Cooking For Engineers

[Paws]

I first made this recipe a couple of years ago for my fiance, and I am making it again for his birthday this weekend, as he is a tiramisu fanatic!! I personally am not a fan, but I would happily eat this one, if my partner saves me any Next time I try this, I am going to try a few variations, using this as a base, and trying a few things that others have posted. Thank you for the ideas. Remember as mentioned above, it really is about personal taste, and recipes vary from region to region. I am Maltese/German, and I notice that my family recipes are different to others from other areas. Recipes are guidelines, and change things to suit your tastes. I love this recipe, so I am always going to use this as my base. Thank you so much for posting this. I can't wait to make it again. And the line about arguing with engineers, is like wrestling with a pig...so true!! My father-in-law was an engineer and as soon as I read that I thought of him...especially when arguing over recipes

[crazy4pastry]

Every time I mix the custard yolk mixture with the Marscapone cheese it looks like ricotta cheese. Nothing I do can make it smooth. What did I do wrong.

[bikepixi]

Espresso should not be overly bitter, even if made from a dark roast. Bitter coffee (even if bought from a "proper coffee shop") has either been overextracted or overheated.

Overextraction: Coffee has many aromatic compounds and the length of time you pour a coffee shot for dictates how many of these end up in your shot of espresso. Generally the more bitter compounds are those that dissolve last. The best flavours come during the first part of the extraction and the longer you leave the coffee extracting for, the more bitter it will taste. Sure, you will get more coffee if you run the water through it for longer but it wont taste as good and will need more sugar to mask the bitter flavours. If you buy a large amount of espresso and tell your coffee shop what it is for I guess they could feel the temptation to overextract in order to bulk it out.

Overheating: If the water you pump through your coffee is too hot then it can dissolve the aromatic compounds faster. Some machines are not very good at maintaining a constant temperature in their water tanks and shot consistency will vary.

Like cooking with wine. If your coffee is not fit for consumption as a beverage then you shouldn't really be using it in your recipe.

[Tiramisu fans in Austin]

Lovely conversation, we enjoyed the blog and tried your delicious "simple tiramisu" recipe. Here's our trick for sprinkling cocoa: we use a tea strainer as a mini sieve to evenly dust the tiramisu BEFORE chilling it. While it chills, the bitter cocoa flavor subtly harmonizes with the sweetness of the top layer of marscapone filling. You also avoid the potential choking/coughing hazard that occurs when one of your guests accidentally inhales dry cocoa dust in that first eager bite. (Very unpleasant if you've never done that). The cocoa is also full of antioxidants which could be why some of you are observing that it seems to protect the eggs/cheese from getting that yellow tinge of mayo left out too long.

For those that are concerned about lady fingers versus other cake and authenticity: Italy went through a horrible economic recession in the 1970s after a prosperous post-WWII period. What happens during a recession? Well, it's kind of like American Great Depression era recipes, things like eggs, cheese, fine alcohol, high quality oils, and cream become expensive commodities and people come up with creative and tasty ways to still make their favorite desserts without them. So, the very wide variation not only in tiramisu recipes but also in lasagna recipes and pizza recipes, is partially a product of the time and place, which effected the ingredients available. So, some of these recipes might not be "original" but that doesn't mean they aren't "authentic" to the context that produced them.

Since there are a bunch of engineers on here, I am going geek out about the salmonella myth. The reason why you never really hear about salmonella outbreaks amongst the tens of thousands of people that sneak a bite of cake batter or sip homemade egg nog is that sugar is a natural anti-bacterial agent. Salmonella is a bacteria. Sugar deprives bacteria of water (sugar can even be used on open wounds in extreme emergency situations where help won't be available for a couple days). That's what cooks mean when they say the sugar "cooks" the item and why they make you wait four hours to eat it. For those of you who love salt cured items, or acid cured items like ceviche, similar biochemical processes occur. The proof is in your own refrigerator: you probably have a jar of jelly, jam, pickles, ketchup or mustard that was opened months ago and is perfectly fine, whereas the chicken you cooked only last week is already growing strange fuzzy friends. Sugar and salt are mankind's oldest, natural preservatives. (So, no artificial sweeteners if you decide to use raw eggs, and don't cheat on the chilling time)!

Some of the recipes for tiramisu with a cooked egg custard could be variations post-1980s when salmonella breakouts became big news. What might give you peace of mind is that the American Egg Board says there is only a 1 in 20,000 chance that your particular egg has salmonella. To put that number in perspective, you are several times more likely to get killed in a car accident (12.3 fatalities per 100,000 americans) than contract salmonella from a raw egg. Finally, the CDC and FDA have put new anti-salmonella measures into place in 2010 and again in 2013.

That's not to say you shouldn't be careful and picky about raw egg recipes. Pasteurizing eggs at home can let you relax and enjoy recipes that call for raw eggs if you have any doubts.

How to pasteurize raw eggs:
http://www.howtobaker.com/techniques/baking/how-to-pasteurize-eggs/

How sugar and salt kill bacteria according to Scientific American:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-do-salt-and-sugar-pre

Bon appétit!

[bloop]

according to wikipedia the original version had no alcohol in it





also your spameaversion thing with incrementation is idiotic. it took me much too long to find this.

[Von]

I came across your site and was wowed by "The Original Tiramisu" blog. So impressed by your table and cute Layer Diagram that I am definitely going to try this recipe out. I lovvvvee tiramisu and have yet to discover the perfect ensemble. Thank you so much for sharing.