Only A Few People In The World Can Make ‘Threads Of God’, The World’s Rarest Pasta
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who claims to have been making pasta for over 20 years, gave up after two hours of trying to make su filindeu, or ‘Threads of God’, the rarest pasta in the world. Not even a machine made by the Barilla pasta company could replicate the extraordinary technique required to make it.
So what makes ‘Threads of God’, known as su filindeu in Sardinian, such an extraordinary and near-mythical pasta?
The difficulty in making and getting the opportunity to try su filindeu contributes to its rarity, which originates in the village of Lulu, near the city of Nuoro, Sardinia, and can only be made by less than ten people in the world. There in Lulu, Paola Abraini, whose family has been making su filindeu for centuries, has continued the delicate art of creating it.
But for over 200 years, it took an arduous 20-mile pilgrimage by horseback or foot from Nuoro to Lulu, as outlined by Gastro Obscura, to be able to try su filindeu at the Feast of San Francesco.
The key to creating the thin, elegant strands of su filindeu require a certain intuition and understanding of the dough — which consists of only semolina wheat, water, and salt. The daunting process demands immense finesse, patience, focus, consistency and determination to be able to stretch and fold the the dough eight times, which results in 256 even strands that are then laid out in three layers on a circular wooden tray known as a fundu.
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How su filindeu is served draws comparison to the simplicity of its three ingredients, as it is naturally served with mutton broth and pecorino cheese. The complex and seemingly graceful process of making the Threads of God contrasted with its straightforward preparation establishes a duality that adds to the lore of this remarkable and elusive pasta.
Though su filindeu has slowly been taught and learned by a select and exclusive few in recent years, it’s still light years from being a Sur La Table in-store cooking class type recipe, preserving its status as the world’s rarest pasta by far.
Feature Photo: @sardegna_cooking_studio
