Serving linguini. What do you use?

[Cav]

This is true only for a sauce like pesto,
.

Well, I suggest to tell all those Michelin starred chefs, and all the Italian chefs on TV, and all those Italian mamas how wrong they are.

 

[Rockmeister]

I love these threads...If you really want to eat ialian food like the italians do (because of course, being authentic, is all) then go live in a hill town somewhere and see how mama does it.
'No no Julio, you cannot eat it yet, the water 'as to drain for exactly 3 seconds before I add eet to the sauca'
Julio. 'Just put it on the f'in plate woman, I'm starved'.

 

[PaulMB]

All which Italian "mammas"? I had one myself.

But whatever works is fine. For instance the practice in restaurants is often to pull the pasta out of the water, and then to put it into a pot with the sauce and cook it for another minute or half a minute in the sauce. The boiling water is then re-used for the next lot of pasta.

What I wrote in the above posts does not claim to be absolute truth, but my own preference mixed with what is generally done in Italy. But there is no "real Italian way" of doing anything. Habits vary from home to home, from region to region, and even from one meal to the next on a whim.

I hate those "great chefs." I think they have done more injury to good eating than 1960s English school food. They are so busy trying to amaze and show what creative geniuses they are that they loose sight of the simple pleasure of sitting down to a good meal. Forgive me, I am old and cantankerous.

 

[RogerJW]

I say, when you've finally managed to get it onto a plate, you don't eat it with a knife and fork ... !?

Nope - quite right - knitting needles are just the trick.....

 

[Rockmeister]

they are that they loose sight of the simple pleasure of sitting down to a good meal. Forgive me, I am old and cantankerous.

I agree...the point is that most Italian homes cook 'the best' meal you'll ever eat, each one different, none with FUSS but all with a huge dollop of fresh from the garden and several generations experience.
I grow my own herbs and tomatoes, and. chilli in olive oil, add garlic, add toms, lemon juice and a teaspoon of sugar, simmer till it thickens then leave for an hour
is MY idea of how it's done (from an Italian momma in Puglia) but whatever wotks is what is best.

 

[Yank]

Pourquoi pas?

The sauce won't stick to oily pasta.

 

[jtrade]

Yep, it seems there are indeed countless variations on a theme throughout Italy. One year, I spent a week driving around the Veneto with my wife and young daughter. Every day we stopped for lunch and my daughter would have "pasta (usually spaghetti) with tomato sauce". Everyday I would finish off her large portion and every single day it was deliciously different. Just simple tomato sauce.

I lived for a year in California in a household with 6 others : everyone cooked for the house one evening a week. Thursday was Enzo's turn & unlike the rest of us, he always cooked exactly the same dish : penne all'arrabiata. It was everybody's favourite because it was perfect (& I have eaten a LOT of penne all'arrabiata). One Thursday afternoon Renzo called me from work to say he'd been unable to get to the shop & would I buy two packs of penne, which I duly did. Enzo arrived home that evening & went straight to the kitchen... and shortly thereafter, there was an Italian scream of despair " Jeremy - what have you done !?"
He walked into the living room holding the two packs of penne as if they were toxic waste ... was it the wrong make, I asked ? "No, you have bought penne lisce - surely you all know I always use penne RIGATE" said Enzo as if we were all barbarian idiots. He was clearly shocked that no one knew the difference & why it was so important to his recipe. "Rigate " means furrowed, i.e. the penne have those grooves running along their length, whereas "lisce" / smooth, do not & therefore do not hold the sauce so well... the following week he made both so his barbarian housemates could tell the difference.

Now that's what I call attention to detail - it certainly made Enzo's penne quite remarkable...

 

[TheDecameron]

That's a lovely story- that level of fastidious pride in cooking that you see in France, Spain and Italy.

 

[gintonic]

That's a lovely story- that level of fastidious pride in cooking that you see in France, Spain and Italy.

And in this country if you know

 

[eternumviti]

The sauce won't stick to oily pasta.

Ah!

Funnily enough, when I mentioned the oil, I suspected it would cause controversy. I sometimes do, and I sometimes don't, and I think the non-habit was formed when inexperience caused me to overcook the pasta slightly, or use insufficient water way back in the mists - overcooking is, I suspect, a problem encountered by whoever mentioned the pasta forming a solid lump.

If I use a splash of oil, it really is only a splash, and it almost certainly serves no purpose at all. I don't have any problems with non-sticking sauce.

However, fair enough, oil tip retracted, but al dente and draining straight from the cooking pan to plate with tongs is good. It allows just enough cooking water to be retained by the pasta. No need for a colander.

 

[Mullardman]

Linguine, linguine, linguine. NOT "linguini." It is not that hard, is it?

Well if he can't get it onto the plate with a fork.. I'd say it's very hard indeed!

 

[Mullardman]

I usually settle for Spaghetti. They suit my teeth. It was an Italian workmate who reminded me that Spaghetti is plural. hence 'they'.

Mrs Mull has an occasional moan and insists on some other form of pasta. I hate those bloody spiral things. They go where they want to go in my mouth and usually seek refuge in the gaps between my back teeth. Hate those little bows and shells. I don't mind Cuccini though, or Tagliatelle

My tomato sauce is also simple. Tomatoes, garlic, basil, sugar, lemon juice and a little oilive oil, but variations are endless. ISTM you have to be a spectacularly bad cook to make a really bad tomato sauce.

Tip I pcked up off the telly which seems to work...

Take a good splash.. at least a couple of tablespoonsful of the pasta cooking water and add it to the tomato sauce before draining the pasta. It very slightly thickens the sauce and makes it more 'together'. It helps to stop the water from separating out from the sauce.. which can be a particular problem with some 'store bought' ones.

Mull

 

[Mullardman]

The real Italian way is to put the pasta, suitably drained, in the sauce not "chuck sauce in"...

What do Italians know about traditional English food such as Spag Bol, Chicken Tikka Masala, Chow Mein etc..? Eh?

 

[Mullardman]

All which Italian "mammas"? I had one myself.

But whatever works is fine. For instance the practice in restaurants is often to pull the pasta out of the water, and then to put it into a pot with the sauce and cook it for another minute or half a minute in the sauce. The boiling water is then re-used for the next lot of pasta.

What I wrote in the above posts does not claim to be absolute truth, but my own preference mixed with what is generally done in Italy. But there is no "real Italian way" of doing anything. Habits vary from home to home, from region to region, and even from one meal to the next on a whim.

I hate those "great chefs." I think they have done more injury to good eating than 1960s English school food. They are so busy trying to amaze and show what creative geniuses they are that they loose sight of the simple pleasure of sitting down to a good meal. Forgive me, I am old and cantankerous.

Spot on. My Italian mate used to make Spag Bol for us in work sometimes.

He would cook the Spag and drain it. He'd then throw in all of the bolognese sauce give a quick mix before lifting the spag onto plates. This would leave most of the ground/minced beef in the pan, which he would then divide up between each plate of sauce covered spag.
He is from Rome.

Mull

 

[Bob McC]

I usually settle for Spaghetti. They suit my teeth. It was an Italian workmate who reminded me that Spaghetti is plural. hence 'they'.

Mrs Mull has an occasional moan and insists on some other form of pasta. I hate those bloody spiral things. They go where they want to go in my mouth and usually seek refuge in the gaps between my back teeth. Hate those little bows and shells. I don't mind Cuccini though, or Tagliatelle

My tomato sauce is also simple. Tomatoes, garlic, basil, sugar, lemon juice and a little oilive oil, but variations are endless. ISTM you have to be a spectacularly bad cook to make a really bad tomato sauce.

Tip I pcked up off the telly which seems to work...

Take a good splash.. at least a couple of tablespoonsful of the pasta cooking water and add it to the tomato sauce before draining the pasta. It very slightly thickens the sauce and makes it more 'together'. It helps to stop the water from separating out from the sauce.. which can be a particular problem with some 'store bought' ones.

Mull

Sugar?

 

[eternumviti]

What does a man from Rome know about a Bolognese dish, really?

(I think he's right though)

 

[Rockmeister]

Sugar?

I never used to, but it depends on the Toms...this being scotland, we are not over endowed with huge ripe tomatoes, so if they are a tad sharp, a teaspoon of sugar does the trick.

 

[Mullardman]

Sugar?

Not always needed. But some canned tomatoes can be a bit 'sharp' and the addition of 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sugar per can helps. Same can apply to my home grown tomatoes too.

 

[PaulMB]

From what I've heard a bit of sugar is a standard remedy when the tomatoes are a bit acidy. A bit of honey works, too. A few times I've put a small amount of honey in and a small splash of vinegar. Gives it a slight sweet/sour tang. Not kosher, I know, but it wasn't bad.

 

[avole]

Canned tomatoes? You need fresh, well ripened tomatoes above all else. They should be peeled, seeds removed, and chopped. Get that right, and you won’t need to add sugar or acid to correct the failings. Ideally use the long Italian tomatoes, as they contain less seeds.