bad egg tiramisu
One of the many casualties of Reagonomics was the system of regulatory agencies
protecting the American public. Among which is the one charged with safeguarding our food
supply. A minor component of which are the eggs found in every supermarket and convenience
store. Eggs which though usually safe, are showing an increasingly significant and
dangerous trend towards being occasionally unsafe. Better to err on the side of safety.
Uncooked beaten egg whites are out for now. Uncooked egg yokes are out for now. Tiramisu
calls for both. What to do. What to do.
The drbob cooking team has hands on experience with this dish dating back to the year
the Gipper himself took office (that's 1980 for you history nonbuffs) while bob was out of
the country. Meanwhile it has become very trendy in the States. And naturally the team
smugly prides itself in having been way ahead of the times. [At least once.] But one
detail we never got straight was the alcohol component. The real thing is hard to get even
in Italy according to one of our reliable Italian mom sources. Our original instructor
(the daughter) [see the dedication to this book] substituted blackberry brandy. And we've
used rum. Both are suggested by various official recipes. The other route is dry Marsala
wine in the zabaione variation ("zaa-ba-yo-nay" as in bad-bob-yo!-nay, see
below), apparently the route taken by the packaged single serving frozen portions one
often finds in Italy, as we have observed with our obsessive adult American habit of
reading the packaging of everything we eat. This cooks the egg yolks, solving half the egg
problem. Replacing the beaten egg whites with whipped cream solves the other half.
[Although with some effort, one can do the egg white
thing safely.]
The upside of trendiness is more widespread availability of the key
ingredientmascarpone cheese (not!)compared to our early days trying to
recreate this on the western side of the Atlantic. It is flown in from Italy at great
expense (though domestic production is growing) so for most of us, this is still just an
occasional homemade dessert. But beware of aging mascarpone. It leads to a grainy textured
mousse instead of the silk-like smoothness only fresh mascarpone can give. In the interests
of truth in advertising, mascarpone, a full fat dairy product in the cream cheese creme
fraiche family, is richer in fat than almost any other comparable dairy product. So don't
get addicted.
Here's the revisited version of tiramisu, previously spelled as tiramesu (in some Italian dialect) from the
original ladyfinger back of the package recipe in Italian.
ingredients
- mousse
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/2 c sugar
- 2 - 4 T rum or blackberry brandy or tiramisu liqueur or even dry Marsala wine
- 1 lb or 500g fresh mascarpone
- 1/2 - 1 c whipping cream
- non-mousse
- 300g ladyfingers
- 1 "cup" freshly brewed espresso coffee diluted by 1 c warm water
- 2 - 4 T same liqueur here (optional)
- topping
- 2-3 T high quality cocoa or grated bittersweet chocolate (fine)
instructions
[Aside: First we fire up our super cappuccino machine given as a wedding gift by dr bob's
Rome research group. In the early days of tiramisu making we used one of those couple of
bucks priced espresso pots we kept for Italian visitors. But then a colleague took
advantage of the dr bob nonprofit importing service to get his own high class
Pavoni
Europiccolo, rather overpriced here in the States, somewhat at a bargain when purchased in
Italy for US export, relatively speaking of course. So when the request for a wedding gift
suggestion came soon after from the group in espresso land, the answer was ready, complete
with model and store purchasing information. Suddenly espresso supremacy at not cost (to
us). Though bob was not a coffee drinker at the time.]
- One big dose of espresso is required. We press through more water to dilute it for the
dunking activity. Any route to an extra "long" espresso that works is
acceptable.
- Next we do a tiramisu liqueur substituted zabaglione. You beat together the egg yolks
and sugar a few minutes till it turns from the ordinary dark yellow yolk color to a very
light shade. This is done in the top half of a double boiler, which is then placed in the
bottom half of the double boiler already boiling away. Add your choice of liqueur and keep
beating for about 10 minutes till it thickens and you are convinced all possible
freeloading bacteria are well done. [It should read at least 160º if you have a thermometer.] Then
put in the freezer for rapid cool-down.
- The whipping cream replaces the uncooked beaten egg whites. Put a bowl and the beaters
in the freezer to chill for at least 10 minutes. This may or may not help whipping the
cream, but we read it somewhere and figure it can't hurt. Then whip the cream. Half a cup
is probably enoughno need to overdo the killer ingredients. Then beat the mascarpone
a bit and mix in the cooled zabaglione. Fold in the whipped cream so you don't lose the
fluff.
- Assembly time. Now you need three 100g plastic wrapped ladyfinger packages. We like to
use a spring-form pan since our collection of such pans is not seeing many cheesecakes
lately. The 10 1/4 in (26cm) diameter pan works well. Take each ladyfinger and dip in a
shallow bowl with the diluted espresso with or without extra booze. Roll it around
quickly, then remove it and place in the pan. Make one layer. Cover with half the
mascarpone mousse mixture. Repeat.
- Leave in the refrigerator at least 24 hours but preferably 48. It takes time for the
flavors to mix between the mousse and espresso soaked ladyfingers, which really takes
longer than a day. Sure it's hard to wait that long but the sacrifice is worth making.
- Before serving, remove from the refrigerator and dust lightly with some high quality
cocoa or finely grated bittersweet chocolate. The ideal texture of the dessert when
ingested is "soft".
notes
- Booze components: too much or not enough? This is a controversial question. dr bob likes
the light delicate touch. ms_ani wants more. Some recipes advise excessive amounts. Others
omit it entirely, probably prohibition holdouts. Remember that the power of this dish is
in its subtle balanced blend of flavors. Few desserts can compete with this one when done
properly.
- Tiramisu liqueur? The Pennsylvania Liquor Control
Board, not usually known for its taste in alcohol, scored a one time buy of
"tiramisu" liqueur imported from Italy from some obscure producer. We had some
in one of the few Italian restaurants in Philly that we trust, where it was offered free
as an after dinner drink when the new owners were fresh out of Rome. Now this Italian
custom has disappeared like the tiramisu liqueur has from the state liquor stores. But we
jealously guard our one bottle, which is sort of like Bailey's but tastes like tiramisu.
Good stuff but not available to the general public. Sorry. [48 proof Italian specialty
liqueur produced by G.M. Sommacompagna (VR) Italy and imported to the USA by Winebow, Inc, NY, NY or Shaw Ross Importers, Miami, FL;
can be ordered from PA State Specialty Stores]
- bob, a coffee drinker? For most of his life he never touched the stuff. Not even coffee
ice cream. Approaching middle age, he decided maybe it wouldn't hurt to try it in Italy.
After years of waiting for friends while they had theirs. Only cappuccino. At first. Then
Armenian coffee. Thought it might help those evenings when bob's eyes started glazing over
too early. After a while, those Italian cappuccino's actually started tasting good, though
it was hard to find a decent one in the US. Then the coffee revolution occurred here, and
decent coffee was much more accessible. And those chilled mocha summer drinks! How things
change.
- Then bob got addicted to Starbucks' bottled mocha
frappuccinos. Fortunately he found
them for a dollar a pop by the case at Costco's
warehouse store. He tries to be a moderate user. [As years went by, he
kicked the habit.]
- Perugina bittersweet chocolate has become our
favorite topping. [Now there are lots of good dark chocolate bars
available.]
- We have done two variations pumpkin tiramisu
and strawberry tiramisu, and have seen
limoncello tiramisu which we will eventually try our hand at. Our
original inspiration from the early eighties has a
cute dr bob sketch.
- Illustrations available. [See also
big pan tiramisu.]