How To Make Tiramisu - A Simple & Delicious Recipe
Is it a pudding? Is it an Italian cake? Whatever it is, it’s delicious.
by Brian Alcamo
Ti-ra-mi-su. Four syllables. Six ingredients (on average). The iconic Italian dessert holds a special place in the hearts of many people. It’s a perfectly light treat for the end of a meal, and goes great with an espresso and some post-meal conversation. When you read a recipe for tiramisu, the list of ingredients doesn’t necessarily help to convey what the end result will taste like. For this reason, some have described it as having a “mutant flavor”. One ingredient you won’t need? Liquor. While the flavor might be mutant, that’s exactly why we like it.
Photo by Vika Aleksandrova
Origins of Tiramisu
Tiramisu, like many other cultural staples, has a contested point of origin. While the sources of its beginnings are not as far as salsa’s, they are not entirely agreed upon. The narrowest point of origin that people can agree upon is Italia settentrionale, or Northern Italy. The regions where it most likely came from are Veneto, Friulia Venezia Giulia, or Piemonte.
(the regions Piemonte, Veneto, and Friulia Venezia Giulia are part of the larger Northern Italy)
A Sentence with No Spaces
The origin of the word tiramisu comes from a strung-together Italian sentence. Tirami su.
Tirare means to toss or throw, mi is the direct object pronoun “me,” and su means above or over. Tirare is conjugated in the imperative mood, which allows the speaker to place the direct object pronoun after the verb instead of before it.
The whole sentence (and now word) translates to “Pick me up,” which might have to do with the caffeine content of a key ingredient.
Originally, though, the word wasn’t Italian at all. At least, not the Standard Italian that many of us at JP Linguistics know, love, and study. Many people credit its beginnings to the city of Treviso in Veneto, a region in Northern Italy (Venice’s region). In the Treviso regional language the word was “tireme su.”
Photo by Vika Aleksandrova
Our Simple Tiramisu Recipe
Didn’t get a chance to tune into our Live Workshop with TimeIn New York? That’s okay. We’ve got our recipe right here (certo in inglese e in italiano).
Ingredienti per 4-6 persone (Ingredients for 4-6 people)
4 uova intere (4 whole eggs)
300 gr. di zucchero bianco (1.5 c of white sugar)
500 gr. di mascarpone (2.5 c of mascarpone)
40/45 biscotti savoiardi (40/45 ladyfingers)
300 cc. di caffè amaro e forte lasciato raffreddare (1 ¼ c of chilled, strongly brewed coffee)
100 gr. di spolvero di cacao amaro (½ c of dark chocolate powder)
Procedimento (Instructions)
Preparare preventivamente il caffè e lasciarlo raffreddare.
Prepare the coffee beforehand and let it cool.
Porre in una terrina 3 albumi di uovo e montarli a neve con un pizzico di sale.
Place 3 egg whites in a bowl and beat them stiff with a pinch of salt.
Con una frusta sbattere i 3 tuorli e l’uovo intero assieme allo zucchero quindi, aiutandosi con una spatola, aggiungere il mascarpone e mescolare piano piano dal basso verso l’alto fino a formare una crema.
With a whisk, beat the 3 egg yolks and the whole egg together with the sugar then, with the help of a spatula, add the mascarpone cheese and stir slowly from bottom to top until it forms a cream.
Infine aggiungere gli albumi montati a neve e amalgamare il tutto mescolando sempre molto piano, dal basso verso l’alto, per non smontare la crema.
Finally add the egg whites whipped to stiff peaks and mix everything, stirring always very slowly, from the bottom to the top, so as not to dismantle the cream.
Sul fondo piatto di una terrina o di una pirofila adagiare uno strato di savoiardi, inzuppati nel caffè, sgocciolati e leggermente spremuti con una forchetta per eliminare il liquido in eccesso.
On the flat bottom of a bowl or an ovenproof dish lay a layer of ladyfingers, soaked in coffee, drained and lightly squeezed with a fork to eliminate the excess liquid.
Sullo strato di savoiardi stendere uno strato pari alla metà della crema preparata.
On the layer of ladyfingers spread a layer equal to half of the prepared cream.
Quindi stendere sopra di essa un secondo strato di savoiardi, inzuppati e trattati come i precedenti.
Then spread a second layer of ladyfingers on top of it, soaked and treated like the previous ones.
Spalmare sopra la rimanente crema.
Spread the remaining cream on top.
Riporre il dolce in frigorifero per 12 ore e gustarlo dopo averlo spolverato con il cacao amaro aiutandosi con un colino.
Place the dessert in the refrigerator for 12 hours and enjoy it after sprinkling it with bitter cocoa using a sieve.
That’s all there is too it! Only a few ingredients, but a lot of "wrist work” (whisking, whipping, and sprinkling) and a lot of waiting will get you that delicious flavor that only comes from a properly made tiramisu. Now all you need is the limoncelo…
Grazie!
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(Thumbnail Photo by Vika Aleksandrova on Unsplash)
Returning to Italian Cafe Roots
This year, Starbucks is planning to open its first store in Italy with a mixed reception from locals...
Returning to Italian Cafe Roots
This year, Starbucks is planning to open its first store in Italy with a mixed reception from locals.
In a move that has provoked resistance from many locals, Starbucks will open a new cafe in the centre of Milan. While Italy is considered to be the birthplace of the modern coffee culture (as you read more about in our article, Evolution of Italian Espresso) the idea of Starbucks attempting to bring Frappuccinos to native Italians is causing a bit of a stir.
While many would argue that the coffee culture remains unaffected by globalization in Italy, it’s safe to say that global coffee culture has been very affected by Italian coffees. The exportation of the espresso has been an astonishing success and now forms the basis of the majority of coffee drinks around the world, especially in the menu at Starbucks.
However, to the approval of skeptics, Starbucks’ new store is attempting to make a return to its origins in Italian coffee culture by having the shop accompanied by it’s own roastery. Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, has stated many times that having a shop in Italy has been an aspiration of his since he visited the country in the 1980s.
Whether Starbucks will be accepted by the locals is yet to be seen, but it will, without a doubt shape the future of the Italian coffee experience.
We hope you've enjoyed learning about how Starbucks is Returning to Italian Cafe Roots! Do you think Starbucks will be able to receive rave reviews in the birthplace of modern coffee? Let us know below!
Evolution of Italian Espresso
Regardless of how you take your coffee, the influence of Italy in the coffee world is undeniable, especially when it comes to it's single most famous contribution: espresso.
Evolution of Italian Espresso
Regardless of how you take your coffee, the influence of Italy in the coffee world is undeniable, especially when it comes to its single most famous contribution: espresso.
Around 1901, thanks to the innovations of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the first version of espresso came into being although the machine that created it certainly didn’t look like a La Marzocco, which has become a staple in coffeehouses throughout the world.
The original concept of an espresso was something that could be prepared quickly. Translated literally, “espresso” means express. Luigi Bezzara, a Milanese inventor, registered a patent for a machine with groupheads onto which portafilters with compressed coffee could be clamped.
Photo: Prima-Coffee.com
By 1905, the patent had been purchased by Desidero Pavoni, who put into production the first commercial espresso machine: the Ideale. As a result of the increasing popularity of Italian espresso, in 1938 the first record of the word “barista” emerged.
Before that time, the term “barman” was more prevelant, however, Mussolini and the fascist movement created a campaign to “Italianise” common words. Barman was considered too American and was eventually replaced by barista, a more Italian-sounding word.
In the ‘30s and ‘40s, Italian coffee consumption declined - first due to restrictive policies on importation but later due to wartime scarcity. However, the Ideale espresso machine saw several improvements by big coffee names, such as Francisco Illy and Achille Gaggia (both of which still have major ties to the coffee world today).
In 1947, the next great development was made: Gaggia’s hand-pumped machine that allowed more pressure to be exerted over the coffee, meaning that essential oils and colloids were squeezed through creating the crown of the espresso shot, or crema. This type of espresso is what can be commonly expected in modern coffeehouses. In fact, the Italian coffee culture created in the ‘40s remains fairly consistent to this day, despite increasing levels of globalization.
Photo: Foodrepublic.com
While many would argue that the coffee culture remains unaffected by globalization in Italy, it’s safe to say that global coffee culture has been very affected by Italian coffees. The exportation of the espresso has been an astonishing success and now forms the basis of the majority of coffee drinks around the world.
We hope you've enjoyed learning about the Evolution of Italian Espresso! Looking to experience espresso in it's home country of Italy? Our culturally infused classes with native instructors can have you on the road to fluency faster than you can say "Buongiorno, un caffè per favore!" Click below for more info.