On November 4 I had the pleasure to be in the jury at the semifinals of the first Tiramisu Word Cup, held in Treviso.
The Partcipants at the Tiramisu World Cup
720 participants from different regions came to the Veneto region (where the famous dessert was invented), armed with recipes, aprons and whisks to prepare their version of the famous Italian dessert.
The competition was open to non-professional adult cooks of all ages. The jury, composed by experts, bloggers and public, had to taste – poor things! 😉 – delicious bites of different tiramisù.
The categories
Two the categories:
- classic (only eggs, mascarpone, biscuits, sugar, coffee and cocoa) and
- creative tiramisù (maximum 3 further or substitutive ingredients and no alcohol).
The locations
It all started on Saturday the 4th of November, in six amazing locations of the Treviso province: Villa Emo, BHR Hotel, Rotonda di Badoere, Roncade Castle, Casale sul Sile, Tenuta Astoria.
My experience at the Tiramisu World Cup
My location was Roncade Castle. I asked for this particular place because I had never been there before. It was a surprise. A beautiful villa surrounded by walls in the shape of a castle. A garden, a winery. All the ingredients for a beautiful joint.
But I was there to judge. Upon my arrival I asked for some info at the desk upon my arrival… aaaand… things could have been better organized for us judges. Let’s hope next year this aspect will be improved, if the competition is to be held again.
For example, I arrived one hour in advance. My purpose was to look around, take photos and be there to have info. I asked where the judges rendezvous point was, in order to get there on time. The guys at the info desk didn’t know. That wasn’t reassuring. Anyway, I made it.
How to judge
My jury fellows and I had to judge 5 elements:
- technical execution (including the cleanliness of the workstation)
- presentation (aesthetic point of view)
- taste intensity (permanence)
- equilibrium (ingredients balance)
- flavour & harmony (pleasantness)
It was not that easy to judge about 30 different preparations. I have to say that I wasn’t sure of being capable to recognize the taste properly after many bites, but on the contrary, each tiramisù had its own different personality. Sadly, my two favourites ended up getting both third place, the creamy sweet traditional one, and the spicy chocolate creative one. Pity! Only the first one classified could pass.
The winner takes it all
On Sunday the 5th the final challenge took place in Treviso city centre. The jury was composed by chefs and experts only.
The ultimate winner of the Tiramisu World Cup, with a classic version of the delicious dessert was Andrea Ciccolella from Feltre, in the province of Belluno. Bravo! Andrea declared he did not learnt the recipe from his mom or grandma, but on YouTube. Oh, the power of social media! His parents are proud, and happy not to have to taste tiramisù every single day.
He can now boast about making the best tiramisu in Italy. That’s a thing, right?
