# Luca on Italian Pasta #3 - Pasta Sauces



## Luca Lazzari (Jul 31, 2012)

This is the third one of a series of long articles, written in my clumsy English, which I formerly called “Luca’s lengthy treatise on Italian pasta”, from now on rechristened “Luca on Italian pasta”. This article focuses on sauces (in Italy we call them sugo, salsa or condimento - pl. sughi, salse, condimenti). The previous installments dealt respectively with pasta shapes and with the ingredients used to produce the various pasta types.

*Tomato or not tomato?
*Tomato or not tomato, that is the question:
Whether ’tis tastier in the mouth to devour
The drops and morsels of this reddish fruit,
Or to take arms supporting a whiter shade, 
And by enjoying just oil?
_The Bearded Buffoon feat. The Bard of Avon_

As you can understand from those abominable verses of mine, we could draw a big distinction between tomato-based pasta sauces and sauces without tomato. But this distinction is not a reasonable one, in my humble opinion, since each and every Italian pasta sauce was developed in a specific area, using specific products, to complete and enhance specific kinds of pasta, and not to fight a battle between pro-tomatoers and anti-tomatoers. Furthermore, during the last century, many Italians moved to different areas of our country, carrying their cooking style to new and foreign places. Therefore, today tomato and its absence are mixed up and interspersed in pasta recipes across Italy, because we’re Italians and we love chaos and confusion and creativity.

*Pasta and sauce marriage: questione di gusti*
I firmly believe that picking the right pasta for the right sauce is a matter of taste (_questione di gusti_).
However I could suggest you my first commandment: delicate pasta calls for delicate sauces, strong pasta calls for strong sauces. So, long shaped, stout types of pasta (vermicelli, bucatini, spaghettoni) can be married to robust sauces, while long shaped, slender types (fidelini, spaghettini, linguine) are more properly mixed with gentler sauces. The same principle can be applied to short pasta, with farfalle or sedani in the delicate club, and rigatoni, paccheri or conchiglioni in the strong posse.
And I could also suggest you that the runnier the sauce, the coarser the pasta. Pasta with a coarse, maybe even ridged, surface, like penne rigate or rigatoni, could be more effective in holding the sauce then a smooth one. But in my personal experience, a good quality pasta will always hold a properly made sauce: pasta is not a piece of plastic, and even the smoothest one must always be more than able to grab and carry its dollop of good sauce.
Anyhow, it must be said that there are some pairings which are so well established to be considered quite sacred, like penne all’arrabbiata, trofie al pesto, spaghetti aglio e olio, tagliatelle ai funghi and so on. But no force on Earth can stop me if I want to prepare and eat trofie ai funghi or penne aglio e olio... You just have to try, taste and approve or reject, according to your own (and maybe your guests...) best judgment.

*Roundup of Italian pasta sauces
*Breadcrumbs and cheese, cream and eggs, fish and seafood, game and poultry, herbs and spices, meat, mushrooms and salumi, vegetables and nuts, wine and liquors... All sorts of Italian (and sometimes foreign) food are used to create pasta sauces, in all sorts of mixes, using all sorts of pasta. You’ll never end tasting new pasta recipes.
The simplest pasta sauce I can think of is pasta in bianco: pasta flavored only with oil (or butter) and grated Parmigiano or Grana cheese. The longest to prepare was a sauce with horsemeat and tomato, which was cooked for hours by the grandmother of a friend of mine. The heaviest I’ve ever tasted are pizzoccheri, a kind of pasta made with buckwheat flour, then garnished with potato, Valtellina cheese, grated Grana cheese, butter, garlic and chard.
And now let’s cut an impossibly long story short.
You can have pasta sauces with tomatoes or without tomatoes, indeed. You can use whole tomatoes, or ready tomato sauce, or tomato paste. The preparation of sauces with and without tomato usually starts from a soffritto (usually onions, garlic, celery sautéed in olive oil), which will be the base of the sauce.
In meat sauces, meat is usually cooked for a long time and turned into a ragù, or at least broken in small pieces, like in some pork sausage sauces. This is true for game and poultry, goat and sheep, beef and horse. Salumi, like guanciale or pancetta, speck or prosciutto, are usually cut in pieces or small stripes, or diced, then sautéed and mixed with other ingredients.
Fish and seafood maybe cooked and served whole with the pasta, producing a fancy visual effect with prawns, lobsters or mussels, or cut and cooked in pieces, like salmon, or used to produce a smoother sauce, mixed with other ingredients, like in meat ragù.
Cheese can be the ubiquitous Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana padano cheese grated and added in the final stage of a recipe, but can also be the main ingredient, like in cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper).
Breadcrumbs can be fried in olive oil in a pan with anchovies and broccoli, or other greens, to create some tasty simple sauces, to use with some short pasta.
Vegetables can support other ingredients or dominate a dish, like fried aubergines in the Sicilian pasta alla Norma, and eggs are needed for one of the most famous Italian recipes across the globe: pasta alla carbonara.
Mushrooms are traditionally appreciated in those (many) areas of Italy where they can easily be found: it is better to eat a pasta coi funghi in a hillside or mountain scenario, so maybe the mushrooms really come from that same place.
Nuts are sometimes used to garnish, to finish, or to give a crunchy texture (I hate this habit), but they can also be key ingredients, like pine nuts in the world-famous pesto from Liguria.
Herbs and spices are used, usually sparingly, to enhance the flavor of a sauce, while cream generally serves to bind and thicken a recipe, and wine and liquors strengthen the fragrance of a recipe, almost unobtrusively.

So, my final rule about pasta sauce is...
There is no rule, use what you can, follow your heart and your wisdom, love yourself and your guests, and don't study it, just eat it!


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## Margi Cintrano (Jul 31, 2012)

*Luca: Appreciate your wonderful thread*

Buonasera Luca,

A wonderful source of information, perhaps, we could entitle your article,
THE BIBLE OF MATCHMAKING PASTAS & SAUCES ... 

And how true, delicate pastas call for delicate sauces, and heavier weight pasta shapes call for more powerful sauces ... 

Truly a work of art,
Ciao, and Grazie,
Margaux Cintrano


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## Margi Cintrano (Jul 31, 2012)

*Photo: Classic Lasagne al Forno di Emilia Romagna*

 Grandmom Margherite´s 
Bolognese Lasagne ... 

by: Margaux Cintrano ...


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## CharlieD (Jul 31, 2012)

Oh, how I wish some people would read this. There is this person, who was born and raised in Italy, though moved to states at age 17 or 18. Her signature dish, that she raves about, is penne regate, aldente, as she likes to point out, boiled with absolutely no salt. Served with sauce made by sauteing some onions without any seasoning what so ever and then dumping some plain tomato sauce bringing it to a boil and purred over noodles. Oh my gosh, if only she knew what she is serving...


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## no mayonnaise (Jul 31, 2012)

Loved this post Lucca.
Looking forward to the rest.

Just to throw in, I think farfalle goes great with heavy cream based sauces.


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## Dawgluver (Jul 31, 2012)

Luca, you have a wonderful gift, and I love to read your chapters!  Fascinating, yet easy enough for any layman to understand.  You are a wonderful addition to DC!  (BTW, there is nothing wrong with your English)

Thank you so much!


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## taxlady (Aug 1, 2012)

Thank you for this great post Luca.


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## buckytom (Aug 1, 2012)

+1.

luca, your english is better than english teachers, journalists, writers, and editors that write in english in your country.

well done.


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## Bolas De Fraile (Aug 1, 2012)

Dawgluver said:


> Luca, you have a wonderful gift, and I love to read your chapters!  Fascinating, yet easy enough for any layman to understand.  You are a wonderful addition to DC!  (BTW, there is nothing wrong with your English)
> 
> Thank you so much!


I concur, Luca is one of those genuine people who takes a great pride in helping people without a hidden agenda.There are a large number of people on this board I would sit down and break bread with Luca is one.


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## buckytom (Aug 1, 2012)

you just want your wig back.

i'm not helping you this time, bud.  get harry to keep him busy while you rifle through his luggage...

i'm kidding, just kidding.

luca is the real deal. good heart, good soul. no b.s..


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## Bolas De Fraile (Aug 1, 2012)

Never mind the rug, I fed exed you my fav boa 6 month ago


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## buckytom (Aug 1, 2012)

how does tbe quintessentially 2nd amendment american phrase go? 

"you can pry it from my cold, dead hand!".


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## Harry Cobean (Aug 1, 2012)

buckytom said:


> you just want your wig back.
> 
> i'm not helping you this time, bud.  get harry to keep him busy while you rifle through his luggage...
> 
> ...


he wears wigs,feather boas & stiletto's.......i ain't keeping him busy,you'll have to get your own wig back bro'!!
infinitely better than no heart,no soul,all b.s eh tom?
good work luca...more please!


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## Harry Cobean (Aug 1, 2012)

Bolas De Fraile said:


> Never mind the rug, I fed exed you my fav boa 6 month ago


bl**din' 'ell bro',not the one with the diamonte tassles,what am i going to wear on stripper nights darn the local................


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## buckytom (Aug 1, 2012)

you want *more*!!!

sorry 'bout my dickens.


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## Harry Cobean (Aug 1, 2012)

buckytom said:


> how does tbe quintessentially 2nd amendment american phrase go?
> 
> "you can pry it from my cold, dead hand!".


we can arrange that.....pause for demonic chuckle in a vincent price stylee!


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## Harry Cobean (Aug 1, 2012)

buckytom said:


> you want *more*!!!
> 
> sorry 'bout my dickens.
> 
> ...


what the dickens are you going on about,you obviously have great expectations,just stick to singing a christmas carol or two around the old curiosity shop


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## Bolas De Fraile (Aug 1, 2012)

buckytom said:


> you want *more*!!!
> 
> sorry 'bout my dickens.


I never felt it the first time

From "taming of the screw" by Willy S


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## buckytom (Aug 1, 2012)

considering all of the puns, you gentleman have obviously experienced dickens far more often than i.

"not that there's anything wrong with that".  j seinfeld.


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## Bolas De Fraile (Aug 1, 2012)

buckytom said:


> considering all of the puns, you gentleman have obviously experienced dickens far more often than i.
> 
> "not that there's anything wrong with that".  j seinfeld.


Quite true Tiny Tom we did dickens for O level eng lit in school.Well Harry did I was more up for chaucer.


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## Harry Cobean (Aug 1, 2012)

buckytom said:


> considering all of the puns, you gentleman have obviously experienced dickens far more often than i.
> 
> "not that there's anything wrong with that".  j seinfeld.


don't get cratchetty with me!! 
'_Once more unto the breach_........ _Cry God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'_(henry v)...trump that.....harry!!
ok,so it's bill shakespeare....speak to my lawyer...you know mr cohen maybe?


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## Harry Cobean (Aug 1, 2012)

Bolas De Fraile said:


> Quite true Tiny Tom we did dickens for O level eng lit in school.Well Harry did I was more up for chaucer.


true bro'.....a quintessential element of the curriculum


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## Harry Cobean (Aug 1, 2012)

buckytom said:


> i preferred to study my longfellow...


it was oldfellow for me......probably why i had to take so many re-sits!


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## Luca Lazzari (Aug 2, 2012)

Thanks for the benevolent comments, friends! 



Bolas De Fraile said:


> I concur, Luca is one of those genuine people who takes a great pride in helping people without a hidden agenda.There are a large number of people on this board I would sit down and break bread with Luca is one.



Thanks Bolas, really appreciated. 
However I do have a hidden agenda


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## Margi Cintrano (Aug 2, 2012)

Luca, Buonasera, Good Afternoon, 

Hidden agendas ! 

Intrigued. 

So do I ... 

Ciao, Margaux.


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## Harry Cobean (Aug 2, 2012)

Luca Lazzari said:


> Thanks for the benevolent comments, friends!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


hope it's hidden better than your wigs & boas luca!!


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## Luca Lazzari (Aug 2, 2012)

Harry Cobean said:


> hope it's hidden better than your wigs & boas luca!!



You can bet on it, cumpà.
I was raised in a place where you learned soon to keep your mouth shut, if you wanted to keep your nice teeth in.
You had to show some respect, and always "farti i c***i tuoi", mind your own business.
What a glorious time! I miss those horrible, hectic days


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## Harry Cobean (Aug 2, 2012)

Luca Lazzari said:


> You can bet on it, cumpà.
> I was raised in a place where you learned soon to keep your mouth shut, if you wanted to keep your nice teeth in.
> You had to show some respect, and always "farti i c***i tuoi", mind your own business.
> What a glorious time! I miss those horrible, hectic days


nice!!! it sounds like part of the area i work in.....if you see a cat with a tail it's a tourist!!


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## Souvlaki (Aug 3, 2012)

Great post Luca thanks


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## Luca Lazzari (Aug 3, 2012)

Souvlaki said:


> Great post Luca thanks



You're welcome, Souvlaki!


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## acerbicacid (Aug 3, 2012)

Buonasera Luca, we are back to the lady and the tramp     My favourite pasta sauce is puttanesca, I usually have it with linguine(i?), sometimes with spaghetti nero de seppia.   Which pasta would you recommend, either of these or something else?

I also have some bottarga (brought from Sicily), do you have any good ideas for this in a sauce and the pasta to use too please?

Grazie cosi tanto


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## Luca Lazzari (Aug 4, 2012)

acerbicacid said:


> Buonasera Luca, we are back to the lady and the tramp     My favourite pasta sauce is puttanesca, I usually have it with linguine(i?), sometimes with spaghetti nero de seppia.   Which pasta would you recommend, either of these or something else?
> 
> I also have some bottarga (brought from Sicily), do you have any good ideas for this in a sauce and the pasta to use too please?
> 
> Grazie cosi tanto



Acerbicacid, thanks for your question. Now I'm packing and waiting for the taxi, I'll answer you tomorrow, as soon as I can (not so soon, it will be a lazy sunday...).

Ciao!


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## Margi Cintrano (Aug 4, 2012)

*Acer: I usually employ Linguini for Puttanesca*

Good Morning Acer, Buon Giorno,

Barilla Linguini works perfectly and most trattorias do same. 

I find spaghetti Barilla Number 5 a bit too thin for Puttanesca. 

My recipe with its History is in the Pasta Section.

Kind regards, Ciao.
Margi.


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## justplainbill (Aug 4, 2012)

Quite a few Americans of Italian heritage say that macaroni is eaten at home and pasta is what is served in restaurants at inflated prices!


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## acerbicacid (Aug 4, 2012)

Good afternoon and thank you for your answer Margi.

In that case - It will be macaroni from now on justplainbill - of whatever size and shape.

Look forward to hearing from you tomorrow Luca

Ciao
Have a wonderful weekend.


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## Luca Lazzari (Aug 6, 2012)

Ciao Acerbicacid, sorry but the lazy sunday turned into a lazy monday... 



			
				acerbicacid;1170265
 said:
			
		

> ...
> In that case - It will be macaroni from now on justplainbill - of whatever size and shape.
> ...



I found some macaroni for you, ancient Neapolitan style: 

http://www.food-info.net/images/pasta/pastaseller.jpg




acerbicacid said:


> ...
> My all time favourite pasta sauce is puttanesca, I usually have it with linguine(i?), sometimes with spaghetti nero de seppia.   Which pasta would you recommend, either of these or something else?
> ...



What a beautiful sauce! I love olives, fresh tomatoes, anchovies and capers (especially the last two) as pasta sauces ingredients. I think your linguine are a very good choice for this sauce.
Personally, in this case I like to respect our local tradition: I serve puttanesca sauce with long, thick pasta shapes. I love to eat it with bucatini: this pasta long strands bind well all the various small pieces of the different ingredients, and some of the tomato sauce finds its way inside the pasta hole.
Sorry, but I don't know what to say about those black spaghetti and puttanesca sauce, I never tried them. I appreciate the sauce “al nero di seppia”, with spaghetti or tagliolini, but I don't like the idea to have a pasta flavored with that fragrance. Certainly, I could try, maybe I'll discover a brave new world!



acerbicacid said:


> ...
> I also have some bottarga (brought from Sicily), do you have any good ideas for this in a sauce and the pasta to use too please?
> ...



First of all, I would use long and thick pasta, as with your puttanesca sauce, even if in Sardinia, where you can find the best mullet bottarga, they serve this fishy food with malloreddus, a small, shell-shaped pasta type.
Secondly, mullet bottarga (bottarga di muggine) is more delicate, while the tunny one (bottarga di tonno) has a more decise, savory, taste. When you prepare your sauce, keep in mind this distinction, otherwise the final taste of your recipe could be too strong (in the second case), or too delicate (in the first case).
Third point: bottarga doesn't drive me crazy, but I absolutely don't want to dishearten you, it's just a matter of taste, for example I hate liver, I could die of starvation rather than eating that thing 
Maybe I could taste bottarga again now and see what happens...

The first recipe, very simple, comes from a friend of mine. He combines spaghetti, a garlic clove, some peperoncino, EVOO, salt and, obviously, bottarga. I never saw him preparing the recipe, but I tasted it and asked him some years ago to explain me how to proceed. And he likes to use a copper pan, but I don't think this is mandatory!
First of all, he prefers bottarga di muggine, but I suppose you could use also bottarga di tonno (which has a stronger fragrance).
Grate 80 g bottarga for 4 persons (obviously, unless you bought the grated version, yet). Peel 1 clove of garlic and finely dice it, then sautée in a pan with abundant oil and the amount of peperoncino which suits you (if the sauce it's VERY hot, you'll loose some of the fragrance, as you may suppose), for a couple of minutes, more or less. Then cook the spaghetti al dente, drain them, put them in the pan and mix them with the sauce, on a high fire for no more then a minute. Put the pasta in the serving dishes, add some crude EVOO and the grated bottarga (80 grams for 4 person).
Another recipe I found on the Web: grate the bottarga, finely dice 2 garlic cloves, finely chop some parsley. Put these 3 ingredients in a bowl, add a tablespoon of EVOO and work the mix with a fork. You want to obtain a cream, so you can add a few teaspoons of warm water to easy the procedure. Cook pasta and mix it with the sauce in a proper bowl, then serve at once.

Buon appetito, Acerbicacid!
And please let me know what happens with your bottarga pasta


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## acerbicacid (Aug 6, 2012)

Thank you so much Luca, it is mullet bottarga, hopefully it will be nice.    I'll let you know when I do cook it (it evidently keeps forever, according to the pack) it is one large piece, not too sure about it either.

Definitely try your recipe for the puttanesca and the pasta you suggest.    Don't know why Maria found these her favourite things 
"Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles" she soooo missed out with not having anchovies, capers and black olives on her list.

Glad you have managed to fit in two lazy days.   The Kinks - Sunny Afternoon - YouTube

Busy at the moment as having family round to eat tomorrow night and I like to get as much done the day before as I can, leaves more time to catch up with all the gossip.

ciao and thanks again


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## Luca Lazzari (Aug 7, 2012)

acerbicacid said:


> ...
> Glad you have managed to fit in two lazy days.   The Kinks - Sunny Afternoon - YouTube



"Now Im sitting here,
Sipping at my ice cold beer"

Yes, it's me! 

And I love gossip!

Ciao


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## Margi Cintrano (Aug 7, 2012)

Bill and Acerb,

Buon Giorno, Good Morning, 

There is never a price difference in Linguini & Spaghetti ( Barilla ) here in either in Puglia or Madrid ... 

Have a wonderful August.
Ciao. Margaux.


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## zfranca (Aug 11, 2012)

Grazie Luca, Bella presentazione. I'll be in Brescia in September. may be I'll take a trip to Pavia, it is not that far...


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## Kathleen (Aug 11, 2012)

Luca, thank you again for these wonderful and informational posts.  I find your posts easy to follow and inspiring!  So far, you have not steered me wrong!


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## Luca Lazzari (Aug 11, 2012)

zfranca said:


> Grazie Luca, Bella presentazione. I'll be in Brescia in September. may be I'll take a trip to Pavia, it is not that far...



Prego!

E speriamo bene


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## Luca Lazzari (Aug 11, 2012)

Kathleen said:


> Luca, thank you again for these wonderful and informational posts.  I find your posts easy to follow and inspiring!  So far, you have not steered me wrong!



You're welcome, Kathleen 

Doing my best, more posts coming!
Thanks


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