Move over, avocado toast: hipsters are going to be lining up for a new fashionable food soon, and it’s one of the rarest pastas in the world. The dish is rare because only three women in the world know the secret to making it. To taste this near extinct delicacy you have to trek to the island of Sardinia to get a taste.
Why is this meal so rare? Pasta is pasta, right? Not in this case. This particular pasta is called su filindeu, which means “the threads of Godâ€. For more than 300 years the Abraini family has been passing down the recipe and special technique to the women in their family.
An appearance on the YouTube show Pasta Grannies caught the attention of Newser, which reports that the pasta is made by folding the dough into 256 even strands all perfectly pulled by hand. The pasta is then placed on three diagonal layers of a circular frame and placed out to dry in the hot sun. The pasta is then broken up into pieces and cooked in its signature mutton broth and pecorino cheese.
Seeing as how so few people can make this complex dish, the only way to try it is to get to the village of Nuoro via foot or horseback for the biannual Feast of San Francesco.
So what’s the secret? There are only three ingredients: semolina wheat, water, and salt. Is it the Sardinian sun? The Italian water? More than anything it has to be the acquired skill and practice of pulling the pasta into whisp like strands, which is a truly magical thing to watch.
The only way to try su filindeu pasta is to be in Sardinia in May or October; otherwise you’re out of luck because sadly, no one has been able to replicate this amazingly artful dish.
For a more in depth look at Italian families making homemade pasta, check out the droolworthy Pasta Grannies instagram.
Does handmade pasta sounds like a dream come true and worth the long trek? Let us know what you think in the comments!
