History of the legendary almost entirely Italian spoon dessert.
In Emilia-Romagna they are certain of it: the sponge cake (or ladyfingers) with alchermes and creams is right here. But there is no shortage of Tuscan, Neapolitan and even Marche theses
Curious, for a dish that is neither a soup, nor even Anglo-Saxon, to go down in history with the name 'Zuppa Inglese'. A dessert that appears on the Sunday table of many families, especially in Central Italy, and which has a long and somewhat debated history. A debate to be resolved between Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Marche and Campania, without forgetting England. We have reconstructed the most accredited theses, not disdaining some flights of imagination and starting from etymology to outline different points of view.
We say 'soup' and a hot dish comes to mind, perhaps a liquid soup of vegetables, meat and fish. Why is it called soup then?
he origin of the word comes in handy, explaining how the Gothic suppa passed unchanged into Vulgar Latin, to indicate any preparation based on soaked bread. Let us therefore think about the fundamental basis of the dessert: sponge cake, Savoyard biscuit, or - between Romagna and Ferrara - the typical brazadela, the important thing is that it is well soaked in alchermes or rosolio. Everything comes back.
The hypotheses in favor of the Emilian origin of Zuppa Inglese
Among the regional claims for Zuppa Inglese, one of the most vigorous is that of Emilia-Romagna. The hypothesis speaks of the Este court of Ferrara in the 16th century, where someone distantly remembered the trifle, an Anglo-Saxon dessert defined as the ancestor of all cakes. Slices of leavened dough soaked in alcohol (often Sherry), layered with creams, cream and pieces of fruit.
Thanks to commercial contacts with the UK, the inspiration reached here, transforming into sponge cake, biscuits and alchermes - the al-qirmiz learned from the Arabs, based on cochineal - in a local way. And be careful: no cocoa cream or chocolate in sight, which at that time was still practically unknown in Europe. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the soup moved from Bologna to Parma, where according to some the Roman pastry chef Vincenzo Agnoletti, in the service of the dukes, gave the name to the dessert not so much to recall its roots but also for the use of rum, the distilled preferred by the English navy.
What if Zuppa Inglese was born in Tuscany? In Naples? Or Ancona?
In Siena, in July 1552, a chef conceived the Zuppa del Duca, in honor of Ippolito da Correggio's visit to Cosimo de' Medici. The dessert, which today includes custard, chocolate and sometimes meringue, is recognized as both the ancestor of Zuppa Inglese and Tiramisu (whose controversial history we have told here). What is certain, however, is that the Zuppa del Duca arrived in Firene in the 19th century, in particular on the menu of the Gran Caffè Doney, at the time a meeting point - look at that - of the Anglo-Saxon community.
“Bring this trifle!” it is instead the exclamation that leads to Naples at the end of the eighteenth century. So the butler of King Ferdinand I, brought back to the throne by Horatio Nelson, urged the waiter to serve the admiral a dessert prepared with leftovers of other dried sweets, custard and his beloved rum. A last-minute find to replace a more elegant dish, which had fallen disastrously to the ground shortly before. Finally, a final hypothesis, more concise but equally imaginative. It is set in Ancona, where according to The English Woman in Italy by Gladys Patton (1860) a similar dessert soaked in liqueur was made, the 'English' name of which was ironic about the reputation of foreign sailors as drinkers.