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From my personal tests, the bronze die extruded pasta isn't much more "sauce-able" than the regular ones (for regular, usual sauces like beef ragu, al burro, al

From my personal tests, the bronze die extruded pasta isn't much more "sauce-able" than the regular ones (for regular, usual sauces like beef ragu, al burro, alla romana...). I honestly believe this is one of the biggest culinary myths around pasta.

crazygringo 3y ago
Yeah, I don't generally have a problem with a puddle of extra sauce left over in my bowl after eating the pasta. Which means this is solving a non-problem. If your sauce isn't sticking, add a little water from the pasta to it, after cooking the pasta. The starch in the water makes a big difference to make the sauce stickier. Every Italian restaurant does this, basically. And toss the pasta in the sauce before serving, don't just dump the sauce on top of naked noodles.
shagie 3y ago
America's Test Kitchen looks into that - bronze cut vs teflon cut and what happens if you take sandpaper to the dried pasta: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated/articles/6898-what-is-bronze-cut-pasta https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated/article...
- stephenr 3y ago
  Americas test kitchen also says you can't make crispy pork belly without frying it, I don't know why people put so much trust in a group that can get something so easy, wrong.
  - jghn 3y ago
    ATK/CI, Kenji, etc - they all have said that many times they're talking about best results. It's often possible to cut corners from what they say and get perfectly reasonable results, just not as ideal as one could. Also FWIW, my recollection of the pork belly episode was the same, that they said you'll never get as good of a crispy crust without frying. That's not the same as it's not possible to make it happen at all. I remember thinking "well, I'm not gonna bother with that".
    - stephenr 3y ago
      Here is the video, right at the point where they make their absolutely ridiculous fucking claim: > We tried to get that skin crisp in a hot oven and under the broiler, and it just didn't work. The only way to get it crisp was using hot oil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ucXLDX_xrE&t=390s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ucXLDX_xrE&t=390s
      - jmulho 3y ago
        You seem to have a very negative opinion about America’s Test Kitchen based on one claim they made in one video (6:30). Yet you offer no insight into why you feel they are wrong. If a company in the business of testing recipes, with 30+ year track record (Cooks Illustrated), tells me that they did multiple experiments on pork belly, found oven results were leathery, frying was crispy, explains why, and then demonstrates it, well yes, I am going to trust them over a guy on the internet who implies he is some master of pork bellies but demonstrates nothing.
        stephenr 3y ago
        If someone claiming to be an "expert" says that something cannot be done, but you yourself have done it countless times at home, it tends to give the impression that the "expert" has no fucking idea what they're doing. When the internet is full of examples of other people doing said thing, it kind of cements the idea that they have no fucking idea. But hey, believe what you want.
      - jghn 3y ago
        Yes. And as I said sometimes these people are making claims against a bar higher than what a normal person would apply. You can’t always take their statements literally There”s crispy and there’s crispy.
        stephenr 3y ago
        If they can't manage to convey that "we couldn't make it crispy to the utmost degree that we consider acceptable" without saying "it just didn't work" and implying that it's impossible to make it crispy at all without their method, I would argue that they're equally as shit at communicating in English as they are at cooking.
  - washadjeffmad 3y ago
    I can believe that the current ATC doesn't know how to cook it, but there's definitely at least one recipe from Cook's Illustrated or Cook's Country going back around a decade that advises using a cold, dry pan for crispy pork belly, which I'll still do today. I also recall that all the talent left to join Chris for Milk Street, which is who would have published that technique.
jonatron 3y ago
Sauce-able is only one attribute, and bronze-die vs not is only one variable. I liked Alex's tier list in this video: https://youtu.be/v_XMTvAgpEw?si=X2QoNVbn3cl094fm https://youtu.be/v_XMTvAgpEw?si=X2QoNVbn3cl094fm Bronze die would make more of a difference for carbonara where you need starchy water

crazygringo 3y ago

Yeah, I don't generally have a problem with a puddle of extra sauce left over in my bowl after eating the pasta. Which means this is solving a non-problem. If your sauce isn't sticking, add a little water from the pasta to it, after cooking the pasta. The starch in the water makes a big difference to make the sauce stickier. Every Italian restaurant does this, basically. And toss the pasta in the sauce before serving, don't just dump the sauce on top of naked noodles.

shagie 3y ago

America's Test Kitchen looks into that - bronze cut vs teflon cut and what happens if you take sandpaper to the dried pasta: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated/articles/6898-what-is-bronze-cut-pasta https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated/article...

stephenr 3y ago
Americas test kitchen also says you can't make crispy pork belly without frying it, I don't know why people put so much trust in a group that can get something so easy, wrong.
- jghn 3y ago
  ATK/CI, Kenji, etc - they all have said that many times they're talking about best results. It's often possible to cut corners from what they say and get perfectly reasonable results, just not as ideal as one could. Also FWIW, my recollection of the pork belly episode was the same, that they said you'll never get as good of a crispy crust without frying. That's not the same as it's not possible to make it happen at all. I remember thinking "well, I'm not gonna bother with that".
  - stephenr 3y ago
    Here is the video, right at the point where they make their absolutely ridiculous fucking claim: > We tried to get that skin crisp in a hot oven and under the broiler, and it just didn't work. The only way to get it crisp was using hot oil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ucXLDX_xrE&t=390s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ucXLDX_xrE&t=390s
    - jmulho 3y ago
      You seem to have a very negative opinion about America’s Test Kitchen based on one claim they made in one video (6:30). Yet you offer no insight into why you feel they are wrong. If a company in the business of testing recipes, with 30+ year track record (Cooks Illustrated), tells me that they did multiple experiments on pork belly, found oven results were leathery, frying was crispy, explains why, and then demonstrates it, well yes, I am going to trust them over a guy on the internet who implies he is some master of pork bellies but demonstrates nothing.
      - stephenr 3y ago
        If someone claiming to be an "expert" says that something cannot be done, but you yourself have done it countless times at home, it tends to give the impression that the "expert" has no fucking idea what they're doing. When the internet is full of examples of other people doing said thing, it kind of cements the idea that they have no fucking idea. But hey, believe what you want.
    - jghn 3y ago
      Yes. And as I said sometimes these people are making claims against a bar higher than what a normal person would apply. You can’t always take their statements literally There”s crispy and there’s crispy.
      - stephenr 3y ago
        If they can't manage to convey that "we couldn't make it crispy to the utmost degree that we consider acceptable" without saying "it just didn't work" and implying that it's impossible to make it crispy at all without their method, I would argue that they're equally as shit at communicating in English as they are at cooking.
- washadjeffmad 3y ago
  I can believe that the current ATC doesn't know how to cook it, but there's definitely at least one recipe from Cook's Illustrated or Cook's Country going back around a decade that advises using a cold, dry pan for crispy pork belly, which I'll still do today. I also recall that all the talent left to join Chris for Milk Street, which is who would have published that technique.

jonatron 3y ago

Sauce-able is only one attribute, and bronze-die vs not is only one variable. I liked Alex's tier list in this video: https://youtu.be/v_XMTvAgpEw?si=X2QoNVbn3cl094fm https://youtu.be/v_XMTvAgpEw?si=X2QoNVbn3cl094fm Bronze die would make more of a difference for carbonara where you need starchy water