![]() “It’s impossible to get properly al dente pasta when you’re using fresh,” he says, “because it’s so soft and giving.” Take that classic British cultural appropriation, spag bol, otherwise known as stewed mince: “Of course, it’s still delicious with fresh tagliatelle,” Siadatan says, “but it’s really not the same as when it’s served on dried spaghetti – it doesn’t feel quite right. These unions are tried and tested, and have strong roots in the regional and national psyche, but as Siadatan points out, much also depends on what you’re looking for in the finished dish. “A smooth, butter-and-gorgonzola sauce, say, goes best with eggy noodles,” Roddy adds, “while a chunky, southern Italian aubergine sauce isn’t the same on anything but dried pasta spirals.” Local habits and produce also have a bearing. “Spaghetti with big chunks of cauliflower doesn’t work, whereas spaghetti with clams does.” It’s the sauce that dictates what type of pasta, and what shape, you ought to use.” And that’s from a guy who runs a fresh pasta phenomenon that makes 300kg of the stuff every week (“We all have one arm like Popeye’s”) and where punters happily queue for up to an hour for a plate of his pappardelle with eight-hour Dexter ragù (an import from Siadatan’s other restaurant, Islington neighbourhood tratt Trullo) or Insta-friendly pici cacio e pepe.Īs Feast’s Rome correspondent Rachel Roddy explains, some pairings can be explained by the simple physics of a certain sauce just fitting with a certain pasta: “Buttery sauces work better with soft flour-and-egg pasta, whereas olive oil-based sauces go more with flour-and-water pasta,” she says. “But the pasta is always – and I mean always – the vehicle for the sauce. “There’s a misconception that fresh pasta is somehow ‘better’ than dried,” says Tim Siadatan, chef and co-owner of Padella in Borough Market, London. While pasta would seem at face value to be the very definition of peasant cuisine – at its most basic, it’s just flour and water, after all – there’s more than a touch of snobbery at play when it comes to fresh pasta.
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