Tiramisu I Have Known

In anticipation of going to Treviso to go to Antico Ristorante Le Becchiere, the birthplace of tiramisu, I am going to write about all of the tiramisu I have divested myself of.

1) The one, the only, Rita's:

 I already posted about it, but it's still one of the greats.

Her recipe calls for putting chocolate in with the egg whites. When the tiramisu has had time to refrigerate properly, the chocolate tastes like fudge. Definitely not traditional, but still incredible.

2) Zabaione

 I had this in Venice the night of Carnivale. Zabaione is tiramisu's close cousin: it's eggs, sugar, mascarpone, and rum. When it's warmed up, like here, it's the perfect remedy for the early spring chills! Since tiramisu is a Veneto invention, it's pretty safe to assume that it evolved from this drink, a traditional elixir on wedding nights. It is pretty orgasmic.

3) ZaZa

 ZaZa is an amazing restaurant in Florence. Special thanks to my friend Allie R for recommending it to me! I had told Will and Alessandra about this place, and they made reservations at this place without realizing that I had recommended it. They do traditional Italian food and beautiful roasted meat. *Sigh* Anyway, their tiramisu was okay. There was a little too much coffee on top.

4) Napoli

 This was at this restaurant in Napoli where we had a prix-fixe lunch. It was the very beginning of our Ecco adventure in Napoli (spring break) and I'm very sorry to say that it was an inauspicious beginning! The antipasto was amazing, but the gnocchi they gave us was greasy, flavorless, and, in some cases, burnt. The tiramisu was easily the worst I've ever had. Ever. It's not like tiramisu is difficult. How can you fuck it up? Well, the mascarpone wasn't fresh, the savoiardi had been soaked in too much rum and coffee for far too long and there was way too much coffee on top. It tasted like it had been sitting around for at least a day. Gross. We had better luck with our food elsewhere in Naples!

5) Easter

I don't have a picture of this, but one of my housemate's friends brought a tiramisu for Easter dinner. It was so good! The perfect amount of creamy and cakey and rum. He also put little sugar hearts on top, so when I ate leftovers for breakfast (NATURALLY), the sugar had all melted and it was amazing the end.

6) Osteria dell'Orso

 Osteria dell'Orso is a fantastic restaurant right around the corner from Ecco. The portions are huge and the food is cheap. It's just excellent. I was a little worried when I ordered my tiramisu because my sandwich, while good, was not as good as it could have been. I also had a really hard time attracting the waiter, so when one did came by doing something else, I was like, "Um, sorry can I order a tiramisu? Sorry for the interruption!" He took 50 cents off of my cheque for being so nice. Anyway, this was a perfectly competent tiramisu, even though there was cocoa on top (not my fave look).

7) My Tiramisu

I attempted to make a tiramisu by myself. I am physically incapable of separating eggs, someone needs to get me one of those machines that does it for you because this is getting far too comical. Anyway, I successfully separated my first two eggs (one of my housemates and her boyfriend watched me, mesmerized). After they complimented me, I got so flustered that I cracked the next egg too hard and egg went all over the table... and yolk into the eggwhite bowl! I was able to get most of the egg out but when I cracked the final egg, the yolk ran all over the place. CONSPIRACY.

 Eggs were the cause of all my troubles Friday. I had PMS-induced panic attacks because of finals. THANKS, EGGS.

Anyway, I decided to toss the eggwhites out. What I was left with was custard and Kahlua, and I could have made an awesome zabaione. Or I could just make a custard sandwich. Which is what I did. And grated dark chocolate on top.

Victory.