Zabalione written as sabayon, zabagione or zabajone, refers to an Italian dessert prepared using egg yolks, a sweet wine, sugar and occasionally whole eggs. The wine used is mostly Marsala wine, although in the original recipe Moscato d'Asti is used. It is voluminous low weight custard having gathered great quantity of air owing to being whipped. Zabaglione is conventionally presented alongside fresh figs. It is known as sabayon among French, although its original Italian name happens to be Zabalione, zabaglione or zabajone, an outdated connotation.
In Argentina and Uruguay the dessert is popularly referred to as sambayón. It prevails in Argentina's ice-cream shops as a familiar and pricey ice cream flavour. People of Colombia, know it as sabajón. The Venezuelans call it sambayón although there can be confusion due to similarities with another egg-based dessert beverage known as ponche de crema. The Zabalione recipe is immensely popular during Christmas.
History of Zabalione
The birth of Zabalione recipe is largely unknown as only few people know that this foamy preparation of egg yolks beaten along with wine and sugar was invented in Piemonte. A Franciscan cleric by the name of Fra' Pasquale de Baylon was the creator of this dish. The monk lived in a hamlet in Torino during the middle 16th century. Fra Pasquale propagated his preparation as a delicacy that leads to preserve fine heath conditions and vigor among the locals.
Further the Zabalione recipe garnered immense popularity upon the canonization of the saint in 1680 dispersing ahead of the city of Torino where he practiced. Its name came to be known through a shortened connotation in the local dialect as San Bajon with the recipe being called L’Sanbajon. Zabalione earned its current Piemontese name as it got famous outside of Savoy, in many regions of Italy thereby parsed by Italian diction and spelling influences.
Ingredients Used and Popular Methods of Preparation of Zabalione
The classical Zabalione recipe makes use of raw egg yolks, even though; of late it is preferred to be made in a bain-marie. Sometimes people use whipped cream instead of beaten egg white.
Also the use of wine is eliminated on purpose in Zabalione recipe when being made to be meant to serve for children or non-alcoholics. This results in turning the dessert totally different. Espresso coffee can be used in little quantities to add more flavor to it.
Zabalione is well-liked in chocolates too.
Popular Zabalione Variations
Zabalione is made through many regional variations of Italy and other surrounding regions. People of Milan prepared it with red wine and lemon juice and referred to it as Sapajean Zabaglione, while people of the south, most often prepared it using Marsala from Sicily. Cooled Zabalione, in recipes is doubled to turn into whipped cream or added into gelato and semifreddo. It is classically had alongside Fruit and biscotti in both warm as well as cold states.
Zabalione turns out as a fabulous excellent dessert sauce that can be served alongside budini, crostate and torte.