Archive for the ‘ingredients’ Category
The spaghetti issue
A few words on the topic of the brands of spaghetti, a completely overlooked but important consideration that is never done but should be as an excellent pasta pushes up a dish towards excellence whilst a mediocre pasta will make a mediocre dish even served with a wonderful sauce.
I’m quite sure that it’s not me but that most brands, including many leading Italian brands, changed the variety of the flour they use to make spaghetti that are almost impossible to overcook.
My advice is: use a brand that can overcook if you forget them on the fire and pay attention to the clock when you cook them. That’s what divides the boys from the men. Spaghetti that can’t overcook just don’t taste right, they’re not lame, they’re incomplete.
Proper spaghetti should cook in 8 minutes, take them off at 7:30 or even 7, they’re “al dente”, that’s how they’re supposed to be. They will keep on cooking even in the plate. The only way to stop them cooking is to pour cold water over them, but you don’t want to do that. My favourite brand is Pezzullo, it’s very popular in the south of Italy and completely unknown in the north, where I come from. I discovered it just 10 years ago, a tip from a friend of mine from Naples. Here in Lewisham I buy it from Gennaro Delicatessen. I hope this last bit doesn’t look like a shameless plug, it’s not, that’s the best pasta I know and if you live round here that’s the only place you can get it from.
