Interesting. I’ve never heard of sautéing pasta for any pasta dishes, so perhaps that’s a Danish twist on things? Do you use any fats for sautéing the pasta?
AFAIK, Italians will finish most dry pasta in the sauce it is served with, which is what I do as well, with the addition of splash or two of pasta water (a whole cup seems excessive to me, but I don’t for how many people you cook).
I find that in the US, pasta is often overly saucy. I prefer the Italian method of it not overpowering the pasta.
That sounds like you’re finishing the pasta in the sauce ingredients, which is what I do. Not really different from what Italians have been doing for centuries. No need to explain any further
I just pull the pasta from its water and dump it into a bowl, add a little sauce, and toss it with the tongs that pulled it from the water. I may add a spoonful of salty, starchy pasta water if the sauce needs a little thickening or seasoning. If there are larger things, like mushrooms or shrimp, clumping at the bottom, I put a few on top of the serving. Cheese is an individual choice usually. I like a little mixed in, but my son calls it piling cheese for a reason.
The pint of meat sauce (likely sweetened) atop a pile of overcooked spaghetti on the plate is just sad unless you are an overly thin four year old that whose parents are trying to get to put on weight.
Hey you guys, I flagged this conversation about home cooking as needing to be in the Home Cooking board. I’m not a freak about thread drift, but it’s a shame for conversations like this to be buried in some other throwaway thread. @hungryonion
I prepare sauce and pasta completely separately, and serve it separately so that each person can determine his or her own mix. I always make enough sauce for many different pastas or alternative preparations like baked ziti.
Either cook pasta till al dente, toss in a bowl with sauce and pasta water held by the noodles. This method works specifically well for Rigatoni.
I’ve also undercooked the pasta and tossed it in the sauce to finish cooking and marry all the flavours together.
Adding pasta water a little at a time to allow the sauce to thicken.
Ha, I would say most dishes. I’m not a pro, and I wouldn’t regularly visit a restaurant if they were not making food or dishes that are better than my own versions, unless circumstances limited me to certain restaurant choices. This isn’t about confidence in my cooking; I’m a decent home cook, but chefs are pros and have access to equipment that can’t be easily replicated at home, let alone access to high quality ingredients. Even a simple dish like chow fun is tons better when you can get those blazing hot woks that char those noodles way better than home stoves. I have no interest in getting equipment that replicates something like a 800F degree stove on my range just so I can char my noodles to a tastier level.
Indian and some other Asian and African dishes that require a specific suite of ingredients and preparations. I can and have done those in ways that I think are as good or better, but the hassle of doing it at home? Am I going to go out and buy years worth of star anise or clove for one dinner? Not often.
