Parmesan Spaghetto Recipe

This is an extraordinary molecular gastronomy recipe from Ferran Adria and El Bulli team. The Parmesan Spaghetto is a 2 meter (6 feet) spaghetto or noodle made of jellified parmesan whey using agar agar as the jellifying agent. It is very easy to make and it only requires a syringe, silicone tubes and agar agar. You need to start the preparation at least 12 hours before serving.

Parmesan Whey Ingredients

- 500 g (18 oz) grated Reggiano Parmesan

- 450 g (16 oz) water

Parmesan Spaghetto Ingredients

- 300 g (11oz) Reggiano Parmesan whey (preparation above)

- 4.8 g Agar Agar

Preparation

1- Start by preparing the Parmesan whey. Put the water in a saucepan to boil and when it starts to boil add the grated Parmesan. Stir until it dissolves and leave to infuse for 15 min off the heat.

2- Pass the Parmesan paste through a superbag or a sieve lined with cheesecloth and remove all the whey, discarding the Parmesan paste. Keep the Parmesan whey in the fridge for 12 h.

3- Set aside the whey deposited in the lower part for the spaghetti and discard the fat accumulated in the upper part. Get the PVC or silicone tubes of 0.5 cm in diameter and 2 m long and 1 syringe with a nozzle 0.3 cm in diameter ready. Read Agar Agar Spaghetti if this is your first time making agar agar spaghetti.

4- Put the Parmesan whey in a saucepan, dissolve the agar agar and bring it to the boil, stirring constantly with a beater. If you have a Thermomix, use it for this recipe. You can mantain the temperature of the preparation high enough so the solution doesn't solidify while you are filling silicone tubes.

5- Take off the heat and skim to eliminate any impurities.If using a Thermomix, reduce the temperature to 104°F/40°C to prevent it from solidifying while you fill the syringes and the tubes.

6- Fill the syringe and with it fill the tubes, which will have been rolled and secured with a little adhesive tape for greater comfort.

7- Submerge the full tubes in cold water so that the Parmesan whey sets in a few minutes.

8- With an empty syringe, inject air into the tube to obtain the spaghetto. This is probably the most difficult part of the recipe if you use cheap PVC tubes. The high quality silicone tubes in our kits have a tight fit with the syringe and make this job easy (read Agar Agar Spaghetti for tips and more information on the Agar Spaghetti Kit). The resulting spaghetti can be served hot or cold.

Serving Suggestions

- Serve on a plate sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, grate lemon zest on top and carefully add a few drops on the plate of olive oil and balsamic reduction.

- Roll spaghetto into a spiral