From Chef's Table · 2015- · Reconstructed
Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano
Serve when
Serve when Massimo Bottura describes turning Modena's most ordinary ingredient into five different textures on one plate.
In the series
Volume 1
- S1E1 · ~00:30:10 Massimo Bottura presents Parmigiano Reggiano aged 24 to 50 months, prepared as a soufflé, a foam, a crisp wafer, an airy cloud, and a sauce
In the series
Bottura built this dish to argue that Parmigiano Reggiano — the most ordinary ingredient in Modena, sold by weight at every corner shop — could be a fine-dining course on its own if you took its aging seriously. Five textures from one cheese is the whole argument on a single plate.
Ingredients
- For the parmesan cream sauce:
- For the soufflé:
- For the foam:
- For the crisp wafer:
- To finish:
Method
- For the sauce, warm the broth, whisk in the 24-month parmesan until melted and smooth, and keep warm.
- For the soufflé, fold the 30-month parmesan into the béchamel, then fold in stiffly whipped egg whites. Spoon into small ramekins and bake at 350°F (175°C) until puffed and just set, about 10 minutes.
- For the foam, bring the broth to a simmer, whisk in the 36-month parmesan and cream until smooth, then chill until cold. Transfer to a whipped cream siphon (or blend hard with an immersion blender just before serving) to aerate into a light foam.
- For the wafer, scatter the 40-month parmesan thinly on a nonstick mat and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 2 to 3 minutes, until melted and lightly golden. Cool until crisp, then break into shards.
- Plate the soufflé fresh from the oven, spoon the sauce alongside, add a cloud of foam, lean a wafer shard against it, and finish with a few shavings of the oldest cheese.
Substitutions
- Four separate ages of Parmigiano Reggiano: Most home cooks won't have four distinct ages on hand. A 24-month and a 36-month wedge (widely available at a good cheese counter) get you most of the textural range — use the younger one where the recipe calls for milder, and the older one where it calls for sharper.
- Whipped cream siphon: An immersion blender worked hard into the chilled parmesan-cream mixture will froth it enough for a rough foam, even without a siphon.
Beyond the recipe
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