by Assunta, Queen of the Italian Table 

Roberto “Loli” Linguanotto, the “father” of Tiramisu known throughout the world in his original recipe from the Le Beccherie restaurant in Treviso together with Ada Campeol, prepared using fresh mascarpone.

All considered and esteemed him as the father of Tiramisu, one of the world’s most famous and loved desserts. Roberto “Loli” Linguanotto, 81, a chef and pastry chef from Treviso, has died. He was a shy, reserved man, a great and passionate worker, who lived abroad for many years, practising his profession between ovens and stoves in the name of sweetness, before returning to his Veneto. In the late 1960s, he invented the modern version of Tiramisu. At the time, the pastry chef was at the beginning of his career and worked in a renowned restaurant in the centre of Treviso, “Beccherie”, where the dessert had been created as a variation of the classic zabaglione, designed for men who frequented a nearby brothel. That’s where the name “tiramesù” and then Tiramisu comes from.

In fact, if many trace the tasty dessert back to the 18th and 19th centuries, in reality – as the expert couple Clara and Gigi Padovani, authors of the book “Tiramisù” tell us – it was born between the 1940s and 1960s in the North East. And Linguanotto is considered its creator.

It was the 1970s, and, say experts in the history of gastronomy, Roberto Linguanotto – a Venetian pastry chef who recently passed away at 81 – put his signature on what would become a small culinary legend. Initially, it was Tiramesù: Tiramisu, an Italian recipe among the most popular abroad, but it was also the dessert of daily indulgence, the one of which every family has its own personal version. On the other hand, Tiramisu has a gigantic heritage and a fascinating history, which has its roots in Treviso. The one who invented it in its contemporary version – the one with ladyfingers soaked in coffee, mascarpone cream and a generous sprinkling of bitter cocoa to cover it all – was Roberto Linguanotto, known as “Loly”, a pastry chef from Treviso at the beginning of his career, who at the time had just arrived to work in a historic restaurant in the city centre, Le Beccherie. At least, this is the most widely accepted story of how modern Tiramisu was born, an evolution of that Venetian tradition that called for zabaglione mixed with coffee, whipped cream and Baicoli, those fragrant and slightly dry biscuits (which is why they were dipped in coffee) typical of the Veneto region, sold in classic yellow tins that today would be a beautiful vintage-looking container.

He was then working at the Alle Beccherie restaurant in Treviso. The day was a Wednesday afternoon in January 1970, dressed in his chef uniform from an essential restaurant in Treviso. They were preparing a vital dinner, and he was busy preparing vanilla ice cream to serve with strawberries. He had all the necessary raw materials (milk, sugar, eggs, lemon peel and vanilla pod).

While waiting for the milk to boil, he washed the eggs well and separated the yolk from the white, thus quickly mixing the yolks and sugar. He brought them to open the refrigerator where they kept the mascarpone to eat some, but some of it fell from the paper of the time into the bowl of eggs and sugar. With a spoon, he tried to repair the “damage” by removing the mascarpone, and when he tasted it, the spoon “dirty” with mascarpone, eggs and sugar, he was ecstatic: an excellent taste and flavour.

Since mascarpone is a cheese, he had a fatty palate and wanted to “cleanse” it with strong coffee. From that moment on, he understood that these flavours went well together. He then took some ladyfingers they had in the pantry (they were packaged in tins and were more extensive than today and unsweetened, called Bovolone). With the restaurant owner, they soaked them in bitter coffee, ate them with mascarpone cream, eggs and sugar and understood that the contrast of flavours blended on the palate into something extraordinary.

This is how the dessert with a spoon from the Alle Beccherie restaurant in Treviso, the Tirame Sù, was born, prepared on round silver plates that they used to serve at the table. From the beginning, they understood that for an excellent filling of the ladyfingers with coffee and the compactness of the Tirame Sù, it was necessary to let it rest for a few hours in the fridge and sprinkle it with bitter cocoa only when serving it. The original recipe does not include egg whites or any type of alcohol. In Veneto, especially in the countryside, mothers used to prepare egg yolks and sugar for breakfast for their children, blending them by hand (beating the eggs) until they created a smooth and frothy cream to which they added slices of stale bread and, for the older ones, chicory coffee. They called it “sbatudin” and said it was good for you and “tirava sù”. So he thought of calling the dessert Tirame Sù, given the presence of eggs, sugar and coffee that reminded me so much of my childhood in the early 40s… then we know that the dessert became big and toured Italy and the world as Tiramisù. Roberto Linguanotto, the inventor of tiramisù: “It marked the turning point of Venetian pastry making”. Roberto “Loli” Linguanotto, a pastry chef known worldwide as the inventor of tiramisù, died at 81. In the 1970s, while working in a renowned restaurant in Treviso, Le Beccherie, he relaunched the famous dessert that had been created as a variation of the classic zabaglione for men who frequented a nearby brothel, hence the first name “Tiramesù”.

He is responsible for the recipe, which has six basic ingredients: eggs, ladyfingers, sugar, mascarpone, coffee, cocoa, and granulated white sugar. During his long career, he has worked for large companies such as Pernigotti, Pregel, and Nortongate, with roles as a demonstrator technician, especially abroad, throughout Europe, the Mediterranean area, and China.

Thanks Loli…