Sweets and good wishes

Food pairing and synesthesia revolutionise panettone and pandoro

In the most classic festive recipe, the secret, apart from the baking temperature, is the texture, which shapes an unmistakable tactile experience. As scientists explain, even before chefs and pastry chefs

by Giuditta Avellina

20 December 2024

Un pandoro decorato di MARCHESI 1824, tratto dal libro “Pasticceria Marchesi”, di Assouline. ©Courtesy Assouline

4' min read

Key points

That's the food pairing.

4' min read

The sum of the parts is more than the total. Tastier, more fragrant, softer, more delicious. Panettone is the dessert of Christmas, and in the amalgam of the recipe, which changes from region to region, there is a particular mixture of factors. Dario Bressanini, professor of chemistry and researcher by profession, author of the best seller The Science of Pastry speaks of "a combination of slow leavening, quality ingredients and craftsmanship".

Iginio Massari highlights its 'symbolic value that goes beyond its taste: a cake that brings with it the warmth of festive moments. Not just a product, but an emotion to be shared'.

“L’arte e la scienza del Foodpairing” di Slow Food Editore; “Pasticceria Marchesi”, di Assouline; La scienza della pasticceria - Le basi”, edito da Gribaudo.

This is why the process takes time, 65 hours with four rising times and two doughs, to achieve that soft consistency and perfect alveolation that is enriched with candied orange, sultanas and aromatic scents.

For Pasticceria Marchesi, a two-hundred-year-old institution in Milan that has kept the secret of a flavour-madeleine for generations, panettone means home, a kneaded memory of the history of a city in constant movement, a passport to Italianness in the world. For visionary chef Heinz Beck, panettone can marry Amazonia, break the rules and celebrate a Christmas of shells and scampi.

Eating such a distinctive yet continuously reinvented cake is also a tactile experience, as well as one of taste and smell. The change in texture, the hardness of the outer icing and the spongy lightness of the interior, the sweet fluid of the fillings and the crunch of the aromatic cubes require calibrated, almost scientific craftsmanship.

In una foto del 1958, un bambino abbraccia un grande panettone di Marchesi. Lo scatto vintage è tratto dal libro “Pasticceria Marchesi”, di Julia Buckley, edito quest’anno per celebrare i 200 anni del gruppo MARCHESI 1824. @Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images/Courtesy Assouline

In Bressanini's words, panettone is a journey through the table of elements and pastry has the charm of an alchemic laboratory. "The secret is the ability to retain carbon dioxide during baking, without collapsing, and then the Maillard reaction," one of the most important chemical reactions, which is triggered when the heat reaches 140-180 degrees and makes sugars and amino acids, vanillin and the essential oils of citrus fruits interact, creating new aromas.

That's the food pairing

Since the 2000s, there has been a lot of talk about food pairing. "A number of molecules in common can lead to the pairing of seemingly distant foods. It is a revisited, culinary version of "opposites attract". And in some cases, they even eat and drink each other,' Bressanini further explains. "One of the most innovative trends of recent years in the kitchen combines foods on the basis of molecular as well as aromatic compound".

Iginio Massari cosparge di zucchero a velo il suo pandoro classico artigianale.

So even the most traditional of Christmas sweets can have unexpected variations, by similarity or contrast. Says Geanfranco Chavez, bar manager of the Ceccato Garden Bar in Como. "This traditional dessert is a mouth-watering opportunity for osmosis. Panettone is perfect to combine with braised meat. In Holland, for example, I enjoyed a meat course served with a kind of panettone crust: it lengthened the sweetness of the meat and contrasted the savouriness of the dish.

As wines I would match a dry classic method like Ferrari, or a Franciacorta like Ferghettina, while for a sweeter mix a passito like Sol di Ezio Cerruti. Among the drinks I would choose a nice Daiquiri made with rum, lime and sugar, ideal to tone down the sweetness and to follow the citrus note of the candied fruit'.

Chavez, who was elected Italy's most sustainable bartender in February with the Flor de Caña - an award that took him to Nicaragua to hold the world finals with 36 other bartenders from around the world -, suggests not neglecting pandoro 'more as a base for other desserts, for example a fake cheesecake in crispy form or to create a Christmas tiramisu, as a substitute for ladyfingers.

It's perfect paired with a Philipponnat brut, because the acidity of the champagne mutes the fatty side. For cocktails, too, it is better to go for acidity: for example, a Sidecar because the warm notes of the cognac go perfectly with the pandoro'.

L’immagine di copertina del libro “15 chef fuori posto”, scattata da Pierrick Verny, riprende un’idea di chef Heinz Beck (Mondadori Electa).

The last ingredient of the festivities, chocolate, a physical and chemical magic, which tells in its secondary aromas the countries where the seeds of tropical plants come from and how they ripen. Dark or caramel flavours, or savoury, to be paired with full-bodied, structured wines. "I think of a sherry, a port or a recioto," Chavez continues.

"For drinks, on the other hand, there is a wide choice: from the Negroni to the Americano for the aperitif, to the Old Fashioned for after dinner. The perfect match is with the Manhattan, a combination capable of creating a continuous evolution of aromas and flavours, with an elegant and silky character'.

EXACT FORMULA CANTINE FERRARI. Ferrari Brut Linea Classica, 22 € on enotecalunelli.com.
EZIO CERRUTTI, passito Sol, 0.375 litres, 32 € on tannico.it.
FERGHETTINA. Franciacorta Brut DOCG, 19,50 € at tannico.it.
GEANFRANCO CHAVEZ, @geanfrancodaniel.
HEINZ BECK.
IGINIO MASSARI. 1-kilo panettone, 46 €, 1-kilo pandoro, 45 €.
MARCHESI 1824. 1-kilo panettone, 48 €, 1-kilo pandoro, 48 €.
PHILIPPONNAT. Champagne Brut Royale Réserve, 48 € at callmewine.com.
Read more "Family Sweets. Le mie ricette del cuore" by Iginio Massari, Cairo, 19 €. "La scienza della pasticceria - Le basi" by Dario Bressanini, special edition for the tenth anniversary of the first publication, Gribaudo, 27 €. "L'arte e la scienza del Foodpairing" by Peter Coucquyt, Bernard Lahousse, Johan Langenbick, Slow Food Editore, 39,90 €. "Pasticceria Marchesi" by Julia Buckley, Assouline, 160 €. "15 chef fuori posto" by Marco Bonaldo and Alessandro Maria Ferreri, Mondadori Electa, 24,90 €.