You're Doing It All Wrong - How to Sauce Pasta

Andrew Carmellini, the former chef at A Voce, is also the author of a new book, Urban Italian, with his wife, Gwen. Here he demonstrates the proper way to sauce pasta; starch and fat are crucial.

[livenhfree]

My wife's grandmother was from Sicily. I remember whenever I visited and she made sauce, she would pour just a little sauce into the pan with the pasta and mix it up so everything got a nice coating, rather than leave the pasta and have it stick together. Then, she'd serve the rest of the sauce in a gravy boat, or similar, on the table, and everyone could ladle out as much as they liked. I loved this method!

[The_Old_Wolf]

OK, just so you know; I come from a long line of Italians, even restaurateurs. I'm 2nd generation and none of my relations ever taught me this. Using what you teach here, I took my wife's spaghetti sauce and made the best dang plate of fettucine I've ever eaten at home in almost 70 years. Take ten gold stars, and my thanks!

[jenleeboo]

Great I love when things taste shiny and have a silky mouth feel!!

[sentiments]

THIS IS GOLD. been doing some extensive research on it and turns out this is the RIGHT way to cook pasta to taste like those found in great pasta restaurants.

[chrisanderson]

Nice video! Just tried it this way for the first time. Easily the best pasta I've ever made, and I can't believe I've being doing it so wrong my whole life. Why did nobody tell me about this sooner?!? Important to take the pasta out of the water before it's done so it doesn't wind up getting overcooked while you finish it in the sauce.

[enricoandreani]

Great video man: Clear and correct, the only thing I do not agree with is putting butter in the end..You should only use a bit of olive oil and maybe a bit of parmigiano reggiano / grana padano to give it a really nice flavour. In italy we don't use butter so much while doing pasta because we basically don't need it, we manage to obtain a good flavour with other-more genuine-ingredients. That being said, good job for this great video :)

[Carr]

"we're going to add some of the starchy water to the pasta to give it that *shiny flavour*"

Mmm I love it when pasta tastes of shine. 

[oddodium]

This is actually helpful. unlike the other videos, it's straightforward and not snoopy.

[TheOneAndOnlySame]

Thanks for the tip :)

I've been unsatisfied by my pastas and sauce for a while now. What you said makes sense.

[OysterWallace]

Wow, a concise AND helpful tutorial video? Didn't think I'd see one of these in a long time.

[bigredlizerd]

That's honestly the most perfect zoom-in I've ever seen. Chow should make a video about how to do the perfect zoom-in as a "You're doing it all wrong" themed video, please~

[cvzboii]

OMGAGA, I tried it this way and it's so much better. I J'ADORE this. It's so brilliant. The pasta is so creamy and is cooked perfectly. It's not become hard or losing its taste. GENIUS.

[dandonofrio]

99% of people are going to do this and overcook their pasta like crazy. Al dente is way more important than "silky details"

[RebeccaSigns]

I used to be "most people" and dumped the water.  NEVER AGAIN.  I love Andrew's method. It makes our homemade canned marinara sauce SING.  Thanks, Mr. Carmellini, for the awesome video...our pasta tasted good before but it's awesome now.

[TommyFilth]

Yep, this the way to do it! I like to be able to pour my sauce on top of the pasta, so I generally save about 25% of the sauce and cook it with the pasta, and save the rest of pile on top, but that's just my preference. Otherwise, this is exactly the way I prepare pasta.

The best part of this? No dry, flavorless pasta. Your pasta will taste like the sauce. :)

[MrTotalSense]

Thanks. Some good tips. I like that it is SHORT and full of information.

[pyro]

I'm happy my parents know how to cook! I've done pasta this way all my life XD

[jjr]

I am not Italian nor a professional cook, but everyone who has my pasta loves it.
I drain the pasta in the sink (probably the majority of people do it this way), I wet the colander with hot water first, so the pasta doesn't stick to it.  While it is draining, I put butter, olive oil, or both, and minced garlic in the pot I cooked the pasta in. I saute about a minute on low heat, then add the pasta, and some grated cheese, stir for twenty seconds or so, then turn off the heat.  I like it this way, because the grated cheese, and garlic stick to the pasta, instead of just getting diluted into the sauce.  My guests then take some pasta, and add sauce to their taste.
 

[EricMunter]

I will definitely be making my pastas like this from now on!

[MusiceWoman]

Thank you. Seems so simple, but it makes all the difference.