The first time i enjoyed this Italian delicacy i din't know its name. Then months after that I was looking for some Italian recipes for a cookery show shoot and this was one of them. During the shoot we faced hundred technical problems and after going through the long boring process of making it I was quite disgusted and finally after the shoot I was almost forced to try it infront of the show producer and the chef. This time the look was very different and so was the taste i.e. much better than what i tried earlier. In my research I got to know some interesting facts and was very impressed by its name. What's in a name? lets find out:)
It is an Italian dessert with coffee and liquor-soaked layers of sponge cake alternating with mascarpone cheese and chocolate.
[Italian tira mi sù, pick me up : tira, pick, imperative of tirare, to pick, draw + mi, me + su, up.]
Some claim that it was first created in Greece during the First World War. Women made these desserts for their men to take with them as they were being sent off to war. They might have believed the high caffeine and energy content of these desserts would give their men more energy to fight and help bring them home safely.
A less glamorous theory explains that the dessert was a way of salvaging old cake and coffee that had gone cold by using the leftover coffee and perhaps some liqueur to moisten the dry cake. The dish was greatly improved by layering it with cream or cream cheese.
Now everytime I see it on the menu card I cant resist it. Tiramisu at Big Chill is a must try. And when its infront of you on that plate saying pick me up! there is no reason to not to :)
