How’s everybody doing? It's been a few months, but I'm not quite over my tiramisu-making, cocktail-crafting phase yet.
These two worlds have quite a bit in common, as I discovered. Whatever combination of flavours that goes well together in a cocktail also works in a tiramisu. In a cocktail, there's an alcoholic base, the bitters (a flavour modifier), and the sweetness (sugar). In a tiramisu, the mascarpone layer provides the sweetness, and all that’s left is to soak the ladyfingers in a mixture of flavour modifiers and alcohol of a cocktail that you like. This tiramisu, for example, was inspired by the matcha gin cocktail I've made, courtesy of the website Takes Two Eggs.
I took a while to finalise the proportions of matcha, water and gin to my liking, using the last of my Method and Madness gin (the gin brand an oddly apt name for my experimentations?) But the efforts had been well worth it.
By going to a few cocktail bars and trying a few drinks (for ahem, research), anyone can come up with a new winning tiramisu recipe. Anyone for ube-rum tiramisu, or perhaps chrysanthemum-absinthe? The world is your oyster.
INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp matcha powder, plus more to dust on top of the tiramisu
10 tbsp (150ml) water, just-boiled and cooled slightly
500g mascarpone
3.6 eggs
70g sugar
1/8 tsp salt
About 20 Ladyfingers
STEPS
1. In a small bowl, combine matcha powder and hot water. You will need a whisk (I used an electric milk frother). Set aside and let it cool. When it's near body temperature, you can add gin. Mix well and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, combine eggs, sugar, and salt with a spatula in a metal saucepan. The eggs are to be cooked in a water bath to minimise food-borne illnesses. Fill a large skillet with an inch of of water (leaving ample room for the metal saucepan to sit in the water without causing water spillage), and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to medium, and place the saucepan into the waterbath. Allow the eggs to come to 160°F (71°C), scraping the bottom of the pan constantly to prevent the eggs from overcooking. This should take about 5 minutes; a lack of progress means you need to turn up the heat.
3. Remove the saucepan from the water bath, and strain the eggs (to sieve out any bits of curdled eggs) into a bowl set into an ice water bath. Let the egg mixture cool, until it's no longer warm to the touch.
4. Using either a handheld mixer or a stand mixer, whisk the eggs on high speed for 5 to 10 minutes, until they have more than quadrupled in volume and are thick enough to briefly hold its shape when dropped from the whisk. Reduce speed to medium and add mascarpone, about 1/4 cup at a time; no need to wait for the mascarpone to completely incorporate before adding more. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then continue whisking for a couple more seconds to break the big chunks of mascarpone down into smaller bits. The small flecks of mascarpone will smooth out on their own afterwards.
5. Assemble: Pour the matcha-gin mixture into a rimmed plate wide enough to fit a sponge ladyfinger lengthwise, and dip each ladyfinger into the liquid, giving it about 5 seconds to absorb the liquid, then place in the bottom of your bowl. Add a layer of mascarpone filling (about 2cm in height), and then repeat with the ladyfingers, then the mascarpone. Finish up with a liberal coating of matcha powder. Cover and refrigerate overnight before serving.
Tips: Excess matcha-gin mixture can be used for cocktails.
