Tirami-so Complicated

So this blog has created a culinary feedback loop.  We're consciously feeling the need to be ambitious in our culinary endeavors so that they are more worthy of posting.  We both sense that this will lead to a melt down of the entire project, if left unchecked.  That being said, this weekend's project was tiramisu... from scratch.

Step 1: Making Mascarpone

The inspiration for this dish was a recipe that we read for homemade mascarpone cheese that looked surprisingly simple.  Mascarpone is a mild Italian cheese that is similar, but not quite the same as ricotta.  It's most popular use is definitely for tiramisu.

  This is definitely the first time we've ever made cheese.  While it ultimately was simple, there were a few hang ups.

These are the only two ingredients.   It is crucial to buy pasteurized, but NOT ultra-pasteurized, cream.  For this, we had to visit our local health food grocery store.

 Bringing the cream to 190º, as provided in the recipe, proved to be difficult.  Our glass bowl was so thick, it effectively insulated the cream and kept it from going above 168º.  After a very lengthy and frustrating period of time, we transferred the cream to a pot to heat directly.  That seemed to do the trick, with no adverse effects... that we could tell.

Into the cheesecloth to cool and separate the whey.

Step 2: Making the Ladyfingers

Like I said, this blog seems to cause us to try more and more adventurous steps.  The second main component of tiramisu (which you would typically just buy) is ladyfingers, a type of cookie.  We used the Joy of Cooking recipe for lady fingers.

The ingredients

The cake flour has to be sifted a total of three times. 

Whipping the cream.

Folding the cream and cheese into the yolks.

Piping the cookies onto the sheet.

Visual comparison between store-bought and homemade

Step three: Tiramisuing,

So, we spread this process over three days, which was a plus given the complexity of each step.  We made the mascarpone Friday evening, the ladyfingers Saturday afternoon, and then we finally put the whole thing together Sunday morning.  Here, again, we used a Joy of Cooking recipe, which is not available online.

The whole enchilada. Luckily, we had Marsala on hand from a previous endeavor.

A big old cup of espresso

Grating the chocolate... what a pain.

The egg/sugar mixture must be heated to 160º
Doesn't this set-up look all hi-tech?

Dunk the fingers in the rum/espresso.
That stuff makes a mean drink.

Add layer of mascarpone/egg/marsala mixture

Add layer of grated chocolate.  Then repeat the whole process for another whole layer.

After two layers, dust with cocoa powder and refrigerate!

The cross shot

The finished product.  Tiramisu, by the way, means "pick me up."  As in "pick me up some tiramisu from the store, why don't you, instead of taking 3 days to make it from scratch!"  The homemade mascarpone was easy enough... and probably saved us like $5.  The ladyfingers, while they turned out ok, were not worth the effort.