Quote:
Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!
It makes perfect sense if you're not being a dick. I'm talking about spaghetti the dish, not spaghetti the pasta (which I'm pretty sure you knew). The Italian-American "spaghetti," which is typically spaghetti pasta with a tomato sauce, with or without meat.
I reject the premise that spaghetti can't have meat.
Meat sauces, or ragus, typically are served with either pappardelle or rigatoni. The type of noodle really matters - it really matters.
In that sense, does your spaghetti (the dish) need to have spaghetti (the pasta)? I say no. Other pastas are better suited, especially for meat sauces.
Spaghetti is not a dish, though. It's a type of noodle used in a dish. That's like saying "brown rice" is a dish. And you prefer your "brown rice" made with jasmine rice. It just doesn't make any sense. You wouldn't say "I think BBQ beef brisket is actually better with chicken."
You say a lot of really good stuff here, especially about salting the water. (Though a couple handfuls is much - usually a couple tablespoons for 4 qts of water.)
Try some more - I promise you will be happy. It needs to taste like sea water. The #1 cure for pasta dishes is using enough salt in the water. It doesn't all go in the pasta, but to bring out the flavor of the noodle, you have to have salty water.
You also mention basil. Important to note you don't want to cook the basil. Add it after taking it off the heat.
Yup - another good reason to not use tomato sauces in jars that already have herbs cooked into them.
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The Italian food we typically see - especially the canned and jarred stuff - is as Italian as a can of van de camp's baked beans is KC bbq. You wouldn't listen to someone explain that a McRib is as legitimate as a Z-man. Or, I guess if you would, then God help you.
Also, overcooking the pasta is a huge problem. And no, throwing it against the wall to see if it sticks is not the solution.
You want to take it out of the water just when it passes from hard to al dente. It will keep cooking for a minute out of the water, so the timing matters. Mushy pasta is disgusting, and you lose that texture that makes it enjoyable to eat. But too early and it's just... gross and hard.
But, it seems like the real thing here isn't "spaghetti" but rather ragu. Ragu is dope - you can make it from a ton of different proteins (beef, pork, rabbit, duck, oxtail, wild boar aka Cinghelle).
The meat sauce we make is finely soffritto - a more finely cut mirepoix. Carrot, celery, onion, a little bit of garlic, olive oil. Slow cook those all down to softness. Then, add two parts ground beef and one part ground pork, and a half portion liver. Sear those off, then add a can of PLAIN (no basil or other crappy seasoning) crushed tomatoes. Add salt and slow cook. Traditional Bolognese also has milk, but ours is Milanese, so we don't usually do it. The milk makes it that softer red color.
A rigatoni - a large, tubular pasta with grooves on the outside - is the best for this sauce, because it captures the sauce inside and out. You want to add grated parmesan at the end.
We make huge batches, because it is also the basis of lasagna, along with layers of béchamel (NOT ricotta) and parmesan cheese.