“When you want to make a real pasta, you have to start from the basics.”
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Travel + Leisure:How do you think about making pasta?
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Massimo Bottura:“For me, making pasta is in my DNA.
Especially since I was born in Emilia Romagna with a mother and a grandmother making pasta.
You have it in your DNA.
But with pasta, it’s a little different.
Anyone can learn, but it’s all about practice, practice, and more practice.
But when you want to make a real pasta, you have to start from the basics.”
Let’s talk about those basics.
What flour do you prefer to use when making pasta?
For the pasta, you take one kilo or about two pounds of flour and 10 eggs.
For the tortellini and the tagliatelle, you use the whole egg.
How do you think about mixing the dough?
And the dough will answer you and will come out extremely smooth.
How long do you let the dough rest once it reaches that perfect point with the bubbles?
“Half an hour is enough.
It can rest for 30-40 minutes, but no more.
And it needs to be covered because otherwise, it’s going to crack when you roll it.
it’s crucial that you rest the dough because it’s been stressed.
It needs to relax.
So, you cover it with plastic wrap or a moist towel.
With tortellini, you cannot use the machine.
Once you cook them, the reaction in your palate is going to be too slippery.
When you use the machine, it’s not rough enough to help the pasta grip onto the sauce.
It’s almost like the difference betweenpenne lisce(smooth penne) andpenne rigate(lined penne).
Italians always prefer the ones with the lines in it.
“For the tortellini, they have to be extremely thin.
Because tortellini are about the filling that you put inside.
You know, everyone has their own filling for the tortellini.
And as I always say, ravioli and tortellini are containers.
And with this kind of pasta, you’re free to really express yourself.
But you could also make it a surprise because you don’t see what’s inside.
This is one of the most important things.
Here’s a little story about my mother and my family.
The reaction is totally different, but the texture ends up matching perfectly with a hand-chopped Bolognese sauce.
And finally, lasagna, it’s completely different because it has to be thicker.
Once all the tortellini are made, they’re left on a drying rack.
For cooking fresh pasta, how long do you cook for, and do you salt the water?
“So, it depends.
Or, you cook in the broth and you keep a separate broth on the side.
You then strain the tortellini, put it on your plate and then add the hot clear broth.
Then you have the perfecttortellini en brodo.
But just a touch of broth for them to absorb the flavor of the broth.
Then you plate it, and you finish the tortellini with the creamy parmigiano reggiano sauce.
So, it’s in the middle between tortellini with broth and tortellini with cream.
And then when you finish it with a 36-month parmigiano reggiano, they are the most amazing thing.
Her brother had a cheese company and was making parmigiano.
And I was asking my grandmother to make metortellini alla pannaevery day.
And she did, she made it for me every day.
And people go crazy.
It’s the best grandma’s recipe with heavy fresh cream and people cry.
They get really emotional because it takes them back to their childhood.”
