At the age of 93
Ado Campeol: Tiramisu’s “father” has died
Translated, it means nothing else than “pull me up”, as the dessert not only contains sugar, but above all espresso or other strong coffee. The tiramisù consists of alternating layers of ladyfingers and a cream made from mascarpone, egg yolk and sugar. Click here for the recipe!
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It belongs on the dessert menu in every good Italian restaurant: tiramisu. A dessert that is as simple as it is delicious. Now its alleged inventor has died at the age of 93.
It is perhaps the most famous dessert in the world: Ladyfingers, mascarpone and coffee become a tiramisu in no time and conjure up a piece of Italy on the plates of people around the world.
As much as many people enjoy the dish, now mourning is the order of the day: As the British newspaper “The Guardian” reports, the alleged “father” of the dessert, Ado Campeol, is at the age of 93 in his house in Treviso in the Italian region Veneto died.
Invention of the tiramisu was an accident
The story of tiramisu apparently begins in Campeol’s café “Le Beccherie”. As a boy, the Italian helped out in the restaurant that his parents took over in 1939. After World War II, Ado became boss, as “Bild” reports.
But it took some time before tiramisu was on the café menu for the first time. According to the story, Ado’s wife Alba and her then head chef Roberto Linguanotto created the recipe for the dessert through an accident.
Linguanotto actually wanted to make vanilla ice cream and mixed mascarpone, eggs and sugar. When he realized how delicious this mixture tasted, he developed the first version of tiramisu together with Alba Campeol. Together they perfected the dish with spoon biscuits that they soaked in coffee.
As Alba’s son Carlo later said, this idea wasn’t as groundbreaking as one might think. The mixture of marcarpone, sugar and cookies soaked in coffee was already a common dish at that time.
According to Carlo, his mother also used the food while she was still breastfeeding him to keep her energy levels high. Hence the name: “tiramisù” means something like “pulls me up”.
Chef Linguanotto came up with the idea of mixing the ingredients into a pudding-like mass and layering it like a lasagna. Tiramisu was born. In 1972 it was first on the menu of “Le Beccherie”
The family deliberately never patented the recipe
In today’s versions of tiramisu, alcohol is also often used to give the dessert a tart note. None of this can be found in the original version. The reason: the dessert should also be child-friendly. This is also the reason why the Campeol family never patented the recipe for an original tiramisu.
The President of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia, tweeted about Campeol’s death: “The city has lost another star in its culinary history”. In 2013, the politician had urged EU certification for the dessert, which should specify the exact ingredients as tiramisu that Campeol and his family used on the first day.
With or without alcohol, with ladyfingers or other types of biscuits, it is important for Linguanotto that people like it. According to “The Guardian”, the Italian is said to have said: “Every country has its own taste. As long as it pulls you up, everything is fine for me.”
Sources: “The Guardian“,”image“