There are some recipes we develop that come together surprisingly quickly.
Panda Pasta wasn't one of them.
In fact, the very first attempt at making pasta with Panda was around three years ago — and the result had rather more in common with another great British favourite.
Chips.
They were thick. They were chunky. And although technically we'd made something that could be served with a sauce, nobody was going to mistake it for a bowl of fresh Italian pasta.
But there was enough there to make me think:
Panda Pasta should be possible.
And so began a development journey that would continue, on and off, for the next three years.
Getting closer
As Panda developed, so did the pasta.
Different combinations were tested, the dough became easier to work with and eventually we developed our Golden Panda Whole Egg Pasta.
This was a huge step forward.
The dough rolled beautifully through a pasta machine. It could be rolled into sheets, cut and shaped, and it opened the door to dishes we'd wanted to recreate for a very long time.
For lasagne and cannelloni, it worked brilliantly.
But there was still something that bothered me.
It worked. But it wasn't quite pasta.
The problem appeared when the pasta was cooked directly in water.
You could roll the dough beautifully and cut it into tagliatelle, but once those ribbons hit the hot water, the surface developed a slightly fluffy, sticky texture.
Take them out of the pan and another problem appeared.
The individual strands wanted to stick together.
And that's not how a bowl of fresh tagliatelle should behave.
I wanted those ribbons to remain separate. I wanted them free-flowing in the bowl and easy to twist around a fork.
The Whole Egg Pasta was good.
But I knew Panda could get closer.
Then an Italian chef gave me an idea
The breakthrough came completely by chance.
I caught a video of an Italian chef preparing fresh egg-yolk pasta for service in his restaurant.
When I say preparing it, he was actually complaining about the number of eggs he was having to separate!
But clearly this was somebody prepared to go the extra mile to make his pasta properly, so I carried on watching.
And something clicked.
Egg yolk.
Egg white contains a considerable amount of water. Egg yolk contains much less.
Could removing the white change what happened to Panda Pasta when it hit the water?
There was only one way to find out.
One batch. One tweak. Every day.
The first egg-yolk versions immediately showed promise.
That fluffy exterior was reduced and the finished pasta was already better.
But we'd created another problem.
The dough was too dry.
It became difficult to roll and wanted to dry out as it passed through the pasta machine.
And this is where my usual development process began.
One batch a day.
One change at a time.
Extra egg yolk?
Still too dry.
Put one egg white back?
The fluffy, sticky exterior returned.
More oil?
Too oily.
I was getting very close to calling a friend — a fellow chef with considerably more experience making traditional fresh pasta than me — to ask what I was missing.
Then I had one final thought.
What about a tiny amount of water?
Sometimes the smallest change makes the biggest difference
It sounds almost too simple after three years of development.
But that little addition transformed the dough.
Suddenly it could be passed smoothly through the pasta machine.
It stretched without drying out.
It could be rolled thinner and cut beautifully.
Most importantly, it remained stable when it hit the cooking water.
No fluffy exterior.
No mass of pasta sticking together once it left the pan.
Just individual golden ribbons of fresh tagliatelle that could be lifted from the bowl and twisted around a fork.
And then came the most important test of all.
It tasted like pasta.
Not substitute pasta. Pasta.
That has always been the standard we're aiming for with Panda.
We don't want to create something that you eat while thinking:
"Well, considering it's low carb..."
The ambition is much simpler than that.
Give me the food back.
And that's what this recipe finally felt like.
Fresh, golden egg-yolk pasta that can be rolled through a traditional pasta machine, cut into tagliatelle, layered into lasagne or turned into the pasta dishes you've been missing.
The fact that it is also naturally gluten-free, ultra low in carbohydrates, high in fibre and provides around 10g of protein before you've even added the rest of your meal is remarkable.
But none of those things would matter nearly as much if what was sitting on the plate didn't feel like proper pasta.
After three years, it finally does.
The possibilities suddenly feel enormous
We've already enjoyed fresh tagliatelle simply served with pan-fried scallops and garlic butter — the sort of classic, uncomplicated pasta dish we'd been unable to authentically recreate for years.
And across the Panda community, something rather wonderful has started happening.
Old pasta machines are coming back out of cupboards.
Machines bought years ago and barely used are being dusted down and finally doing the job they were designed to do.
Making beautiful, smooth, fresh pasta.
Just made the Panda way.
And after a journey that started three years ago with something resembling chips, I think that's rather special.
Welcome to Golden Panda Pasta.
Ready to make Panda Pasta?
Discover the complete Golden Panda Fresh Egg Yolk Pasta recipe, including ingredients, resting times, rolling instructions and cooking method.
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