Grate Parmesan

The best Parmesan cheese—not the grated, jarred supermarket variety—comes from the region of Emilia-Romagna and must have “Parmigiano-Reggiano” stamped on the rind. These huge wheels are the most famous and valuable of all the grana cheeses of Italy. The younger cheese is slightly moist, the aged drier and a bit chalky in appearance. In Italy, they serve the younger, two-year-old cheese as a table cheese, grate the three-year-old cheese over pasta, and stuff the four-year-old cheese into ravioli and tortellini. A wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano should be straw yellow in color, crumble softly, and taste mellow, rich, and salty—never sharp. When we serve pasta, we always pass a wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano along with a fine grater so everyone can grate their own. We think it’s the only way.