisu“ means „Lift me up“ in Italian. This cake is well known all around the world and is usually called „Tuscan Trifle“ or „Zuppa inglese“.

Traditional Tiramisu is dessert that reminds of pudding – it is usually made out of ladyfingers soaked into liqueur, lined between cream and minced chocolate. Originally Tiramisu was made out of light cream but in the last couple of years of Mascarpone cheese is usually used.

Here are some interesting theories about the origin of this amazing treat. Dessert similar to Tiramisu was made first time in Siena in the Toscana region, Italy. The cake was created in the honor of the visit of great duke Cosimo Medici Third. Because of the visit, Tiramisu got name „Zuppa del duca“ which means „The soup of the Duke“. Since he liked the cake very much Duke took the recipe to Florence. During 19th century Tiramisu became extremely popular with English intellectuals and artists that have lived in Florence. Consequently it became the part of English gastronomy culture as well.

They say that modern version of Tiramisu was created in the restaurant called „Le Beccherie“ in Italian town Treviso, north-west of Venice. There are a lot of stories and legends on Venice courtesans that worked in a brothel above this restaurant. By one of them, those ladies needed something to „lift“ them up and refresh in the pauses from many meetings – so that's how Tiramisu got its name. Other sources say that the creator of this fantastic treat was Roberto Linguanotto who was also the owner of the „Le Beccherie“ restaurant. The thing we know for sure is that the first recipes under name „Tiramisu“ haven't appeared before 1960. Regarding America, this treat originally became very popular in San Francisco and later all over USA. In July of 2017, the Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry officially declared Tiramisu as part of traditional products from Friuli - Venezia - Giulia region.

Ingredients

150 g sugar

8 eggs

400 g lady finger

650 g mascarpone

500 ml coffee

pp bitter cocoa

Preparation:

1. Divide egg white from the egg yolk and swipe egg yolk. Add sugar into egg yolk and swipe long enough to get nice foamy mass.

2. Swipe egg white, also until becoming foamy mass and slowly add it into swiped egg yolks, sugar and mascarpone. You need to be careful with slowly adding egg white. You need to do this with a spoon, not with a mixer, thus making the mass remain foamy, not being liquid.

3. Sweeten coffee as you wish and start dipping lady fingers. It is enough for lady fingers to be quickly put into coffee, in that way, they won’t soak too much coffee and won’t be soft. If you leave lady fingers in coffee longer, they will soak too much and tiramisu will be watery. Put the lady fingers in a pan.

4. Slowly cover the first line of lady fingers with half of the filling and align it nicely.

5. Repeat the procedure once more. I always add rum aroma into coffee although it is different from the original receipt but it gives me beautiful taste. It is up to you if you like rum or not.

6. When you have added another filling layer, slowly sip the bitter cocoa. Leave tiramisu in a fridge overnight.

Sources:

www.coolinarika.com

www.tiramisurecept.weebly.com

www.foodbook.me