Experts slam viral pasta hack that cooks spaghetti in tomato sauce

Experts slam viral pasta hack that sees spaghetti cooked in tomato sauce – but there is one key style of dish where the method is actually recommended

  • A woman has been slammed online after revealing her ‘pasta hack’
  • She described her way of cooking pasta straight in the sauce as a life-hack
  • But home cooks and experts alike say the pasta must be boiled to release starch
  • An Italian chef in Sydney revealed the cooking technique is called risottata 
  • He said it is only appropriate for dishes with no structure – not bolognese 

A woman’s past-cooking ‘life-hack’ has been slammed by experts and home cooks alike – after she filmed herself cooking spaghetti in tomato sauce instead of water.

Jasmin Gilgrow’s viral video shows the young woman opening a jar of tomato sauce, before adding raw noodles – but she has been slammed for disrespecting the Italian dish.

Chefs commented on the post saying it is the wrong way to cook pasta because the starch is released into the sauce – which is not ideal as it thickens the sauce.

‘Please don’t do this, the sauce will be super starchy and the pasta won’t cook well,’ one woman said.

‘If you can’t cook pasta properly then don’t cook it,’ said another.

‘As an Italian watching I am lost for words,’ one woman said while another added ‘our Nonna just had a heart attack’. 

Daily Mail Australia spoke to an Italian chef of 23 years about the ‘hack’ and he said it is the wrong way to cook pasta, most of the time.

Jack Fana, from Fana’s Italian Kitchen in Sydney said some recipes from the south of Italy call for the pasta to be cooked in the sauce – but it is not for bolognese sauces.

‘Bolognese is already rich enough, it already has the creaminess,’ he said. 

‘You also don’t for it with pesto, you can do it with Napoli,’ he said.

The cooking techniques is used in Italy – but for watery sauces like the one above – that rely on the starch from the pasta for creaminess

But the dishes where the pasta is cooked with the sauce are more likely to be fish dishes.

‘It is for watery sauces that have no structure. The starch is released and it adds creaminess,’ he said.

In these cases the pasta would be added to the pot where all the seafood has been cooking, but the actual fish would be removed and then put back in for serving.

The cooking method is called risottata – because the pasta is cooked in the sauce similar to rice in a risotto.

The original poster didn’t take kindly to being slammed for her video and said she did it ‘as a joke’.

Some people came to the young woman’s rescue and said people should be allowed to cook however they like.

The post got more than 140 thousand likes and was viewed over two million times. 

WHAT IS RISOTTATA?

Risottata is a method for cooking pasta in the sauce – like when you cook rice for a risotto. 

The technique is mostly used in the south of Italy, for sauces which require added structure and creaminess – like watery seafood sauces.

It is not used by Italian chefs for sauces like bolognese or pesto sauces – as they don’t require added creaminess.