L'affogato al caffè

Il gelato è un dessert che ha riscosso da sempre un grande successo, ed è ormai consumato durante tutto l'anno. Sono passati i tempi in cui si doveva aspettare la calda estate per assaggiare il rinfrescante dolce! Per questo motivo, oggi vogliamo parlarvi di una ricetta facilissima da preparare, in tre comodi passi. Si tratta in sostanza della scusa che gli italiani hanno architettato per continuare a mangiarsi un buon gelato anche a Natale: si chiama "Affogato", e già dal nome si capisce di che cosa stiamo parlando, di mescolare due delle più deliziose invenzioni culinarie della storia: il gelato ed il caffè. Attraverso questo mix di sapori, il vostro gelato si scioglierà leggermente, diventerà cremoso, in parte freddo e in parti caldo, un fantastico contrasto che vi farà tornare bambini.

E' questa una invenzione semplice, elementare, quasi ovvia. Ma come tutte le cose semplici, incredibilmente geniale. Il sapore è raffinatissimo, elegante, aromatico, se possibile il caffè liquido aumenta ancora di più il delizioso gusto del gelato. Sapete come funziona il contrasto dolce-amaro? Ebbene, il caffè amaro potenzia ancora di più la dolcezza del gelato! Chi lo ha inventato non ci è dato saperlo, però sappiamo che questo tipo di ibrido gelato-caffè riscuote sempre più consensi, e probabilmente tra qualche anno la moda si sarà espansa in tutto il mondo occidentale, come succede per le nuove leccornie che da regionali diventano in breve tempo globali.

In particolare colpisce il fatto che nell'iniziativa dedicata al gelato, il Gelato World Tour, organizzato in occasione della fiera Sigep (Salone Internazionale di Gelateria, Pasticceria e Panificazione) svoltasi a Rimini tra il 5 e il 7 settembre 2014, in associazione con l'Università del Gelato Carpigiani, sia stato eletto come miglior gelato del mondo proprio un affogato! Il gusto in questione si chiama "Mandorla Affogato", ed è stato elaborato dai fratelli John e Sam Crowl, australiani. Maggiori dettagli sugli ingredienti? Tenetevi forte! Vaniglia del Madagascar variegato con mandorle tostate e caramellate al caffè del Kenya con salsa di caramello salato...

L'affogato al caffè è fresco fresco di trionfo al mondiale del gelato!

Noi qui vi offriamo una versione un po' più facile ed accessibile, ma siamo sicuri che vi piacerà lo stesso, per lo meno noi andiamo pazzi per questa bevanda...per questo gelato...ehm...per questa meraviglia! :)
In tre semplici passi:

Ingredienti:

- Gelato dal sapore morbido, come vaniglia, stracciatella, fiordilatte o mandorla.
- Caffè espresso o caffè moka
- crema al whiskey Bayleis o equivalente
- Al posto del caffè, si può usare anche cioccolata calda o anche del masala chai thè.

Preparazione: 

- Preparate un buon caffè, una discreta quantità. Potrete usare la vostra Moka, il gusto del caffè è essenziale, deve essere buono buono, sennò l'affogato vi uscirà annacquato. Qui parliamo ad esempio di come fare un buon caffè con la Moka! Importante è non zuccherare il vostro caffè!

- Prendete un gelato, possibilmente alla vaniglia, alla mandorla, al fiordilatte o alla stracciatella. Evitare i sapori forti come la frutta o il cioccolato: è un piatto italiano, e i piatti italiani ammettono solo una primadonna, e la primadonna nell'affogato è il caffè. In alternativa, si può usare anche cioccolato liquido o persino del thè.

- Prendete una coppetta o anche solo un bicchiere, mettete prima il gelato (essenziale che vada per primo il gelato, se volete che sia davvero cremoso! Se mettete per ultimo il gelato, questo galleggerà...), poi aggungete un po' di crema al whiskey irlandese Bayleis (o qualunque altro liquore o meglio crema di liquore) ed infine il caffè appena tolto dal fuoco, versatelo nel bicchierino ed...ecco a voi! La magia! Vedrete come il caffè e il gelato si uniranno in un matrimonio di sapori creato nel paradiso del cibo! Una crema calda, un caffè bollente e un gelato freddo tutto in uno! Che potreste chiedere di più?

Speriamo che la ricetta vi sia piaciuta, buona settimana!

ToM

The Gelato Affogato al Caffè

The Gelato is an all time favourite dessert, and it's now enjoyed all year round. The old days are gone, when you had to wait until summer to have an ice cream! For this reason, we want to tell you about a super simple and easy recipe, ready in three fast steps!

It is the kind of self-indulgent excuse that  italians have developed to keep eating gelato even in the cold winter, even at Christmas! It is called "Affogato", and even if the word in italian may sounds nice and sweet, it actually means "drowned". The recipe explains it all: it is made actually drowning the gelato into a lot of coffee. Coffe and Gelato. Come on, isn't it great? Throungh this match of flavours, your ice cream will gradually melts, becoming partly cold and partly frozen, making your mouth go flippin' crazy! 

This is a very simple, almost basical, obvious invention, we know. But, as all the simplest thing in the world, it's simply genial. The taste is very refined, elegant and aromatic, if possible the coffee enrich the taste of the gelato even more! Do you remember how the contrast bitter-sweet works? Well, the bitterness of the coffee boasts the sweetness of the ice cream! We do not have any information about who may have invented it and when/where, what we know is that this kind of delicious hybrid is gaining momentum every single day. Probably, as the best culinary invention, it will become a classic throughout Western World in a matter of a few years.

The Affogato has even triumphed at the Gelato World Cup!

For instance, it's striking that in the event that took place in Rimini, Nothern Italy, from 5th to 7th of September 2014, the "World Gelato Tour" at the Sigep fair (international fair of gelateria, pastry and baking) and organized with the Università del Gelato Carpigiani, the world's best gelato prize was given to...an affogato! The full name is "Mandorla Affogato", or almond affogato, created by the Aussie bros John and Sam Crowl. More details on the ingredients? Sirs and madames, hold on to your hats! Vanilla from Madagascar, Variegato with caramelized and toasted almonds, Kenya coffee, with salted caramel sauce.
We'll breing you here a stripped down and more simple and accessible version of this delicious dessert, but we're sure you'll enjoy it almost as we do, and we do enjoy it a lot!
In three simple steps:

Ingredients:

- Ice cream (smooth tastes, like vanilla, stracciatella or so)
- coffee (good coffee, not too watery. The ideal would be an espresso or moka coffee)
- Bayleis cream whiskey or similar
- In alternative, you can use hot chocolate or masala chai tea instead of coffee.

Preparation:

- Prepare a good coffee, a discrete amount of it. You can use your Moka coffee pot, the taste of the coffee is quintessential, it must be not just good, but "buono buono!", otherwise the Affogato will result too watery. Here for instance we tell you about doing a great coffee at home with the Moka! Most important is never put sugar in your coffee, you want it to be bitter as hell!

- Take a gelato, possibly a vanilla, almond, fiordilatte or stracciatella one. Remember to avoid strong ice cream tastes: it is an italian recipe, and we know how italian dishes permit just one "primadonna", that is only one main taste. And in the Affogato, the main taste is the coffee. If you don't dig the coffee, you can surely use hot chocolate instead, or even tea, we like it with chai tea.

- Take a cup of a glass, and put the ice cream in it (remeber that the gelato goes first, otherwise the ice cream will sadly float above the coffee), then add some whiskey cream like Bayleis and then add the coffee still hot and...the magic! Yuo'll see how the ice cream and the coffee will melts in a match made in food heaven! A warm cream, a cold gelato and a hot coffee...what more can you ask for?

We hope you liked the recipe, have a nice week!

ToM

The Coffee Espresso

Halfway through the morning, you're at work. A short pause in a bar in the central city. The day until now has been awful. You ask for something to the barista. Just two words, and the magic starts: "An espresso". From that moment on, the day and the whole week seems to be somewhat easier. With a good espresso on your side, dense, dark, black and full of aroma, you feel completely in peace with the World.

We are absolutely sure of the power of the great coffees to change our days, they wake us up, they bring us together, they give us the push we need to get through the day. One of us (Tom) loves the authentic, strong, intense, unaltered aroma of the unsweetened coffee. But how was invented this delicious drink? 

Mr. Angelo Moriondo

We are in 1884, when an entepreneur from Turin, north of Italy, called Angelo Moriondo, was owner of some elegant hotels and bars, like the Grand-Hotel Ligure or the American bar, both settled in the historical heart of Turin. He was very aware of the changind demands of his clients, they at the time were starting to ask for a faster service, they wanted modernity, they were eager for the future, also in the coffee making. To answer to these requests, during the General Expo of Turin that took place in 1884 (and which gave us some great touristical hotspot of Turin like the Medieval town and the castle in the Parco del Valentino along the Po river), Mr. Moriondo presented to the World the very first Espresso Coffee Machine, that worked steaming at high pressure the boiling water through the ground coffee. But Angelo Moriondo never wanted to produce industrially his "instant coffee", as he called it, just produced few machine for his own use. It was Luigi Bezzera, Milanese, that acquired the licence in 1901 and saw the high potential of this machine. Do this name reminds you of anything? Yes, Bezzera, we already met him when we talked about the history of the Cappuccino: he actually invented it, or better the modern and foamy version of it.

In 1905, Bezzera sold the licence of the modern espresso coffee machine to the firm La Pavoni, that started a serial production of them, today still in production after 100 years with their high-end and elegant design machines.

The espresso machine from "La Spaziale", the favourite of many baristas

Today there are many varieties of the espresso coffee that we can enjoy in every italian bar, like for example the ristretto (the super concentrated one), the lungo (the one for those who want to enjoy their coffee with more calm, obviously this one it Tom's fave), the macchiato (with some milk) or the corretto (with some liquor like the Sambuca or the grappa, in Spain you can also find it as Carajillo).

The Sambuca Molinari, the ideal liquor to make the perfect corretto

It is essential that the espresso is served hot. In Naples, a city of World class espresso, they will serve you a very boiling hot coffee. In that city, the coffee is served between 88º and 90º Celsius, while the cup (or "tazzulella" in neapolitan language) above 70º Celsius. There, a coffee has to respect three criteria to be considered a great coffee, the "tre C", it has to be "Cocente", or boiling hot, "Comodo", or easy, the coffe is a ritual, you have to forget every hurry you are in while drinking the coffee, and the last C is for "carico", or charged, the neapolitan coffee is a very strong one, with an intense aroma.
For all these reasons, to serve the espresso are generally used pretty thick porcelain cup with a conical shape: to keep all the heat. It is for this reason too that the espresso cup are usually kept above the (very hot) espresso machine and covered with a towel.

Yes, we deeply believe that with a good cup of espresso (or moka!) even the worst of the day can get better!

Greetings,

Tom

La storia del Caffè Espresso

Metà mattina, un lunedì, una pausa al bar nel centro della città. La giornata inizia con difficoltà. Un cliente chiede una cosa al barista, due parole. Solo due. Inizia la magia. "Un espresso". Da quel momento in poi, la giornata e la settimana sono in discesa. Con un buon caffè espresso in mano, concentrato, denso, nero e schiumoso, aromatico come nient'altro, si fa la pace con il mondo.

Siamo sicuri del grande potere di un buon caffè espresso di poter cambiare le nostre giornate, ci risveglia, ci unisce e ci dona lo slancio di cui abbiamo bisogno. Uno di noi (Tom) ama il caffè forte, intenso, non alterato da zucchero, ne ama il profumo e l'atmosfera che lo circonda. Ma come è nata questa deliziosa bevanda? 

Angelo Moriondo

Siamo nel 1884, quando un imprenditore di Torino, Angelo Moriondo, era proprietario di eleganti strutture in pieno centro nella capitale piemontese, come il Grand-Hotel Ligure e l'American Bar. In seguito a questa attività di contatto con la clientela, si rese conto che la società stava ormai cambiando e aumentava la richiesta di modernità e di rapidità. Per questo motivo, in occasione della Expò Generale di Torino del 1884 (quella che portò nella città subalpina anche il borgo e la rocca medievale al parco del Valentino), venne presentata la prima macchina per il caffè espresso, ottenuto inviando  del vapore a una pressione estremamente elevata attraverso la polvere del caffè. Ma Angelo Moriondo non sfruttò mai la sua invenzione del "caffè istantaneo", come lo chiamava, ma si limitò a produrne pochi esemplari artigianali. Fu invece Luigi Bezzera, milanese, che acquistò la licenza nel 1901 e ne intravide le immense potenzialità industriali e lo migliorò, portando alla nascita della prima macchina da caffè espresso della storia nel senso in cui la intendiamo oggi. Vi ricorda qualcosa quel nome? Abbiamo già incontrato il signor Luigi Bezzera nel nostro articolo a proposito della nascita del Cappuccino, bevanda di cui egli è l'inventore moderno. In seguito, nel 1905, il brevetto fu poi acquistato dalla azienda La Pavoni di Milano, che iniziò la produzione in serie delle macchine da caffè espresso, ed è ancora oggi attiva con le sue macchine da caffè di splendido disegno e di alta gamma.

La classica macchina per caffè espresso "La Spaziale", per molti baristi la migliore.

Oggi esistono innumerevoli varietà di caffè espresso che possiamo godere in qualunque bar italiano, come per esempio il caffè espresso ristretto (super concentrato), il lungo (per chi ama godersi un caffè espresso con più calma, ovviamente questo è il preferito di Tom), il macchiato (con latte) o il corretto (con poche gocce di liquore come il Sambuca o la grappa, una versione italiana dello spagnolo cafè carajillo).

Il Sambuca Molinari, il liquore forse più apprezzato per il caffè corretto

E' essenziale che il caffè sia servito bello caldo. A Napoli, patria di elezione del caffè, l'espresso ve lo serviranno in una tazzina davvero bollente. Non provate a lamentarvi, il barista vi spiegherà che così va goduto per apprezzarne pienamente il valore aromatico. Sempre che non vi scottiate troppo la lingua. Il caffè nella città partenopea viene servito di solito tra gli 88 e i 90 gradi e la "tazzulella" (la tazzina in lingua napoletana) viene servita a non meno di 70 gradi. Per questo il caffè espresso partenopeo autentico viene descritto dalle "tre C", cioè Cocente (alta temperatura), Comodo (cioè con calma, il caffè deve essere un rito da godersi senza fretta) e per ultimo Carico, cioè il caffè deve essere bello forte, dal gusto molto intenso.
Per questo motivo di solito per servire l'espresso vengono utilizzate le tazzine in porcellana di forma conica e abbastanza spesse: serve a mantenere meglio il calore. E' sempre per questo motivo che di solito le tazzine di solito vengono mantenute sopra la macchina da caffè espresso (sempre calda) e coperte da un tovagliolo.

Insomma, non di sola moka Bialetti si vive, con un espresso al bar anche la più dura delle giornate migliora!

Salutoni,

Tom

Welcome summer! Tiramisù popsicle recipe

To celebrate the coming of summer, we'll bring you a popsicle based on a very classical italian sweet: the World renown Tiramisù.

The Tiramisù is a very simple sweet dish, but it's not a classic in the sense of "old", it's a rather "new classic", since it was invented in...1962! I mean, come on! That's the day before yesterday! ;) How could people live without this marvel?

The original recipe was an idea of Mrs. Alba Campeol, in the beautiful city of Treviso, very near to Venice. She affirms that the idea came out after giving birth to her first son, when her mother and her mother-in-law used to bring her coffee and ladyfingers and tell her: "eat them all, that'll be good for you!". In Italian we say "tirare su" (rise up, come on!) when someone needs to get better, and starting with this idea, she decided together with the cook of the restaurant they owned to add some nourishing eggs with sugar and the mascarpone cheese.

Even though many (or everybody) thinks that Tiramisù has some liquor in it, it actually hasn't. Or shouldn't have, according Mrs. Campeol's original recipe, since it was precisely designed to be fit for everyone, from the childhood to the oldest one, and specially for those who needed to "tirarsi su", to recover themselves, making the liquor unfit for the recipe. The many tourist that visited the enchanting city of Treviso (we would advice you to do so!) were blown away from the simple and genial recipe, making it Worldwide famous, and this lead to the many versions of this sweet that we have nowadays.

Here you are an interview to Mrs. Campeol (in Italian) where she tells us the history and she also regrets not having patented her recipe in the Sixties! We're thankful and grateful anyway, Mrs. Campeol!

 
Ingredients:

• 4 egg yolks
• 2 egg whites
• 100 g. of sugar
• 400 g. of mascarpone cheese
• 3 or 4 Savoiardi biscuits or ladyfingers
• cocoa powder
• a cup of coffee
• a pinch of salt

Preparation:

1- Beat the egg yolks until they get foamy with an electric blender. You're looking for a pale white colour.

2- Add to the previous mix the mascarpone cheese and mix it togheter.
 
3- Beat the eggs white until they become foamy and we add this to the previous mix with round movements, from bottom to top in order to let the foam stand up straight.

4- We dip the Savoiardi or the ladyfingers in the coffee (it can be decaffeinated, instant coffee or espresso, you choose).

5- We put our mix in our popsicle or ice cream moulds, alternating with coffee-wet ladyfingers and cocoa powder and our mix again, as many times as we want, until the mould is filled and we end with some cocoa powder, then we put our wooden stick. We can also decide to put the ladyfingers at the center of the mould and the mix around them. This time I decided to do it with some little pieces of ladyfingers, that's a matter of tastes!

6- Put it into the freezer, if it's possible from a day to another, since it's a very creamy mix and it needs a lot of cold.

This time I've made it as a popsicle, but you can do it in a plum cake mould too.
Before pouring the mix, I cover the bottom with a plastic wrap, in order to avoid that our Tiramisù does not sticks to the bottom and can be removed easily. This version is to be made just like the popsicles, but with some more savoiardi biscuits and forming and alternate structure, just like the traditional Tiramisù: biscuits, mascarpone mix, cocoa powder and others biscuits, in that orden. This is what is called a "semifreddo", a sweet between a gelato and a traditional cake.

Happy start of Summer to everyone! Enjoy this ice creamy version of the Tiramisù!

Greetings,

AnGie

The history of Moka coffee

In our houses there are many objects that we simply consider that have been there since forever. One iconic thing that many of us (at least in Europe, overall in southern Europe) will surely have is the moka coffee pot. We see it and we immediately link it with coffee. But this great invention, simple just like every other great invention, is no more than eighy years old! It is considered, along with Vespa, Fiat 500 and Ferrari cars one of the most important and universal product of Italian industrial design. It is exposed in Milan's La Triennale Design Museum and in New York's MoMa. But let's get back to see the full story!

Alfonso Bialetti, who worked in France in the early 1900s in a foundry, learning many important techniques, opened in 1919 an industry in his native Piedmont region. In this industry he produced objects in iron and alluminium. In 1933 he had the idea that revolutioned his life and the whole community of coffee lovers: creating coffee in every home through the steam of boling water. The name he choose, "moka", was inspired by the Mokha, in Yemen, in the area where the coffee has been cultivated for centuries. This lead to a revolution in drinking coffee: it became a drink very easy to obtain everywhere, and this pleasure was no longer confined to the higher classes in the cafes. It "democratized" the black hot drink. In Italy and in many other countries like Spain coffee in a moka pot is somewhat a ritual involving families and friends eating together.

The espresso machine, invented in 1901 by Luigi Bezzera, now to be found in every coffee worldwide, of which we will talk in another occasion, is just so different in concept and in taste. There are two main way of thinking in the big big world of coffee lovers: those who thinks that the true "caffè" is the one made with Moka (let's say them the Bialettians) and those who thinks that true coffee is only the one made with espresso machine (the Bezzerians). Choose your side, or, as we do, enjoy both!

Many thinkers, like frenchmen Honoré de Balzac, links the invention of agitated the crowd. It surely is no good exaggerating in caffeine, but a small ritual, twice a day, is really pleasing. The very first home coffee pot was actually not the Moka, anyway. The caffettiera napoletana (we'll talk about it, do not worry!) was created in 1819 in Naples, but in this way, even if the coffee is really delicious, the process is considerably longer.
caffeine, isolated in 1820, with the new, energetic, speedful society of the XIX and the XX century. It somewhat

 

It is important that, even if many industries (like for example the elegant Alessi) creates interesting and stylish coffee pots, the licence is still owned by Bialetti Industrie, and them only can produce the original octagonal Moka. Check it out, other version have a different number of sides, and is never octagonal! Mokas are still nowadays mainly produced in Italy. From 1933 to 1946 the Bialetti industrie produced some 70000 coffee pots in an year. From 1946 on, when Alfonso Bialetti left the charge to his son Renato, the company reached one million coffee pots mark in an year. With the post war European growth, the Moka became easily a sign of La Dolce Vita, a relaxed and laid back way of thinking about life, enjoying a good cup of caffè surrounded with good friends. The "man with mustache" (l'omino coi baffi) campaign started in 1953, making Bialetti a worldwide recognizable brand. The mustached man represented was Alfonso Bialetti himself.

The Bialetti Moka and our Bowl get along very well!

And now some suggestion about how to obtain a good cafè with your moka!

-First of all, pour the water in the buttom chamber of the moka pot. Do not let the water pass the valve: if the water is too high and touch the coffee basket, it would create a sort of cap that would not let the steam circulate freely.

-Put the coffee powder in the middle basket and press it a little bit, but it has not to be too pressed, otherwise the steam of the boiling water will not flow. This is a main difference between the moka and the espresso machine, that has a higher pressure and needs the coffee powder to be very dense.

-Put the coffee on low-middle heat. Do not put the coffee pot on high heat, the coffee it is obtained with a process known as percolation, and if the steam is too strong because of high heat, the coffee you'll obtain with get only partially the complete flavours that the coffee powder has.

-After some minutes, you'll hear your moka bubble. There you have it! Your coffee is ready! Pour it into a small cup and get back to the table with your friends!

-If you see that the coffee you obtained is not enough according to the water you put inside the bottom chamber, you might either have wet your coffee ground in the basket or it might be just time to substitute your filter. You can put a little bit of cold water in a pot beside the Moka and put for some seconds the bottom of Moka pot in the water to cool it down a little bit before putting the moka back on fire. It will help extracting all the stream.

Buon caffè to all!

Tom