Cutting by Hand

Appears in
The Classic Pasta Cookbook
The Classic Pasta Cookbook

By Giuliano Hazan

Published 1993

  • About
  1. Loosely roll the sheet of pasta into a flat roll about 2-inches wide.
  2. Use an 8-inch chef’s knife or cleaver to cut the pasta. Rest the blade against your knuckles and slice the pasta roll into ribbons of the desired width moving your knuckles back after every cut.
  3. Unravel the noodles by lifting them up by their ends. If you are going to store them for a while (dried pasta will keep for months) wrap them loosely around your other hand to form a nest and lay them on a dry towel. If you will be using them the same day you can simply spread them loosely on a towel.
  4. To cut angel hair pasta follow the same procedure in step 2 but cut the pasta as thin as you possibly can.
  5. To make maltagliati, make two diagonal cuts followed by a straight cut perpendicular to the roll of pasta. Separate the little piles and spread out on a towel.
  6. To make pappardelle with saw-toothed edges, use a fluted pastry cutter on flat sheets of pasta. For straight-edged pappardelle follow the procedure in step 2.
  7. For quadrucci, cut noodles the width of tagliatelle as in step 2 without unraveling them, then cut crosswise to make little squares. Separate the squares and spread them out on a dry towel.
  8. To make farfalle, cut a sheet of pasta in 1 ½-inch squares with a fluted pastry cutter then pinch the squares in the middle, with one fold on top and two on the bottom.
  9. To make garganelli, roll 1 ½-inch pasta squares onto a round pencil (or dowel) while pressing down on the teeth of a comb or butter pat. Press down on the edges of the pencil and not on the pasta itself, and the garganelli will slide off the pencil easily.