A Roman dessert with a rich history and taste is popping up on Australian menus. Called ‘maritozzo’ (plural is ‘maritozzi’), the dessert is a brioche bun filled with sweetened whipped cream, currently on menus at Melbourne’s Brunetti Classico and Pulcinella Café and Sydney’s 170 Grammi, Sol and Da Orazio Pasticceria.
“It’s almost like an Aussie-style finger bun but the Italian version,” says Fabio Angele, owner of Brunetti Classico in Melbourne’s Carlton. “It’s delicious.”
It was originally a Christmas dessert, made with sultanas and pine nuts inside, says Luigi Esposito, owner of Italian restaurant 170 Grammi in Sydney’s Surry Hills. Esposito believes it’s now served with cream because someone wanted to make it look like a smile.
“In Italian, ’maritozzi’ means husband and the dessert is a popular gift for men and women to buy for their partners on special holidays like Christmas and Valentine’s Day,” Esposito says.
The dish was also used to propose, says Angele. Italian men would place an engagement ring into the maritozzi. Angele calls it “the pasty that leads to marriage”.
“My 91-year-old father, Giorgio Angele, who still works at Brunetti Classico as a pastry chef first learnt how to make maritozzi when he worked in Rome more than 60 years ago,” he says. “For us the maritozzi is a sentimental and traditional product on our menu. Plus, it’s loved by our patrons, especially Italians.”
Brunetti Classico’s pastry chefs spent considerable time developing and perfecting the maritozzi that’s served today. They started by recreating maritozzi recipes that Giorgio learnt in Rome in the 1950s while he oversaw the process.
Brendon Woodward, head baker for Sol in North Sydney, says he added maritozzi to the menu because he enjoyed eating them and thinks the more people who try them will too. For Esposito at 170 Grammi, there is a different reason.
“A lot of Australians visit Rome where it originated so I wanted to ensure they could have something familiar from their trip back here in Sydney,” he says. “It’s one of those desserts that, when you look at it, you really want to take a bite.”
This same reason prompted Orazio D’Elia to serve the dish at his Italian pastry shop Da Orazio Pasticceria in Alexandria. His shop aims to offer Sydneysiders the authenticity they’d experience at one in Italy.
“When we planned the offering, we thought ‘People love Rome and travel there all the time’,” says D’Elia. “The first thing that came into my mind was the maritozzi. Today we do several flavours and are so proud of our product.”
D’Elia says all Italians have their own recipes for maritozzi. At his pastry shop, he respects the authenticity of it by ensuring the freshest ingredients are used for all versions. The shop also has the traditional version with whipped cream and a touch of vanilla.
Woodward makes his maritozzi at Sol with a bit of tart, housemade jam to cut through the richness. At Brunetti Classico, maritozzi flavours include tiramisu, Biscoff, vanilla and pistachio while at 170 Grammi, flavours are pistachio, original and Nutella.
“I think it’s become popular on Australian menus because it’s relatively easy to make as well as a classic pairing of sweet dough base and a cream filling,” Woodward says.
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