Tossing

In the sequence of steps that leads to producing a dish of pasta and getting it to the table, none is more important than tossing. Up to the time you toss, pasta and sauce are two separate entities. Tossing makes them one. The oil or butter must thoroughly and evenly coat every strand, reach into every crevice, and with it carry the flavors of the sauce. However appropriate a sauce may be, it cannot merely sit on top of or at the bottom of the bowl. If sauce is not uniformly dispersed, the pasta which is to be its vehicle will have an imperfect load of flavor to deliver.