"Peter Aitken" > wrote in message
om...
> "Michael Horowitz" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Recipes for making pasta vary - some say use oil, others don't mention
>> it.
>> Why or why not is oil used? - Mike
>>
>
> I assume you mean in the cooking water, not in the pasta itself. The
> supposed reason for putting a little oil in the water is to coat the pasta
> and prevent it from sticking together. But it will also prevent many
> sauces from adhering to the pasta, and is a bad idea for that reason.
> Anyway, good quality pasta properly cooked will not stick if used
> properly. The idea of putting a pile of plain pasta on a plate and then
> ladling sauce over it would seem strange to most Italians. Much better to
> mix the pasta as soon as it is drained with some sauce. THis keeps it from
> sticking and lets the flavor penetrate. Then plate it and add more sauce
> if desired.
>
I made a recipe in the Soprano's (television show) cookbook, that:
After cooking the pasta and draining it, they heated butter in the same
pan, and put the pasta back in, stirred it up. Now here is where my
husband's and my memory differ. I recall they poured all of the sauce over
the mixed butter & pasta while it was on the stove, then mixed it and served
it in a pasta bowl; my husband said they did not mix the sauce into it, but
poured in on, on the table.
I must've checked this recipe out at the library, because I don't see it
anywhere.
Dee