The One Master Ingredient To Make Your Pasta Pop Doesn’t Cost A Cent

Huge spoiler alert before we get into it: it’s the water you’re cooking it in.

You know that slightly cloudy, slightly dodgy looking cooking water you’ve been pouring down the sink after draining your rigatoni? It’s actually one of the most important ingredients in making pasta sauce. And it’s free!

Here’s the deal. When you boil pasta, some of the floury starches used to make the noodles escape into the water, transforming it into the perfect ingredient to thicken and bind sauces to your spaghetti. 

“It’s kind of magical,” says chef and co-owner of Pinbone restaurant, Mike Eggert. “The starches in the water become like little suction caps which bind fats like oil and cheese to pasta. It’s so much lighter than using cream, and so the flavour you get is much cleaner.” 

So, how do you actually use it? First things first, it’s not all about sloshing a cup directly into your spag bol.

“Reserve the water after you’ve drained your pasta, and use it little by little,” says Eggert. Add your drained pasta to your pan of sauce, remove the pan from the heat and add a trickle of water “bit by bit.” It’s a sound and visual thing too, he says. “Gently toss the pasta or twirl it with some tongs to bind it all together. It will all stabilise and become really smooth, creamy and harmonious.” Bullseye.  

There’s one pasta recipe where this method really shows off its skills – cacio e pepe. It’s a classic Roman dish – basically a super simple blend of spaghetti, pecorino cheese and freshly ground black pepper. Without using a little pasta water to blend it all together in a warm pan, it tends to stick together in a clumpy-mc-clump. Try adding a thin trickle of water as you toss the pasta in a pan, and watch the emulsification magic begin.

“Seafood pastas like spaghetti vongole (clams), is another dish where this method really works,” says Eggert. “The thick pasta water, olive oil and seafood juices all blend together perfectly. That’s the sign of a good pasta chef.” 

Twirling forks at the ready, team.