The golden rules of pasta

Melbourne's modern-day pasta god ANDREAS PAPADAKIS, co-owner and executive chef at Tipo 00, shares his knead-to-know playbook.

- ANDREAS PAPADAKIS

I LIKE PASTA. A LOT. NO REAL SURPRISE THERE, BUT IN THE early days of Tipo, my business partner Alberto (Fava) said to me, "You eat pasta more than anyone I've ever met." It's true. I'm happy to eat two bowls of pasta every day. But even if you're not cooking (and eating) pasta as regularly as I do, to me it needs to be done right every time. And, unwittingly, most people cooking pasta at home are not doing it right because they're cooking it in big batches.

RULE NO.1

TO COOK PASTA PROPERLY YOU SHOULD ONLY BE COOKING ONE SERVE AT A TIME

It's what we do at Tipo and it's why people keep coming back. Here's how we do it. We make the sauce and put it in the pan with one serve of pasta that's been cooked a little short of al dente.

To me, al dente is a feeling rather than a texture. It is what separates pasta from noodles, but obviously there is a lot more to it. Literally, it means "to the tooth", a description of the texture of cooked pasta that is firm when bitten, with a slight resistance or chewiness. Hardcore Italians might like their pasta really crunchy, but fresh pasta made by hand is never going to be like that. The type of pasta, its thickness and its intended use in a dish all contribute to the specific meaning of "al dente" in each case.