FAQ · Things people ask
Remove from the heat immediately and keep whisking over a bowl of cold water. If it's starting to granulate, it may be saved by whisking vigorously off heat — but once the texture breaks, it cannot be reversed.
Zabaione is best served immediately while warm and still billowing. It can be cooled and refrigerated, but the volume collapses and the texture changes — it becomes more of a sauce.
Dry sherry, dry Madeira, or Vin Santo are the best substitutes. Prosecco works for a lighter version. Avoid sweet dessert wines — they make it cloying.
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Cenci are what Tuscany fries up every February when Carnevale arrives — thin, blistered ribbons of dough dusted with powdered sugar, light enough to eat a dozen without noticing. The rest of Italy calls them chiacchiere, frappe, bugie, or galani depending on the region; in Tuscany, cenci means 'rags,' which describes the irregular shapes perfectly.
Gubana appeared at a papal banquet in Cividale del Friuli in 1409 — that is how seriously Friuli-Venezia Giulia takes this coiled pastry. A long-fermented enriched dough wraps a dense filling of grappa-soaked raisins, walnuts, pine nuts, and dark chocolate into a tight spiral that holds together cleanly when sliced.
Supplì al telefono are Rome's answer to leftover risotto al pomodoro — shaped into ovals, stuffed with mozzarella, and dropped into hot oil. The 'telefono' name comes from the strings of molten cheese that stretch between the two halves when you pull one apart.