1662 Zabaglione Recipe Revived: Authentic Italian Custard

Some of the simplest recipes are best and this one is absolutely one of them.
Just Eggs (yolks), sugar, and a sweet white wine…..oh and for this version butter!
In 1662 Bartolomeo Stefani (not Scappi) wrote the first recorded recipe for Zabaglione, the famous and popular Italian dessert. This recipe however is very unique with the luxurious velvety addition of melted butter.

6 egg yolks mixed with half lb of sugar. whisk together in a Bain Marie/double boiler set up. take care to not let the bowl touch the water and overheat the mixture. Stir in 6 oz of a sweet white wine. whisker quickly until it is fluffed up a bit.
In a separate pot melt a half stick, 2 oz, of butter. Whisk in the melted butter to the custard mixture.
Serves about 4-6 people.
Top with a dash of cinnamon.

Again and today I’m trying a recipe from 1662 the famous Italian dessert zaboon this recipe comes from the cookbook LTE de Ben cinar by bomeo Stefani now this is the first recorded recipe of zabayon and it’s super simple just eggs sugar and a sweet white wine

Let’s get at it so first we’re going to start off by just separating the egg whites from the yolks cuz we’re only going to be using the yolks for this recipe in Italy just decades after the end of the Renaissance period a chef was transformed in Italian cuisine in the

Duche of Mana Chef bomeo Stefani published LTE de Ben cinar the art of good cooking The cookbook was written under his employment by the Gonzaga family of Mana the Gonzaga Dynasty which began in 1328 became one of the most influential families in Italy at the time being monumentally influential in the

Flourishing of culture and arts during the Renaissance so in this cookbook we find the recipe for zaboon this dessert has been around for some time before Stefani put it to paper but the origin is lost to history its name is also sort of mystery aside from the linguistic

Theories of origin there are some historical ones like it being named after s Pasqual bone the patron saint of cooks the recipe is as follows to make a zaboon take six fresh eggs a half pound of fine sugar 6 oz of white wine and bead everything together and then take a

Glazed Stone pan proportionate to the said composition put 2 oz of butter to melt in the pan when it’s melted throw in the mixture giving it fire below and above if you want put ground cinnamon into the composition to taste but be careful that cooking it does not get too toasted

Today zaboon is enjoyed all over Italy and even around the world as Sabayon in France sambayon in Argentina and Uruguay and even sabahan in Colombia now let’s get back to the cooking all right so next I’m just going to take one one I almost said one pound one cup about a

Half pound of sugar and beat it with the eggs dad that’s a lot of sugar that is a lot of sugar daddy almost did a pound of sugar look at that long of it it’s a beautiful color right there so now I’m just kind of getting this whipped up on

A ban Marie type setup I’ve got going on here and I’m going to add in 6 oz of a sweet white wine it didn’t say what white wine to use so I chose to just go with Moscato because it was the first thing I saw but actually moscato in the 17th

Century was popular with Nobles and considering Balo Stefani worked for the Gonzaga Family Moscato might have been used in his recipe so we’ll see how this turns out it’s about 6 oz there about 5 and a half now whoops and I think the trick here is to whip it pretty

Quickly so one thing that I didn’t realize until just now is that the Moscato that I bought is uh it’s sparkling so yeah that I don’t know how that’s going to change things but we’ll see when it’s all said and done um the last part of Stefani’s recipe is

Different from how most Aon is made today I mean I haven’t seen any recipe that incorporates butter his does so we’re going to take 2 oz of butter it’s about a half a stick and we’re going to melt that down and add it to what we just

Prepared okay let let’s add this melted butter you know like the same goes butter makes it better so just makes this a little bit more luxurious it’s thickening up nicely and I think that’s it I’d say we’re done what Stefani says to serve this is he recommends just a dash

Of cinnamon on top so that’s how we’re going to do it today so let me plate this up and give it a try all right so this is a recipe finally I’m not too afraid to try um I mean zabon is kind of made like it’s the same premises like

Eggnog and I don’t like eggnog but there’s nothing scary about this traditionally traditionally it served warm so going to give it a try I have a little bit of cinnamon on here that’s actually very good wow I’m I’m actually blown away this is is way better than I thought it

Was going to be from what I’ve read because this dessert I’ve actually never tried before I I’ve been told that it is it takes on the flavor of the wine it just tastes like whatever liquor you’re going to put in it it’s not like that it’s actually you definitely taste the wine

And I don’t think that there is any issue with using the Moscato Dy rather than using just a plain flat Moscato it’s uh it tastes almost like white chocolate um again hint to that wine the sweetness the the fru the floral but very very subtle it really is

Like a nice melted white chocolate and now I’ve got to try it with some raspberries here you have to dip oh I have to dip mhm there you go Dad thank you let me do it that is awesome that is really good the cinnamon really nice fruit

Really nice I have a little bit of both here I recommend it yeah I want some more as a rating this is easily eight and a half or nine out of 10 got to give it a try