The ULTIMATE Secret to Great Spaghetti

originally posted by: Encia22
We've got cinghiali everywhere, they're invading cities...

Yeah, we were in Tuscany last September, among other places, and they were saying they had made it down into the suburbs. They are delicious though.

a reply to: NightVision
Nonna's teachings, hope it is okay to add

1) You write stands so you mean spaghetti. Try to roll up a strand on a wooden spoon, before that does not work, no need to taste. For show effect, do you have tiles or another flat surface easy to clean behind your stove? Throw a strand of spaghetti onto it. If it sticks, it's near al dente, could be past it too. It is a taste thing though, do not want to tell anybody how to eat their food. It depends on if it is fresh or dry, too.


2) A taste thing. Consider that if you have a sauce that goes with pasta, you work against the reasoning behind the pasta if you use oil or butter. This is the most true with spaghetti. The reason is that you wash away the starch and plug the little pores with the oil and fat. Sauce will not stick. Spaghetti is intended to be sticky to sauce.

Cook spaghetti in salt water to the bite you want them. Pour over sieve or use integrated sieve. No oil in the water or afterwards. No cold or warm water to rinse them out. The spaghetti will stick anyways if they cool down you can not prevent that. They un-stick with sauce. It is a very simple idea and there is no oil needed to keep them separate.

3) and 4)

Secret hint:
Keep some spaghetti water for thickening the sauce of the dish. Or future dishes, I freeze the starch water into ice cubes and use them as a natural sauce binder for any kind of sauce. What it does is it binds water and oil or fat together in the sauce. Remember this is the reason why no oil or fat on spaghetti. Keep in mind salt is already in there. It works great, you get very fine sauces, no clumping or artificial stuff.

Chinese noodles are made with baking soda and even sodium carbonate.
There's plenty of recipes on YT and it looks so easy. All purpose flour... Imma try it!

That's probably the secret - alkaline dough

a reply to: PapagiorgioCZ

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain


I can say with 100% certainty that my pasta has zero issues with sauce sticking to it when using butter and oil. You can add the butter and oil in after adding sauce as well if you're cautious.

FF to 13:57 to See Chef Scott Conant's techniques adding olive oil to finished spaghetti. If it's ok for his family back in San Benedetto, its ok for me!

Anthony Bourdain - No Reservations - Techniques Special

a reply to: NightVision

Adding good extra virgin olive oil for finishing is accepted practice in Italy, not sure why the other poster would think otherwise.

ETA: The chef is from the same place as my mother's side of the family.

a reply to: NightVision

The vid was catchy. I've watched it to the end, the burger, the steak...and I'm 90% vegan. I see beef not even once a year in a Mc cheese 🙂

Does anyone ever tried to add olive oil right into the pasta?
I was using such a gough (with yeast) in a sandwich maker in the past. The smell was outstanding. You could fry dough in olive oil and it wouldnt be the same.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus
I wrote that if it is served with sauce, it sticks better without extra oil. That the olive oil works against it sticking. Not seeing where I wrote that in Italy it is not accepted to put oil on them. Then I also emphasized how everyone can do what they want because it is a taste thing.

a reply to: PapagiorgioCZ

The vid I posted is fake. Dont try it at home.I ended up taking apart each strain of thick, square noodles, it took me 3 hours to make, I'm exhausted. The taste is weird too. I'm not able to eat as much as of a normal pasta. I hope the alkaline chemistry will let me digest it today.
He may be such a Chinese shaolin wizzard but then there's more of what he doesnt tell you. Spare your time

Thanks for sharing, good pasta video!