Shelf · Sauces & emulsions · Medium heat
Finishing in the pan
Finishing pasta in the pan with its sauce, a knob of fat and a ladle of the water it cooked in, tossing hard until the two become one.
Why it works
The cloudy water is full of starch shed by the pasta, and starch is what lets fat and water hold together. Without it, oil and sauce stay separate and slide off; with it, the same sauce turns glossy and clings to every piece. This is why the sauce is finished in the pan and never poured over the top.
The tell
The sauce coats the pasta and leaves a clean trail behind a spoon dragged through the pan, instead of pooling at the bottom.
- Split
- Coming together
- One sauce
How it fails
Draining the pasta down the sink and losing the water. Take a mugful out before you drain — and finish the pasta a minute short, because it keeps cooking in the pan and that last minute is where it turns to mush.
In the app, the card opens on the recipe step that names it, with the tell drawn.
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