How many of you love the extravagant yet ethereal Italian dessert, Tiramisu? Even though half of the time is spent on pronouncing it correctly.
Tiramisu or tiramisù, from tirami su, literally means "pick me up" or "cheer me up". Well, we got that for sure!
For those of you who yet have to get their hands on this exotic delicacy, Tiramisu is a tasty coffee-flavoured Italian dessert made of ladyfingers or savoiardi dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese, flavoured with cocoa. Yes, it tastes just as luscious as it sounds, and here at MMC we make an eggless version of it. What a score right *wink*.
Many of us wonder how this beautiful and blissfulcake came to be. Let's get our 'Rs' rolling with a little Italian chef's kiss, and take a ride to the origins of Tiramisu.
The tale of Tiramisu is one of the legends, many historians say that there is no mention of it in books till 1980s, when the records claim it originated in Treviso in 1800. As the stories convey, this dessert was invented by a clever “maitresse” of a house of pleasure in the centre of Treviso. She developed this aphrodisiacdessert to offer to customers at the end of the evening in order to reinvigorate them and solve the problems they may have had with their conjugal duties on their return to their wives. Thus, referring to Tiremesù, a natural Viagra from the 19th century, served to customers in a brothel. The modern-day Le Beccherie restaurant added this dessert to its menu, hiding its origins by a veil of popular prudery, says Academia Del Tiramisú. The recipe comes from the “sbatudin”, a mix of egg yolk beaten together with sugar and commonly used by Treviso farmers as a restorative for newly-weds. But MMC does it without eggs.
Over the years, Italian grandmothers made it into a Sunday staple from their kitchen, and soon Tiramisú became a lavish item in Italy's cafés.
It was in the 1980s that this ravishing dessert got its breakout in American pop culture. Italian cuisine was now seen beyond spaghettis and pizzas, taking each restaurant's palate by storm in New York. And pastrychefs rolled up their sleeves in adapting new variations of the recipe, experimenting with almonds to mousse-puddings, and Nutella (Yes!).
And it was just a matter of time before Tiramisú boomed into the Indian Food Industry in late 2000s, making people fall in love with its extraordinary mutant flavouring and fanciful aura, as they began to explore more for foreign delights.
Fast forward to 2021, Tiramisu has become a sweet dish or cake available at most bakeries and cafés in India as well, on the top of every elegant dinner table. And Indian chefs blending it out, tempting the public to have a slice more.
One more reason why Tiramisú is a stand alone dessert from Italy apart from other sweet Italian treats like Bomboloni and Panna Cotta is that, it's composition is unusual yet equally alluring and enticing which settles perfectly in your mouth. The mascarpone combining with coffee into ladyfinger layers seems to be a grand collaboration of flavours. And seeing the expanse of coffee-lovers and chocoholics, with the biggest sweet tooth, all over the globe, it's difficult for one to keep their eyes and hands off of it.
It's no doubt that Italy has given a posh spread of its authentic cuisine to the world, that much of it has been integrated into other cultures' food bowls, and Tiramisú lays itself in its eminent space.
