Tirimisù
Two things are needed to think about changing what is perfect: courage and madness.
There are things in life that seem to be perfect as they are. One of them is Tiramisù, the most famous Italian dessert in the world.
The Tiramisù is a dessert that I love (clearly not as much as Panettone!). It is so tasty that it has earned the esteem of hundred million of gluttons all over the world. Considering that it is born perfect the way it is, few pastry chefs have ventured in the challenge of modifying the recipe significantly. The most daring, some decades ago, at best tried to change the ingredients of the stuffing, creating the white Tiramisù (with white chocolate), the pistachio or wild berry one, and so on.
But nobody ever has dared to change its principal ingredient… the sponge fingers, also called in Italian “savoiardi”. Anyone except me, obviously.
It was a few weeks before the opening of the new shop in Potenza, in 2018. I wanted to make my debut with something really original; something that would be appreciated by many people but, at the same time, which would include all the features of my school of thought: originality, innovation and the sourdough.
So, one day, I decided to replace the principal ingredient of Tiramisù with my principal product, the Panettone.
After some days of attempts, when I tried to achieve the right consistency and the flavour balance for the new Tiramisù, I succeeded in finding what it seemed to me the perfect recipe for a Panettone Tiramisù.
As usual, the first to taste my new creations was my family. So, one night in October, I brought to my parents’ home the new Panettone Tiramisù as a dessert.
My grandfather and my parents were enthusiastic about it! While my brother Giuseppe, more critical than a judge of a cooking talent show, after tasting the first mouthful said: “It’s tasty, but people are used to the “classic” Tiramisù, they won’t approve such a different Tiramisù!”
Well, I got to admit that he had not said a nonsense. People have become used to eat Tiramisù as we have always known and so we expect a specific consistency and flavour. We can say that the taste of Tiramisù is already “coded” in our mind, kind of like the one of Nutella. However, we must say that cooking, soon or later, wind up evolving together with the society changes and people tastes; so, given the renaissance of Panettone (the real one) of the last years, I decided to bet that people is now ready for a change.
I decided, then, to present the new dessert right away at the opening of the new bakery in Potenza, the Tiri Bakery & Caffè, and to exhibit it in the shop window, in a single-portion size.
After few minutes, Gianni, one of the most loyal “breakfast-addicted” of the Tiri Bakery & Caffè, who has noticed the news on exhibition, asked for explanations about the product. Intrigued by the description, he decided to taste it.
Gianni took a set, and I served the “panettoned” Tiramisù. I must admit that I followed with my eyes and with bated breath the teaspoon full of the first mouthful going towards his palate for the tasting.
So it was that Gianni, after tasting the first mouthful and contemplating for a few seconds, exclaimed with enlighten smiling face: “This is not a Tiramisù, this is just a Tirimisù!”
My team and I burst out laughing, but I realize suddenly two things: the first was that he liked the dessert so much, and the second was that this nice name, Tirimisù, sounded so good that I decided to get replaced the tag in the shop window immediately with the new one.
