Serving Pasta, and Sauces

When pasta is served in soup or broth, it is pasta in brodo. Served as a separate dish with a dressing, it is pasta asciutta. A third category, pasta al forno, comprises various baked dishes, using plain or stuffed pasta.

One of the simplest and best dressings for pasta is of oil, garlic, and grated cheese. However, there are legions of others, for some of which see ragú; tomato sauce for pasta appears in Ippolito Cavalcanti’s Cucina teorico pratica of 1839. This book also includes dressings based on fish and one with clams resembling present-day Spaghetti alle vongole. (For other popular dressings, see spaghetti and macaroni.)