Food - Drink
The Real Reason You Should Always Finish Your Pasta In The Sauce
By C. MORRIS
The Heritage's John Underbrink has learned to cook pasta "70 percent in the water and 30 percent in the sauce," adding that this process "allows the pasta to absorb the flavors and coat itself in the sauce much more nicely." MyRecipes further explains that the pasta's water mixed with fat and acid from the sauce undergoes emulsification.
The ingredients needed to emulsify pasta sauce are starchy pasta water and fats like oil or butter. Combining these ingredients will make a thicker, creamier, more evenly layered sauce that will cling to the pasta rather than slip off.
First, add a large amount of water to the pasta cooking pot, then add a tablespoon of salt per quart of water. Begin to prepare the sauce in a pan — preferably a saucier — as the water boils.
Begin to heat the sauce in the pan and add the butter to the sauce, about half a tablespoon at a time, until you’ve added about two tablespoons. Once the acid and fat emulsify and create a thicker, creamier sauce, keep the sauce warm until the pasta is cooked.
Cook the pasta until just before it's al dente, about 1-4 minutes before the package's suggested time. Once the pasta has reached the ideal pre-al dente texture, reserve at least a cup of the pasta water and remove the pasta from the water using a colander or tongs.
Raise the sauce's heat to a bubbling simmer, add the pasta to the sauce, and add a tablespoon or two of pasta water. Once the pasta is al dente, remove the pot from the stove, add salt and pepper to taste or a drizzle of olive oil, and serve.