Robert Pattison left a journalist flummoxed after he demonstrated a unique and dangerous take on a fast-food style pasta dish he invented during the coronavirus lockdown.
The Twilight actor's bizarre concoction of pasta, sugar, cheese slices, cornflakes and a burger bun wrapped in aluminium foil blew up both his microwave and later the internet when writer Zac Baron described it in a feature on Pattinson for GQ magazine.
The recipe has been dubbed "unholy, horrifying and deranged" online, and even Baron said he wasn't sure if what he had witnessed was a piece of performance art or a genuine attempt at a new style of cuisine.
Pattinson said he wanted to elevate pasta's fast-food credentials to the level of pizzas or burgers by creating a dish you could hold in your hand.
He dreamed up "Piccolini Cuscino" - which translates to Little Pillow - and shared the concept with GQ in the hope of attracting a business partner to take on the venture.
Pattinson's method is somewhat chaotic, but the steps for the dish appear to go something like this:
- Pattinson pours dry penne pasta into a cereal bowl, covers it with water and microwaves it for eight minutes.
- He then sets to work creating a "hollowed-out sphere" out of aluminium foil, which he fills with alternating layers of sugar and pre-sliced cheese.
- Pattinson forgets the outer layer, which is crushed up cornflakes in lieu of bread crumbs. He removes the sugar cheese mixture, adds the cornflakes and replaces the sugar and cheese on top.
- Next, he takes the bowl of pasta out of the microwave, burning himself on it. He adds the pasta - unsure whether it's cooked or not - to the "pillow".
- More sugar goes on before half of a bun, which he hollows out and places on top of the creation.
- Pattison takes a lighter and burns the initials of the dish - P and C - into the burger bun, igniting his latex gloves in the process.
- He tightly wraps the finished product in aluminium foil, puts it in the microwave and sets it for 10 minutes at 1000 watts.
- The microwave promptly explodes, and Pattinson's dish is abandoned.
Pattinson photographed his own cover and fashion spread for the GQ feature from within his self-isolation bubble, in which he styles Dior jackets worth US$7000 with his own underwear and jandals.
