Zuppa Inglese
Emilia-Romagna's favourite sweet
This custard concoction of sunny cheerful colours is the most popular traditional dessert here, loved throughout the region: from Emilia, spreading west of Bologna, to Romagna to its east and of course in Bologna itself. It is now found in other regions too but nowhere else does it appear without fail on every restaurant menu. That this is its home and its place of origin is, for once, not contested.
The story goes that it originated sometime in the course of the 1500s in the kitchens of the rulers of Ferrara at the time, the Dukes of the Este family. They were leading patrons of the arts and under their rule in the Renaissance period the city enjoyed a long period of intense cultural and artistic activity. Besides encouraging musicians, poets and painters the Este family engaged in diplomatic activity to develop and maintain good relations with other powerful ruling families in Italy and in Europe. It is said that a courtier returning from diplomatic duties in England described a popular sweet served at the end of the banquets at the English court, the sweet today known as "trifle". He described its layers of custard, sponge and cream and the cooks of the Este court created the Zuppa Inglese inspired by his description.
This story does not entirely hold water as it would seem that the various dainty "little trifles" served in 16th and 17th century England had no trace of sponge cake. But it makes a pretty tale and suggests a plausible explanation of why the sweet is described as "Inglese", in other words, English.
Then there is the "Zuppa" part, which often confuses non-Italian speakers. The Italian verb "inzuppare" means "to dunk" or "to dip" or more generally to moisten something dry with some form of liquid. In this sweet, as in the much newer invention Tiramisù, sponge cake or lady finger biscuits are dipped into a liquid, making the resulting sweet a "zuppa".
There are savoury "Zuppe" too, usually thick stews of fish or meat served on a slice of toasted bread or else chunky soups containing cereals and legumes. The thing to remember is that the word "zuppa" in Italian does not translate as soup, and that it is often used to describe desserts.
But enough, on to the recipe for Italy's famous Zuppa, the "English" one from Emilia-Romagna.
Zuppa Inglese
For 6 people you will need:
300g of lady finger biscuits ("Savoiardi") (10 and a half ounces or as many as fit in your container)
120g (4 ounces) sugar
30g (an ounce) flour
500ml (a pint) milk
5 egg yolks
a vanilla pod (optional, but makes it special)
50g (scant two ounces) chopped 70% cocoa chocolate
a glass (cup) each of water and Alchermes liqueur
(or substitute a liqueur of your choice or a diluted strawberry syrup for the traditional bright pink colour )
20g (1 and a half tablespoons) butter
optional sour cherry or sharp apricot jam
Set aside 100 ml (0.4 of a cup) of milk. Heat the rest with the sugar and the scraped out vanilla seeds till it comes to the boil.
Meanwhile, place the 5 yolks in a bowl and whisk them with the sifted flour, then still whisking, add the cold 100ml of milk gradually.
When the remaining milk has come to the boil and all the sugar is dissolved, add it gradually to the yolks while still whisking. Then place everything in the pan in which you boiled the milk and return to a moderate heat for about 10 minutes to thicken.
Whisk constantly and whisking patiently on low heat to bring the mixture almost to boiling point so that it thickens - the very fine bubbles on the surface will disappear when it is ready. Snatch it off the heat, and transfer to a cool bowl as soon as possible, as it can continue to cook and so curdle, .
Divide in two thirds and one third by pouring into two separate bowls - there is no need to be precise here. Add the chocolate, broken into bits, to the smaller amount and mix to melt the chocolate and blend well. Leave to cool.
Mix the water and Alchermes* together. Dip the lady fingers lightly in the liquid, and use make a layer at the bottom of one large or several small glass bowls. Place with the pink side facing the outside, so it is visible through the glass.
Now add a layer of the chocolate custard and if you wish carefully top with a very thin layer of sour cherry or apricot jam, dropping teaspoonfuls at regular intervals as it is impossible to spread the jam over the soft custard with a knife or spoon. If you like you can reserve some of the chocolate custard and place it in a piping bag or squeegee bottle to use for decorating the top.
Finish with a deeper layer of plain custard.
Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving. For special occasions you could further garnish with one or more of whole sour cherries in syrup, grated chocolate and toasted flaked almonds.
* Today artificial colourings are used but originally the natural dye "Kermes" was used, hence the name which is clearly of Arabic origin.
