A Really Silky, Plastic Result

There are some Italians who cannot make pasta, or at least cannot make it very well. There are certainly many who don’t make it at all. It is often a job done by the mother of the house. I have witnessed a restaurant kitchen at the end of the night, when everything has been cleaned down and the whole family is engaged in making the agnolotti, while the chef is drinking fine Barolo wine with us.

Part of the problem is that chefs are people in a hurry, and good pasta cannot be hurried. Whether it is homemade or factory-made, there are many factors that contribute to the poor quality of most egg pasta. Many do not understand the work – the fact that pasta must be rolled and re-rolled several times to get a really silky, plastic result – or that the ingredients, simple as they are, must be of high quality. Soft flour and watery eggs don’t make the cut.