The recipes in this book include traditional, centuries-old pasta forms such as Tagliatelle (page 84) and Lasagna (page 64), as well as some creative ones Maestra Alessandra invented during her days as a sfoglina, such as the Smeraldine (page 184).
Each of the 14 pasta shapes included here has been chosen for both its process and history. In accordance with the customs of Bologna, pasta shapes are paired with specific sauces.
Always read the entire recipe before beginning to cook. Some recipes require time-sensitive prep work, which is mentioned in the recipe’s headnote.
Here’s what you need to know to make handmade pasta. Andiamo!
The Master Dough recipes are written in grams and I insist you use them as intended. The metric system is the most reliable measurement scale for achieving the most consistent final product in the kitchen and I use it for both liquid and dry ingredients.
Non-dough recipes are written in pounds and by volume, as needed, with metric equivalents.
A sfoglia, the heart of this book, is a sheet of pasta rolled by hand. Some people form it with a pasta machine. If you follow me on Instagram (@evanfunke), you already know my feelings on that (#fuckyourpastamachine). In my experience, nothing beats a sfoglia hand-rolled with a mattarello. For more on this, see page 26.
I’ve developed each Master Dough recipe, with the exception of Gnocchi di Ricotta (page 46), to yield between 710 to 770 g [a bit over 11/2 lb] of dough, which serves about 6 people. Most home kitchens can’t accommodate a very large sheet of pasta, so I recommend halving the dough and rolling out two sfoglie.
If you’re tempted to cut the dough recipe in half because you are serving fewer than 6 people (or don’t want leftovers), let me talk you out of it. A batch of dough smaller than 700 g [about 11/2 lb] is more difficult to knead and doesn’t develop the ideal gluten network as easily. If rolling and shaping so much pasta is daunting, invite some friends. And if you don’t have any, a great way to make some is by offering fresh pasta! You don’t need to roll out and cook all the pasta at once. The dough will keep, tightly wrapped in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.
When cooked, most pastas that involve a fold (for instance, strichetti, triangoli, or tortelloni) tend to have thick and crunchy, or chewy, parts. That’s because there are multiple connection points where the pasta is at double or more thickness. However, by pressing these points to a single layer—or “single thickness”—you eliminate thicker sections, thereby ensuring even and uniform texture.
Ragù is one of those things, like a soup or stew, that bolognesi never make in small quantities. It’s best made in large amounts, which is why the ragù recipes in this book yield enough for 2 or 3 batches of pasta. I like having extra sauce on hand, especially when it will keep, in airtight containers, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months. That said, if you aren’t a fan of leftovers, you can scale down the ragù recipes.
When seasoning water in which to boil pasta or vegetables, add enough salt so it tastes like a seasoned soup (a good guideline is 31/2 Tbsp [55 g] salt to 8 qt [7.5 L] water). This level of salinity will lend key flavor to whatever you are cooking, especially considering salted pasta water is used in some recipes to make an emulsified sauce.
Remember, fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried and there’s not as much leeway in the cooking time. It can overcook quickly, so it’s important to stay nearby and taste often. When the pasta has lost its raw bite and is tender, but not yet soft, remove it from the water immediately. And, in case you’re wondering, fresh pasta cannot be cooked to “al dente” because it was never hard to begin with.
In keeping with bolognese custom, I’ve paired each of the book’s pasta shapes with one or more specific sauces. The combinations are classic and central to Bologna’s pasta traditions.
There’s an entire philosophy behind these matches, guided by local tradition and textural harmony. The quintessential example is Tagliatelle al Ragù della Vecchia Scuola (page 90). In Bologna, there are few chances of finding the city’s famed meat sauce paired with any other pasta shape. The whole city agrees: the sauce clings more perfectly to the long, thin egg-based strands than any alternative. I’m not saying don’t experiment; I do and I also expect you will. But learning and appreciating the basics and tradition first is important for establishing a base of knowledge.