– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

So you're sitting in a restaurant, maybe you order  the pasta and your waiter says "Would you like  

some parmesan with that?" You say "yes" and take an  egregious mound full, but guess what? That's not real  

parmesan! The authentic version is called Parmigiano  Reggiano. For over a thousand years it's been required  

by law that it be made only in certain parts of  Italy in a very specific way, anything else out  

there that you see is just an imitation. But I've  always had a deep desire to know the secret of how  

it's made, and even make a wheel myself. So I've  arrived in the Italian countryside to work with  

Italy's greatest cheese maker and they promised  me if I can do what they do daily they'll let  

me taste the rarest cheese on planet Earth worth  $70,000 a wheel! And no, it isn't normal Parmesan.  

And that journey starts right here on the cow  farm at 4:00 in the morning at one of the most  

authentic Parmigiano Reggiano factories in all of Italy  Malandrone. but I'm not doing this alone we have  

chef and culinary adventurer Mr z here to help  guide me through this and translate along the  

way i'm going to get down and dirty creating my  own wheel from start to finish and this is where  

it comes from we're about to see these magical  cows are you ready for their others yeah it's 4  

in the morning i'm standing here waiting for the  cows let's go one of them is starting already so  

they're disinfecting the other making sure  there are no bacterias everything is clean  

crazy i mean it's like spraying some of them  have started without being touched we've all  

been there so go for it disinfect the other i'm  scared and then you have to pull them how do I do  

it like like this three fingers and pull down now  you have experience in that it's fine very good  

success after disinfecting it was time to put the  Can't believe I'm saying this but uh the milking  

machine on Yeah excellent oh oh no okay all right  it's harder than I thought it would be how does it  

feel it's kind of like a game the milking game  parmesan making is such a delicate process if  

you think about it you take the milk you end up  with a whole wheel of cheese i don't think it's  

that simple i think there's probably a few other  steps right well we'll find out we'll find out  

soon but now it's time for the cows to head back  home so we could see where this milk was stored  

all the,800 liters of milk extracted this morning  from 120 cows coming straight here 37° straight  

from the others you want to go check it out this  is a very safe ladder as well yeah this ladder  

looks very OSHA safe oh wow it smells amazing i I  want to drink it i might you know the cows weren't  

the only animal friends lurking around this farm  there's a cat it's a good thing Kate isn't here  

kate would be like "Oh we gonna take the cat home  put it on the plane." No no we have two all right  

cute cat we're on our mission to make the highest  the greatest cheese and surprisingly the rarest  

Parmesan Rajano in the world comes from only three  ingredients first whole milk we got from the cows  

which contains the skim milk and the natural  starter known as the way and then second salt  

and third renet which turns the liquid cheese  solid we'll explain that later though it's a  

miracle that only three ingredients can make the  number one cheese in the world but as beautiful  

as that sounds there's a battle raging in this  room every day between good and bad bacteria  

if good bacteria wins we get unparalleled flavor  and consistency but if the bad bacteria wins the  

entire process falls apart to a complete failure  only if done properly can we create a wheel of  

the world's best cheese so I will do my best to  not [ __ ] this up while our 1,800 L of raw milk  

was being collected we moved to the dairy and as  soon as I stepped inside my mind was blown our  

first ingredient milk this is the leftover milk  that sat out overnight the fat rises forming a  

layer of the fattiest creamiest of cream wow  insane the way it clings to your finger is  

unbelievable can you smell it oh smells  unbelievable oh incredible before we make  

the cheese though we need to get you undressed  and dressed up i'll just stay undressed butt  

naked apron as long as your bacterias are good  yeah oh they're good they're real good if I was  

going to work alongside a master cheese maker  feel like I'm going to have to look the part

joshua please meet Paulo the head cheese maker and  his son Andrea paulo's been making cheese since he  

was 15 years old he's the pinnacle of this house  of the gods are you ready on to my first test i  

unccorked the hole and let the milk flow we need  to separate the aged milk from the cream we have  

to time this perfectly to not lose a single drop  of the liquid gold that is the cream and as soon  

as it gets thicker we're going to go and close  it it's almost a little bit stressful these vats  

are so big that if they don't time this right they  lose out on some of the most crucial parts of the  

cheese making process so step by step you see they  slowly close the top so they're coaxing the milk  

out of this basically as much as possible the fact  that it's just two people at 5:00 in the morning  

father and son walking in by hand extracting this  this is like a lost art almost it is a lost art so  

this now is cream it's not milk anymore i want  to put it on the ground and then what was full  

of milk and cream is just cream now the next  steps are going to be super delicate you see  

the that wooden thing they're going to use that to  scrape because they don't want to lose even one ml  

of this liquid gold so this is the first pull of  the heavy cream so we're going to pull this yeah  

and then I I'll scrape oh yeah wow have you ever  seen so much cream in your life uh in my bedroom  

so Paulo put me to work scraping every last drop  of cream which seemed easy enough but so in the  

time that it took me to finish my two they've done  two four six of them so triple the amount of work  

that I did but uh you know it's my first time i I  did okay now what happening is that we're waiting  

for the milk from the farm the ones that you just  And then we're going to have to mix 50% of that  

milk with the skimmed milk and then we're going  to use a little bit of the whey a little bit of  

renet and then we're going to start cooking it  all the protein of milk we're going to have to  

break them to grain particles in this way we can  achieve the perfect cheese can you hear oh the  

tractor yeah it's our milk let's go component 2  has arrived it is now time to add to the mix this  

milk is going to go into the bath they don't want  to use pumps because as soon as you use pumps you  

risk to damage the integrity of the milk so they  use gravity to transport the milk into the barrel  

50% of the skimmed milk and 50% of the fat milk so  he's literally preparing the starter splitting it  

evenly but as you can see there is no measuring  scale everything is made by hand made by eye so  

we're measuring it at this stage waiting for it  to get to that line and now we add the starter  

very heavy now we heat it up they're bringing it  out to 33 35° for the first stage they're heating  

it and then he's mixing renet to then separate it  obviously all this liquid isn't going to suddenly  

become cheese but what's separated from it will  be the cheese the separation part is what's called  

coagulation the renet is the coagulant despite  using a thermometer the cheese maker still needs  

to dip his hand in the boiling hot milk to feel  the consistency of the curds why because milk  

changes every day and only he does it for every  single parmesan that comes out of this production  

unbelievable so you added the renet 1 minute  of mixing 10 minutes is going to be coagulated  

and then we start breaking it with the spino this  tool over here so it was time once again to watch  

the master at work look at what he's doing you  have to be delicate and precise in the movement  

wow and you know I had to give it a try which  was much harder than it looks oh my god you're  

strong i want to be clear the viscosity of this  liquid like I I would say I'm at like 60% power  

pushing down i wouldn't [ __ ] with this dude very  delicate process here once that coaculated milk is  

broken up into grain-like pieces they then crank  the heat up to 55° C to begin removing some of  

the water from the curd but now all the heavy  particles are going to fall down to the bottom  

of the barrel gonna have to let it sleep let it  rest for at least 1 hour but in the meantime we  

can have some breakfast thank god let's do that  but breakfast didn't last long because after an  

hour it was time to pull out these huge blocks  we need to lift the cheese oh lift the cheese  

it's going to be heavy sir you ready if this guy  is struggling there's noing way I'm going to Come  

on oh my come on come on come on jesus Christ  i mean look at this oh come on come on there  

she is remove remove remove remove josh josh josh  come come come oh wow oh you have to shape it yes  

like that shape shape shape shape shape shape we  have to tie it up [ __ ] this up i I don't know  

how here i don't want to be Yeah makes me laugh  so much so it's already kind of in the shape a  

little bit it's funny i wasn't expecting it to  already be in such a round shape but the basin  

of these copper vats kind of already pre-shapes it  a little bit it's pretty amazing and then they're  

going to cut these in half as well don't make a  hole in the net i'm trying not to i'm so scared  

these are two Parmesan wheels so it's kind of  like a perfect life cycle right beginning of  

the day they do all this stuff and by the time  they're done they're left over with this sort  

of like whey starter liquid that's then going to  sit overnight and they're going to use it again  

the next day to use as a starter or the mother  culture if you will just so you know how deep  

this is that's my full arm length if I were  in this that would be well above my head now  

once the bats have been drained a bit it's time to  take the cheese out and put them into their molds  

very good start shaping it pull it up pull pull  pull pull she's a little big cover and tuck it  

in like a baby very good quite the process my  god and finally we have arrived to day zero the  

start of our parmesano wheel somehow when you  think of age cheese the aging process doesn't  

even technically begin until around day 20 on  day zero the wheels are flipped multiple times  

and that evening they get branded with the iconic  dotted parmesan reaniano inscription you see here  

but there's more excitement to come before it's  officially certified as genuine Parmesan Reiano  

it almost smells like fresh like yogurt and this  is the ID card this tells you which cow came from  

which heater who made it what date what time here  is a room where they age up to 2 days to complete  

the drying process to make sure there's no water  left okay so it's got some discoloration now it's  

a little bit more yellow and not so white this is  not parmyo yet because the branding will happen  

here when is authorized by the consortium so  when the consortium comes when the wheel is  

ready 12 months after they be like this is okay  and they will stamp it for you wow otherwise you  

can't sell it as paragano wow you can literally  commit an entire year of aging before you even  

get to decide if it's worthy of the powerful name  of Parmesano Reiano the flavor doesn't even begin  

until this next step a giant saltwater bath to  brine in which will also help draw out some of  

that moisture we're here surrounded by parmesans  that are just sitting in here for 17 days  

both the seasoning of it is happening here but  also the curing and it's basically cleaning off  

the exterior so it creates a crust and uh can  be aged for years after it's bath it gets a day  

in the steam room to further dry out which I'm a  little confused about cuz there's steam in there  

but you know what this is their stuff not mine  only then does it move to a place I have only  

seen in the depths of my dreams possibly wet ones  welcome to the house of the gods oh my god wow  

holy [ __ ] wow so it's aging as we go the smell  in here is unbelievable you're getting like blue  

cheese toffee uh brown butter so many different  scents combined it's unbelievable so all of these  

wheels you'll notice something different colors  different ages but there's one wall it's a little  

different this one is significantly darker they  kept this wall to showcase you the rarest and  

most expensive parmyo wall of all Romania i really  appreciate that you came all the way down here and  

you understood from the cow down to the cheese the  process and I feel like we should have him taste  

a little bite oh you deserve it yes i'm ready  let's do it but maybe I shouldn't be cheering  

so soon you see Mr z apparently has a challenge  for me but he won't say what it is until I first  

taste a 2-year age parmesano do you remember  how many months does he have to be parmesano  

12 12 great can you reckon how many months this  is it's definitely more than 12 26 months which  

usually is what Italians love to eat we're going  to cut a little piece to taste you can smell the  

butter i smell it and I immediately am transported  back into that room in there buttery toffee like  

break it and smell again oh it comes right out  wow there's some crunches do you feel the little  

crunches i'm tasting it completely different than  I ever have before it smells like like a baby in  

a way like milk i think you're high off the high  off the cheese right now a little bit a little  

bit having said this I want to give you another  challenge if you pass the challenge I'm going to  

give you a 20-year-old cheese the rarest cheese  in the world one wheel ever opened in the history  

of humankind the Minnelli family they are giving  us an opportunity to try history but remember you  

have to pass this test first and it's not going  to be an easy test okay come with me now if I can  

complete his mystery challenge I'll finally get  to taste the rarest cheese in the world and be  

able to truly say if it is the greatest cheese on  earth we are opening a [ __ ] wheel we're opening  

a wheel no way really have you ever opened a  Parmesan wheel uh no 60 months of age which is  

5 years 5 years very good majority of Italian  population has never tried a 5-year Parmesan  

cheese despite feeling like a kid in the candy  store I was nervous even more nervous that I'm  

doing it in front of two legends you have to  find the perfect half otherwise this will in  

the bin okay good luck oh [ __ ] hell now it's  time for me to cut a 5yearaged Parmesano wheel  

and even with all these specialized tools this  was hard so step one you cut a straight line  

around the entire length of the wheel with a sharp  hookshaped knife it looks easier than it is yeah  

it's very hard step two using these specialized  stabby knives you're going to jab straight into  

that line now you're going to hear Mr z yell  "Oh," or wiggle oil a little bit oil i'm going  

to find you O Sheila and then eventually something  happens and by eventually I mean this process took  

me 25 minutes which is probably longer than it  should have taken anybody how long does it take  

you to open one 2 minutes but after all that hard  work yeah oh sh I finally passed the test yes oh

and now try straight from the wheel beautiful  look at this oh the smell smell how completely  

different this completely different there's  another cheese there's still a distant memory  

of the room but it's a little farther away and  now level two the 5-year aged Parmesano one step  

closer to the 20-year wo joshua it's too close  holy [ __ ] 25 minutes what do you think beyond  

worth it i didn't think that Parmesano could  taste like this you can taste every little note  

the toffee the sweetness it's more sweet  i thought it would be less sweet now the  

umami is really present you're still getting  the flavor and the scent from the room but  

it's changed in a big way unbelievable so rich and  nutty too this is the greatest parmesano I've ever  

tasted in my entire life by far it's about to get  better that's impossible the gentleman over here  

thought that this was not enough for award for  the effort they wanted to bless us as you know  

with the most exclusive hardest to get we get to  try the 20 years old Parmyo Reano from Malandron  

we're looking at $70,000 but it's not about the  cost it's about the time the history the passion  

the love wow look at this it's like a a contraband  people in this region pray for this oh my god the  

sweetness you can smell now too before it's not so  much but now you can really smell it it's like the  

Holy Sacrament the texture is completely different  than what I expected so I've had cheeses from all  

over the world i've cooked with three Michelin  starred chefs i've tried the best of the best  

but this by far is the rarest most expensive most  tailored cheese I think in human existence cheers

holy i had a very small bite oh my god oh my  god every single part of your mouth speaking  

to you now the floral notes the fruit notes  are so much like unbelievable it's much drier  

texture- wise less creamy but more of like a  chew like a nice like firm chew the flavor is  

so explosive so floral you're getting that  sweetness and the sweetness is so much more  

powerful i'm thinking about the whole journey  that we've gone through waking up at 2 in the  

morning going and milking the cows washing the  bins getting the cream out cooking the milk  

separating it i'm physically and emotionally  exhausted and even then the work is not done  

the work doesn't stop there it continues in its  slumber in this beautiful church of cheese to  

age for 12 months right which already it becomes  an incredible product this by far is a perfect  

example of what I'm about to say which is does  time make a difference and it absolutely does  

it's something that we've forgotten about in  today's culture this is not only a testament  

of time but this is the greatest cheese  on planet Earth and now come with us so  

you remember that you cooked in the pot number  five yes these are the two number five cheeses  

you'll sign them oh really the signature will  stay forever wow in 12 months we'll see these  

wheels just keep watching every single day  for the next 12 months thank you so much

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
restaurant /ˈrestərɒnt/ A2	noun - a place where people pay to eat meals
pasta /ˈpæstə/ A2	noun - a food made from flour, water, and sometimes eggs, cooked in boiling water
waiter /ˈweɪtər/ A2	noun - a person who serves food and drinks in a restaurant
parmesan /pɑːrməˈzæn/ B1	noun - a hard Italian cheese
authentic /ɔːˈθentɪk/ B2	adjective - genuine; real
required /rɪˈkwaɪərd/ B1	adjective - needed or demanded
imitation /ˌɪmɪˈteɪʃən/ B2	noun - something made to look like something else
desire /dɪˈzaɪər/ B2	noun - a strong feeling of wanting something
secret /ˈsiːkrət/ A2	noun - something kept hidden
arrived /əˈraɪvd/ A2	verb - to reach a destination
promised /ˈprɒmɪst/ A2	verb - to assure someone that you will do something
rarest /ˈreərɪst/ B2	adjective - most unusual and valuable
journey /ˈdʒɜːrni/ B1	noun - an act of traveling from one place to another
bacteria /bækˈtɪəriə/ B2	noun - microscopic organisms
process /ˈprɒses/ B1	noun - a series of actions or steps taken to achieve a particular end
delicate /ˈdelɪkət/ B2	adjective - easily broken or damaged
ingredient /ɪnˈɡriːdiənt/ B1	noun - a component part or element of a mixture