The case for the simplest pasta in the world

I. The pasta

Fresh egg pasta is two ingredients: flour and eggs. The proportion is one egg per 100 grams of flour. The flour: 00 for a more tender, silky pasta. Semolina for a firmer texture with more bite. A combination of the two — two parts 00 to one part semolina — produces a pasta that has both qualities.

Make a mound of flour on the work surface, create a well in the center, crack the eggs into the well. Beat the eggs with a fork, gradually incorporating flour from the inner wall of the mound. Knead for ten minutes. Wrap and rest for thirty minutes. The resting matters.

II. The rolling

A pasta machine produces consistent, even sheets. A rolling pin produces pasta that is slightly uneven in thickness — thinner in the center than at the edges. The pasta machine produces better pasta by measurable standards. The rolling pin produces pasta that tastes better.

Roll the dough as thin as you can. Fold the sheet loosely and cut into ribbons approximately 8mm wide. Shake out the tagliatelle immediately to prevent sticking.

III. The butter and the Parmigiano

The butter should be cold, cut into cubes, added to the pasta in the pot off the heat. The pasta water — starchy, salted — emulsifies with the butter to produce a sauce. This is the technique.

Parmigiano-Reggiano aged a minimum of 24 months. Not Parmesan. Not Grana Padano. Grate it fresh, over the finished pasta, at the table.

Serve it immediately. The dish requires urgency — from the boiling water to the bowl to the table to the fork without delay.

Recipe — Tagliatelle al burro

As told by Marco Rinaldi · Bologna, Italia · serves 2

• 10 min to roll & cut
• 3 min to cook
• 82% butterfat
• 24 mo. aged Parmigiano

For the pasta and the sauce

• 00 flour — 200 g
• Whole eggs — 2
• Extra egg yolk — 1
• Cold unsalted butter, cubed — 60 g
• Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated — 60 g
• Reserved pasta water — ½ cup

The method

1. Mound flour, well in the centre, eggs into the well. Beat with a fork, gradually drawing in flour from the inner wall. Knead 10 minutes by hand. Wrap and rest 30 minutes.
2. Roll as thin as possible. Three passes more than you think. Fold and cut into 8mm ribbons. Shake out immediately.
3. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Cook the fresh pasta 2–3 minutes. Reserve ½ cup cooking water before draining.
4. Remove the pot from heat. Return pasta to the pot. Add cold butter cubes and 2–3 tbsp of pasta water. Toss vigorously until the butter melts and emulsifies into a creamy sauce.
5. Add half the Parmigiano and toss again. Divide into bowls. Top with the remaining cheese. Serve immediately.

About the contributor

Marco Rinaldi

Marco writes about Bolognese pasta tradition and simple Italian cooking from Bologna, Italia. He has been making tagliatelle al burro every week for thirty years and considers it the most honest dish in the Emilian repertoire.

Editor’s notes — the longer view

A note on the emulsion. Pasta water and cold butter form an emulsion the same way a vinaigrette does — the starch in the water acts as the emulsifier, holding the fat in suspension. This is the entire technique. Adding warm or melted butter to hot pasta produces an oily slick, not a sauce. The temperature delta is the mechanism.

A note on the cheese. Parmigiano-Reggiano is a DOP product made in five provinces of Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy. The crystalline texture you taste in the aged wheels is tyrosine — an amino acid that crystallises as the proteins break down over months. Grana Padano is its cousin, less aged, less assertively flavoured. They are not interchangeable here.

A note on the rolling pin. The traditional Bolognese rolling pin is a metre long, untapered, made of cherry or beech. It produces a circular sheet from a small mound of dough through a particular rotating motion of the wrists that takes a year of regular practice to learn. A pasta machine is faster. The pin produces better pasta.

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