POLL: Which is the best basic Italian pasta sauce?

probably not fashionable but marinara. bless the tomato.

tricky call between pesto, aglio e olio and vongole, will consider

most overrated: cacio e pepe

haven't tried that, but I like the simplicity of the recipe

carbonara, although really like a lot of the others

If you can handle dairy, Alfredo is the only answer.

I will pretty much always choose aglio e olio. Bolognese can be better but only with a lot more effort.

I think the Rome episode of the Stanley Tucci CNN thing featured a chef that said carbonara is biggest rn.

I don't understand the bolognese hype. Had it at Mozza expecting to become a convert but meh.

recently made Mike Easton's Bolognese (from Il Corvo), it did involve some work but was fantastic, and I was able to freeze some of it to appreciate later

If I could only have one forever, and it's one of a few I'll make fairly regularly, puttanesca

Made an eight hour pomodoro sauce over the summer, voting for that. Tomato as a psychedelic experience.

I'm planning on doing a Bolognese with the addition of chicken liver this week for the first after taking some advice. Just about everything I cook has carrots celery and onion it - so that is the holy trinity for me. I'm not even sure what the difference is between Ragu and Bolognese - but they are the ones I fuck with most often so I will have to vote for one of them. I add smoked paprika to just about everything I make these days - so it's never really authentic.

xxxp probably the best Italian meal I've ever had was a rabbit ragu the restaurant said was cooked for 16 hour or something which hits two points where I will never make it myself: butchering a rabbit and watching anything on the stove for 16 hours

So many Carbonara recipes have no coherent explanation of how to temper the beaten eggs and pecorino/parmesan cheese mixture with slightly cooled pasta water before adding it back into the pasta. That's the key step

bolognese

alfredo can be great but daaammmnnn there is a lot of horrible alfredo out there

ragu and bolognese probably don't need to be separate entries.

voting amatriciana because when i look at this list right now that's what i want.

arrabiata and puttanesca are similar but the anchovies and olives in puttanesca raise it above

probably the best Italian meal I've ever had was a rabbit ragu the restaurant said was cooked for 16 hour or something

I once had a goat ragu that was deep and delicious and perfect for winter months.

some of these I have semantic issues considering a "sauce" because ... idk maybe I think of sauces as more complicated/time consuming to make? ... so as much as I like the garlic/olive oil combo, I don't think of it as a sauce, so I'm going with marinara because it is the most versatile imo

marinara is like vanilla ice cream though, even simple recipes like garlic and olive oil or grana padano cheese and pepper are better concepts even if they are not technically sauces

What the distinction we’re drawing here between ragu and bolognese

my understanding is that ragu is more like stewed meat in sauce, bolognese is more finely ground

vanilla ice cream is amazing!

I thought ragu was a subset of bolognese

My experience is ragu is more pronouncedly tomatoey, and bolognese is meat/milk/veg forward.

https://askanydifference.com/difference-between-ragu-and-bolognese/#:~:text=The%20main%20difference%20between%20Ragu,Bolognese%20sauce%20used%20white%20wine.

interesting

I have had some really amazing vanilla ice cream tbh

the answer is still Carbonara imo

ragu is more like stewed meat in sauce

maybe you're thinking of ragout

you're right, just now learning the difference between ragout and ragu

I know the one off this list that I make best is the vodka sauce.

ragù alla bolognese is the full name of bolognese. there are other ragù, but they are all meat sauces for pasta, there is no one sauce called ragù

carbonara > ragu > bolognese > marinara

Putanesca is one I make the most, as you can get a good satisfying depth of flavour really quickly from the anchovies. But would it be really unhip and British of me to say bolognese?

But I mean all of these are delicious if done well.

Bortaga with olive oil, lemon, parsley and garlic...

Cacio e pepe might be the hardest thing on the planet to make.

This is impossible (to everything there is a season), but gun to my head I might go the Roberta's oxtail ragu that cooks for 4-5 hours.

When you take into account how easy/little time it takes to make, Amatriciana or pesto.

Fresh home made pesto is soooo good, particularly with really good pecorino.

Bortaga with olive oil, lemon, parsley and garlic...

― chap, Saturday, March 13, 2021 7:38 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've done a sauce like this but with anchovies instead of bortaga, it's fantastic with skinny/angel hair spaghetti.

really unhip and British of me to say bolognese?

A good bolognese can be amazing. But it's all too easy for it to be meh.

Cacio e pepe might be the hardest thing on the planet to make.

This is impossible (to everything there is a season), but gun to my head I might go the Roberta's oxtail ragu that cooks for 4-5 hours.

When you take into account how easy/little time it takes to make, Amatriciana or pesto.

― is that a haruomi hosono sword? (PBKR), Saturday, March 13, 2021 11:13 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

there was a cacio e pepe recipe in lucky peach that works. i think i may have posted it in its entirety on ilx when the lucky peach site was shut down.

Marinara. Not watery. Lots of garlic in the olive oil, removed from the oil before adding the tomatoes.

there was a cacio e pepe recipe in lucky peach that works. i think i may have posted it in its entirety on ilx when the lucky peach site was shut down.

― call all destroyer, Saturday, March 13, 2021 2:18 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'd be curious. It's the technique that is the issue for me. I used Frank Prisinzano's method the last time and got a lot closer to avoiding the clumping that has always been my problem, but I started with too much water. I'm getting closer!

i love a good vodka sauce

love to get sauced on good vodka

this post has the cacio e pepe recipe: what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027

there's a few supermarkets where you can get a jar at a sensible price, i think the little local Sainsbury's and maaaaybe Aldi sometimes? i'd eat them out the jar tbh

I recently went through my pantry after years of stuffing things in. I found out I have 5 jars of capers

the cacio e pepe recipe call all destroyer linked to sounds really good! I will skip the part where you use a pasta machine to make your own square pasta, but the last paragraph describing the chemistry of the components coming together is interesting. it reminds me of learning to make a roux to add to a gravy without lumps, or emulsifying an egg/cheese mixture to add to carbonara

life picked up when i found tins of anchovies for less than a quid in Aldi too

That cacio e pepe recipe is interesting. The admonition that too hot pasta will cause the cheese sauce to clump seems counter to most recipes that say you have to make the sauce immediately after the pasta is done (and quickly) or it will clump. I will have to give that a try.

VG otm re: cacio e pepe

I am team vongole 4eva

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I'm voting pesto.

Difficult to tell most of these apart coming from my own food culture so between all the bologneses (anything red) and all the carbonaras (not red) i choose the former

my boyfriend does an incredible puttanesca (which i only recently learned means whore's food lol). standard anchovy paste, garlic, tomatoes, olives. he adds canned tuna and thai chili garlic sauce. it's the best of these i've had, including a very good tagliatelle ala bolognese.

I love puttanesca and voted for it. I love good cacio e pepe but as noted it's hard to make my and not end up with a gummy mess. My wife's gotten pretty good at it, I'll ask which recipe she uses. She also made this delicious cacio e pepe shortbread, which is not a sauce but here's the recipe anyway: https://www.tastecooking.com/recipes/cacio-e-pepe-shortbread/

The one I think of myself as most excited about is carbonara, but when I think back to the most perfect, sublime pasta dish I've ever eaten, it was an amatriciana, and that's what I'm going with.

When I was 8, my answer would have been alfredo, and I respect anyone who has stuck with it.

Of these, the one I just don't get is vodka sauce.

What do you call it when it's just pasta water, olive oil, and parmesan?

Difficult to tell most of these apart coming from my own food culture so between all the bologneses (anything red) and all the carbonaras (not red) i choose the former

― your own personal qanon (darraghmac), Tuesday, 6 April 2021 00:14 (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is, without any exaggeration, your worst post of all time

simple backpass on, the lad's cunted it into his own top corner

I do a decent version of most of these from scratch, dont get me wrong

Its just that theres not really any difference between like seven of them

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

not mad at puttanesca. have made it twice in the last few weeks funnily enough. probably one of the easiest extremely tasty meals one can make.

my rough recipe:

put the water on to boil for the pasta and put the pasta in when boiling, cook to a couple of minutes below what the packet suggests. drain and retain a few tablespoons of pasta water. do the below while the water is boiling/pasta is cooking

mince about 4 garlic cloves and about 6 anchovies, fry them gently in lots of EVOO til the garlic is coloured

chop a handful (maybe roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup) olives and capers and add to the aforementioned

small tin of tomatoes, as in not the big one, crush the tomatoes and add the can to your mixture

add the pasta and pasta water to the sauce alongsidea handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley, a handful of grated parm, a bunch of pepper, maybe a little salt (possibly not with the capers and olives) mix and let the pasta cook a little more for a few minutes.

serve with more parm for the top (and more pepper if you like pepper)

Ah, and my aversion to olives once again comes into play.

https://newmansown.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Marinara-WEBs.png

Puttanesca and amatriciana are the most fun to say

I use Lydia's recipe for puttanesca and she uses pecorino instead of parm. I like the way that works with all the other strong, salty flavors. No need to add any salt.

I dunno what it is about the vodka sauce, I learned a recipe back when I was just getting into cooking and I've made it more times than I can count.

Lightly sautee 4-5 minced cloves of garlic, red pepper flakes and salt to taste, all in 1/4 cup olive oil. Add a large can of crushed tomatoes and simmer until nicely reduced, at least 20 minutes or so. Add 2 tbsp vodka after about 15 minutes and stir in. Add 3/4ish cup cream after sauce has reduced, stir in.

Toss with cooked penne or macaroni and a cup or so of chopped parsley. It's great. The explanation I heard was there are alcohol-soluble flavor compounds in the tomato that you wouldn't taste otherwise.

I like clam sauce a lot too. Also kind of surprised marsala got no votes.

yes, the theory of vodka sauce is that you get a punched-up tomato flavor. i don't make it frequently but if you're in the mood for tomato + a little extra richness it can be great.

just made jim’s puttanesca recipe to the letter and am receiving universal acclaim from a crowd aged 14 to 50 ... way to go jim and also poll result!

oops I freestyled a half teaspoon of chili paste, sue me

Just making my first attempt at a puttanesca sauce thanks to this thread and jim in vancouver's recipe. It smells divine.

Genovese deserves better than it got

What do you call it when it's just pasta water, olive oil, and parmesan?

Oh and lemon zest/juice, can't forget that. It was pretty revolutionary for us to realize we don't need a red sauce for delicious pasta.

I guess this is "al limone"?

Pesto, Carbonara and Bolognese are my top 3, so olives aside, the poll is right.

man, my boyf made his puttanesca again last night and fuck it's so good. basically like jim's receipe but he adds canned mackerel and that chili paste that matthew added. oh and baking sode to the tomatoes! which de-acidifies them and brings out the sweetness.

I made ramp pesto this weekend. Slightly strong, but so good.

I dunno what it is about the vodka sauce, I learned a recipe back when I was just getting into cooking and I've made it more times than I can count. [...]

― underminer of twenty years of excellent contribution to this borad (dan m), Wednesday, 7 April 2021 03:42 (one month ago)

enjoyed this dish v much, thanks for sharing

Welcome, comrade

change vote to aglio e olio pls

my late night quick pasta option is similar to this but not with the lemon, which seems to be a key ingredient.

the one I made last night had close to a full bulb of garlic, three chillies and a load of pecorino grated over the top. no lemon. was perfect. but ofc it depends on the pasta shape too. my actual vote would be more like this:

spaghetti - aglio e olio
linguine - vongole
most other things - pesto (but alternatives considered)

the one time I looked at a recipe for aglio e olio it had lemon juice as an emulsifier for the boiled pasta and oil but looking around it's not a common ingredient for this one. I always use some butter as well as the oil with my sauces or simple pasta dishes.

Personal top 3:
Pesto alla trapanese
Amatriciana
Cacio e pepe (hardest one to get exactly right imo)

Vodka sauce - that seems to be a specifically american thing? As someone living in a very heavily Italian populated community I cant say its a sauce I see here at all.

Yes, though there are claims it was invented in Italy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOWG4pU2-6Y

Italian chef making penne alla vodka. If I understood him, he's saying the use of vodka came via Croatian influence.

Oops brain fart. Slovenian not Croatian.

Can't stand marsala, I'm glad it received zero votes

never had it and it sure doesn't look good

there are a lot of good uses for marsala that aren't pasta sauce tbf