How to Make Authentic Treviso Tiramisù — The 1972 Le Beccherie Original Recipe With No Alcohol and No Whipped Cream

Transcript

Speaker: Le Beccherie restaurant on Piazza Sant'Andrea in Treviso, Italy. Autumn 1972. The owner Ada Campeol has just finished giving birth to her second child and is exhausted. Her pastry chef Roberto Linguanotto wants to make her something energizing to eat — something with espresso to wake her up and mascarpone to comfort her. He whips egg yolks and sugar into a pale-yellow sabayon mousse, folds in cold mascarpone, separately whips egg whites to stiff peaks and folds them in too. He dips Italian Savoiardi ladyfingers VERY QUICKLY into cool espresso — just one second per side, never longer — and layers them with the cream in a glass pavè dish. He dusts the top with unsweetened cocoa powder through a fine sieve. He hands Ada the spoon. She tastes it. She names it Tiramisù — literally "tirame su" in the local Venetian dialect, meaning "pick me up." Tonight we make the original 1972 Treviso recipe — gram by gram, second by second. I am joined by third-generation Treviso pasticciere Luca De Marchi and Venice-born food historian Federica Conti.

Speaker: Ostrega, Anna! Ciò! I tell you ze story of Tiramisù — è la verità, ze pure truth! In nineteen-seventy-two, Le Beccherie restaurant in Treviso, my grandfather know Roberto Linguanotto personally — Treviso is small city, only eighty-five-thousand people, all ze pasticciere know each other. Roberto invent Tiramisù as energy food for new mother Ada Campeol. Originally call it "Tirame Su" in Venetian dialect — literally "pick me up" — because of ze caffeine from espresso and protein from mascarpone and uova. Madonna, ze original recipe — NO ALCOHOL, NO ALCOHOL, è importante! Modern recipe with Marsala or rum or brandy is sacrilegio, NOT authentic Treviso! And NO whipped cream! Egg white whipped to stiff peak is ze authentic Treviso method, give ze light airy texture without heaviness of cream. In two-thousand-seventeen, Italian Ministry of Agriculture officially recognize Treviso as ze origin and add Tiramisù to ze PAT — Prodotti Agroalimentari Tradizionali — of Veneto region. È ufficiale!

Speaker: Allora, Luca, but I must be ze historian and tell you ze contested origin debate, ecco! Ze rival claim come from Tolmezzo in Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, where chef Norma Pielli at Albergo Roma claim to invent Tiramisù as early as nineteen-fifty-one, twenty-one year before Treviso. There is also Pieris claim, ze Vetturino restaurant, also fifty-one. But ze critical historical investigation — by food historian Giuseppe Maffioli published in Vin Veneto magazine nineteen-eighty-one — and ze official Italian Ministry recognition two-thousand-seventeen, both confirm ze Treviso Le Beccherie nineteen-seventy-two version as ze TRUE original. I personally interview Signora Ada Campeol before she pass away in October two-thousand-twenty-one at age ninety-five — she confirm to me directly ze nineteen-seventy-two date, ze post-childbirth origin, and ze ORIGINAL no-alcohol no-whipped-cream recipe. È storia documentata, ecco!

Speaker: Sì, Federica! Now ze ingredient — for six perfect portion, six servings. Listen carefully! Cinque-cento gram cold mascarpone — five hundred gram, must be authentic Italian mascarpone, Galbani or Santa Lucia brand, NEVER substitute with cream cheese, è blasfemia! Refrigerated until use, mascarpone must be cold and firm. Quattro tuorli d'uovo — four large fresh egg yolk, approximately seventy gram. Quattro chiare d'uovo — four large fresh egg white, approximately one-hundred-twenty gram. Cento gram zucchero — one hundred gram of fine caster sugar, split into two equal portion of fifty gram each, one for ze yolks one for ze whites. Tre-cento millilitri caffè espresso fresco — three hundred milliliter fresh-brewed espresso, MUST be cool to room temperature, ABSOLUTELY NOT hot — è critico! Hot espresso melt ze mascarpone and ruin ze structure! Twenty-four Savoiardi biscuit — Italian Vicenzovo brand is traditional. Polvere di cacao amaro, unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting. Solo questo — that is everything! Madonna che semplicità!

Speaker: And Luca will now show you ze technique that separate ze AUTHENTIC Treviso method from ze amateur version, allora! First — separate ze four egg cleanly into two clean dry bowl, ze egg should be cold from refrigerator (easier to separate). In ze stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat ze four yolks with fifty gram of ze sugar on HIGH speed for exactly EIGHT MINUTES — non-negotiable — until ze sabayon is pale-yellow, tripled in volume, and forms a soft ribbon that holds its shape for three seconds when ze whisk is lifted. This is sabayon-method, ze technical foundation. Now ADD ze cold mascarpone into ze sabayon and beat on LOW speed for only ONE MINUTE until just incorporated — over-mixing make mascarpone broken and grainy, è disastro! Set aside. In a separate ABSOLUTELY CLEAN AND DRY bowl, whip ze four egg whites with ze other fifty gram of sugar to STIFF PEAKS — peaks that stand up when ze whisk is lifted — about four minutes on high. Gently FOLD ze whipped whites into ze mascarpone mixture in THREE stages, from bottom up, keeping ze airy volume — è momento delicato!

Speaker: Sì! Now ze assembly! Madonna, è critico — listen! Brew tre-cento milliliter — three hundred milliliter — fresh espresso. Pour into a shallow ceramic dish. WAIT until it cool to room temperature, twenty degree Celsius, sixty-eight Fahrenheit — espresso must be ROOM temperature, NEVER HOT! Hot espresso melt mascarpone, dish become disaster! Now take Savoiardi biscuit and dip in espresso for EXACTLY ONE SECOND PER SIDE — uno secondo per lato, count it like ze Italians "un... due..." That's it! No longer! Savoiardi must remain firm structurally, not soggy. Place each dipped Savoiardi into a clean rectangular glass pavè dish, twenty-five centimeter by fifteen centimeter, in a precise row covering ze entire bottom — about twelve Savoiardi for first layer. Spread half of ze mascarpone cream over Savoiardi in even layer. Repeat — another twelve Savoiardi quick-dipped one second per side, spread ze remaining mascarpone cream on top. Smooth ze top with offset spatula. Cover ze dish tightly with plastic wrap touching ze surface. È quasi finito!

Speaker: Now ze most important step that ninety-five percent of home cook skip, allora! Refrigerate ze covered pavè dish at exactly four degree Celsius, forty Fahrenheit, for MINIMUM TWELVE HOURS — Le Beccherie standard! Ideally for TWENTY-FOUR HOURS! Why? Three critical thing happen during refrigeration. Numero uno — ze Savoiardi continue to slowly absorb ze cool espresso and become moist throughout but NOT soggy, perfectly tender. Numero due — ze sabayon-and-mascarpone-and-egg-white cream stabilize, ze fat crystallize, ze egg protein set, ze structure firms enough to hold its shape when you cut. Numero tre — ze flavor MARRY together, ze espresso bitterness mellow, ze mascarpone richness balance, ze sweet egg cream open up. Skip this step and you have flat-tasting soggy mess. Twelve hour minimum, twenty-four hour ideal — è la verità! Then JUST BEFORE serving, dust generous unsweetened cocoa powder all over ze top through a fine-mesh sifter, like snow. Sì, sì!

Speaker: Ecco — ze serving! Take ze pavè dish straight from refrigerator. Take fine-mesh sifter, fill with two tablespoon of unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, gently tap over ze top of ze tiramisù to create generous even snow of cocoa covering completely, beautiful chocolate-brown coating. To serve — use clean square offset spatula or large spoon, scoop a generous portion straight down through ALL ze layers — ze cross-section should show ze beautiful alternating stratification of espresso-dark Savoiardi layers and pale-cream mascarpone layers, topped with ze dark cocoa. Plate on small white porcelain dessert plate. Optional — fresh espresso on ze side, small glass of sweet dessert wine like Veneto Vin Santo or Recioto della Valpolicella. Eat slowly, with small dessert spoon, ze first bite — coffee, mascarpone, cocoa, soft Savoiardi — simple and perfect. Madonna che bontà! Tiramisù always serve cold, never room temperature. Store leftover in refrigerator three day maximum. Mamma mia, è perfetto!

Speaker: Three takeaways. First — the authentic Treviso recipe. For 6 servings: 500g cold mascarpone, 4 egg yolks plus 4 egg whites, 100g caster sugar split 50/50 for yolks and whites, 300ml cool room-temperature espresso, 24 Italian Vicenzovo Savoiardi ladyfingers, and unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting. The original 1972 Le Beccherie version has NO alcohol and NO whipped cream — adding either is not traditional Treviso. Second — the technique. Beat yolks with 50g sugar 8 minutes on high to pale tripled-volume ribbon-stage sabayon. Fold in mascarpone on low 1 minute. In a separate clean dry bowl whip whites with 50g sugar to stiff peaks. Fold whites in 3 stages bottom-up. Dip Savoiardi in cool 20-Celsius espresso for EXACTLY 1 second per side — never longer or they get soggy. Layer in pavè dish — Savoiardi, half the cream, Savoiardi, rest of the cream. Third — refrigerate covered at 4 Celsius for at least 12 hours, ideally 24. Dust cocoa through fine sieve just before serving. Serve cold straight from the fridge with optional Vin Santo dessert wine. Thank you Luca De Marchi. Thank you Federica Conti. Until next time.