Mario Unclogged: How to Sauce Pasta
Editor's note: When we thought of who we wanted to star in Serious Eats' first regular video series, Mario Batali's name kept coming up over and over again. Why? He's funny, passionate, generously spirited, smart as hell, and a great cook. So we hope you'll enjoy Unclogged, Mario Batali as you've never seen him before. —Ed Levine
The Takeaway
Mario says:
- "What you want to eat when you eat a bowl of pasta ... is pasta."
- "The way that they refer to their sauce in Italy is condimento—condiment—and when you think about a hot dog or hamburger, the condiment is something that kind of greases it up, but it never overtakes the main event of the hot dog or the hamburger."
- "Americans overdress their pasta 99.9 percent of the time. It should never be a bowl of soup. It should be noodles, with a little stuff."
About Mario: Mario Batali has created a thriving restaurant empire and has established himself as a top restaurateur. Together with his partner, Joe Bastianich, he operates seven New York City hotspots. Mario splits his time between New York City's Greenwich Village and northern Michigan with his wife, Susan Cahn, of Coach Dairy Goat Farm, and their two sons. More Mario: mariobatali.com.
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33 Comments:
crunchy?!
I've seen Italians trim off, and not eat, the very firm corner bits of ravioli (where it's often thicker).
Yep Mario claims REAL Italians eat their pasta so much firmer than Americans that it's CRUNCHY?
peekpoke at 4:43AM on 10/16/07
OMG!!!
I'm in tears!!! couldn't agree more with Mario!!!
And Peekpoke, yes, kind of crunchy, at least in the middle!!!
His description of sauces and pasta are just perfect!
A prophet!
Sara - Piperita at 6:26AM on 10/16/07
Amen brotha! Preach on. I always toss the pasta with sauce and serve and put some sauce on the table for people who like to drown their pasta.
Americans also do not often know the pasta should be picked to match the sauce. There are reasons for using a short cut pasta or a long cut pasta. In Italy there are so many pastas one could lose their mind.
JerzeeTomato at 7:56AM on 10/16/07
Love him! Thanks.
hereandthe at 9:21AM on 10/16/07
I love Mario but I'll disagree. I come from an Irish family and ate Ragu until I was in college. My wife is Italian and always makes fresh sauces. I need to eat lots of sauce to make up for my deprived childhood.
bobbob at 9:56AM on 10/16/07
I liked this but make the clips longer! the ad I had to hit mute on was half as long as the actual clip.
alktraz at 10:01AM on 10/16/07
I think the crunchy thing is a bit of an exaggeration to drive home the point that americans tend to eat pasta-purée. your pasta should have firmness and yes, when you bite into it, it should have some snap. the middle of the noodle should have a tiny little section of almost white, a hairline width. this is what gives the pasta that wheat flavor. when you over cook the pasta, it all turns to sugar and loses that nutty grain flavor. under cook your pasta in the water then let it continue to cook in the sauce for a few seconds before you serve it.
seyo at 10:19AM on 10/16/07
What's the pasta dish being prepared in the background?
Phil W. at 11:11AM on 10/16/07
Fantastic Mario.
Absolutely fantastic. :)
Prairie at 11:16AM on 10/16/07
Phil W--Was the dish in the background Carbonara?
ajeys at 11:48AM on 10/16/07
There is no correct amount of sauce for pasta. If you are trying to duplicate a dish as prepared by most people living in Italy, Mario may be correct that only a small amount of sauce is customary. In the U.S. a different custom prevails, people prefer more sauce. Nothing is wrong with that. People prefer varying amounts of spiciness, saltiness, sweet, and sour. Mario knows food, but not your personal sense of taste. Trust your taste buds.
dannmer at 1:08PM on 10/16/07
Was Mario wearing a pink shirt? He is breaking all red head style boundaries now and branching out into new territory (written by a red head). On the sauce: I am a sauce freak. I eat the pasta as an excuse to eat sauce. Maybe not with a carbonara, but with tomato sauces - give me my saucy sauce! Pasta fills you up and since I am gluten intolerance, I don't get nearly as many pasta choices anymore as used to and they are not as good, perhaps why I focus on the sauce.
celticjig1 at 6:23PM on 10/16/07
Almost definitely Carbonera sauce in the vid: pancetta or some other meat (vid isn't good enought to tell for sure...), reduced wine, egg, parma, and some green herb.
mccoy at 6:48PM on 10/16/07
That was most certainly a plate of the FANTASTIC Carbonara. At Otto. FOR NINE DOLLARS. 9. Really. Sit at the bar, get a glass of wine, and you're instantly in heaven. At least I am!! (swoon)
Curlz at 7:16PM on 10/16/07
Great video, thanks!
....and...is someone going to post the recipe for that pasta dish going on in the background? :D
totoro at 9:45PM on 10/16/07
Absolutely ~
paris221966 at 12:52AM on 10/17/07
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/dining/17mini.html?_r=1&ref=dining&oref=login
Suck it Batali!
chasgoose at 12:56AM on 10/17/07
Gee, that's funny ... Mario's post is from early yesterday morning, meaning taped Monday or earlier, and Bittman's article is dated today, the 17th. Odd, that ...
I agree with folks like dannmer ... It's a personal choice, much like how much PB&J to put on a PB&J. Of course, if it's farfalle, just unsalted butter and shredded parm is all that's necessary for moi.
LunaPierCook at 6:56AM on 10/17/07
Another issue with soupy pasta comes from improper draining technique. Nothing worse than a plate of pasta under oceans of sauce surrounded by a moat of water.
In Mario I Trust.
blog in my soup at 4:12PM on 10/17/07
totoro-
Mario's carbonara recipe. Not exactly the same as in the video, but it's Mario's.
ajeys at 5:39PM on 10/17/07
Oops.
totoro-
Mario's carbonara recipe. It's not exactly the same as in the video, but it's Mario's.
ajeys at 5:44PM on 10/17/07
thanks, ajeys! that looks even richer and more sinful than the one in the video :D
totoro at 6:54PM on 10/17/07
What's the green? The only green I've ever seen in carbonara is parsley, but the stuff in the video is long and thin.
oliverg at 12:03AM on 10/18/07
oliverg-
I've seen chives in carbonara before, but this stuff doesn't look very chivey.
ajeys at 12:58PM on 10/18/07
who cares how the Italians do it? Sauce is good.
candypandora at 6:54AM on 10/21/07
Americans may like their overcooked pasta floating in sauce, nothing wrong with that. But please don't call it pasta! Call it noodle or soup, but not pasta. By doing so, it gives a skewed and unfair image of what people usually eat in Italy. No, Italians don't eat fettuccine Alfredo, chicken "bruSCetta", with balsamic vinegar and Tuscany potatoes: Alfredo must have not been born in Italy, bruschetta is done with saltless bread, olive oil and some garlic, balsamic vinegar (the real one) is too expensive and precious to use too often, and adding the word Tuscany does not mean it comes from Tuscany. This is what I am always explaining to people when they think those are the things Italians eat :-)
Tommasino at 12:19PM on 10/21/07
I heartily agree with Mr. Batali, regarding method and 'correctness', however... I don't think he was really assaulting American adaptation of Italian traditions, rather, he was making an educated observation.
Just like opinions, people have a right to develop their own palates.
Unfortunately, we Americans generally accept mutilated or butchered culinary concepts we have little knowledge of and blindly accept marketing malarkey found in advertisements. It's okay with me because I know that most people do not know any better and that there is no use in trying to enlighten the great unwashed masses. Then again, some could say traditions like Ragu and Chef Boyardee are just 'Americanized' tributes to their classical forbears. Who knows? Who is really right?
All I can say is that to my palate, 'Tuscany' potatoes = exotic name for 'ranch' potatoes and Ragu = Ketchup for overcooked pasta.
I love sauce too, but it's a bit overwhelming (and occasionally insulting) sometimes when I order ravioli or gnocci and I have to probe to find the pasta drowning in the sauce.
eromitlab at 2:47PM on 10/21/07
It's going to take a long time to re-train the American palate to accept a scantily clad bowl of top shelf pasta as the norm. You've got to remember, for most of us (in the NYC area anyway), Ronzoni was the staple "pasta." With flavorful imported brands and more fresh pasta becoming available, the sauce may eventually take its place as the condiment.
I have been guilty of eating "soupy" pasta all my life. My mother used to say, "I can't even yell at you for taking all that sauce because you finish it!" I remember when we started buying imported pasta, my initial reaction was that it was too sweet. I eventually realized how tasteless brands like Ronzoni and Mueller's were and began to embrace the different flavors of pasta.
My mother told me I'd outgrow my need to douse all that sauce on my pasta and, as usual, she was right.
chiff0nade at 8:07AM on 10/22/07
Mario for president!
thegreatlumpia at 3:55PM on 10/30/07
My guess is that American addiction to so much sauce is based on the relative abundance of food that Italian immigrants found when they arrived here. Throughout most of history, Italy has been very poor so they natural favored the cheap and prevalent ingredients. When they arrived in America, with exponentially more food available, they indulged on the foods they couldn't get back home. This also is a factor in why American Italian food uses herbs and spices in greater quantities than traditional old world recipes.
A ciascuno, suo proprio.
Kritical Hit at 8:25PM on 01/26/08
Mmm. That looks so delicious!! I completely agree with Mario, but Krit has it right ^^ To each, his own! ...or till they realize that he's right haha
piratemptress at 11:00PM on 03/13/08
This video is a perfect example of over-exaggeration by an over-zealous, tempermental chef that has obviously been out of the American culinary habits loop. Perhaps, he feels the 0.1% who don't over sauce their pastas are the ones who visit his establishments? Nevertheless, the pompous critique of Italians on the use of "condiments" is and always will be considered arrogant. Wasn't it the Chinese that invented pasta? And, ironically, have never read or heard similar commentary. I love his shows but leave the attitude at home.
pastalover23 at 9:55PM on 03/19/08
Yes, my nonna always sauced pasta to prevent its stickiness and bring out the flavors, but we never lacked for sauce, or cheese. Also, there's a difference between using a lot of sauce on pasta (totally justifiable if it's great, thick, homemade sauce, I say,) and drowning it into soup. And I have never had CRUNCHY pasta, in America or anywhere in Italy, whether in a restaurant in Firenze or my family's house in Messina.
embolini9 at 4:05PM on 03/21/08