How to make the Italian version of mac and cheese, which Anthony Bourdain calls the world's greatest pasta dish

One of the earliest known recipes for macaroni and cheese comes from the 13th-century tome "Liber de Coquina," an Italian cookbook. In it, a recipe called "de lasanis" calls for cut-up sheets of pasta to be tossed with parmesan cheese, which sounds a lot like cacio e pepe to me.

If you've never tried it, cacio e pepe is one of the great, incredibly simple pastas of Rome. In an episode of "No Reservations," wandering chef Anthony Bourdain went so far as to say the dish "could be the greatest thing in the history of the world."

July 14 is National Mac and Cheese Day, but the Italian version still reigns supreme over elbow noodles and powdered cheese. Keep scrolling for a window into the episode, and to see how cacio e pepe is traditionally made.