Sohla Shows You How to Cook Spaghetti Like a Pro | Cooking 101 | NYT Cooking

Probably wouldn't be a good drunk one Just because of have I think I've only Made this Drunk yeah it's a great drunk one cuz You can't mess it [Music] Up hi Sola here in the New York Times Cooking studio and today we're going to Be talking all about pasta spaghetti Specifically we're going to show you how To take one box of pasta and make three Really awesome easy recipes if you can Boil water you can make these but we're Going to take it beyond that we're going To level it up take your Pasta you know to the next [Music] Level the first pasta we're going to Make is a grated tomato pasta so it's Basically a Pasta Pomodoro pomodora just Means tomato it's best to make this in The summer when you have amazing Heirloom tomatoes and and it's really Easy because we're just going to grate Our sauce cook our pasta and bring it Together the secret to bringing it Together is just knowing how Al Dente to Cook the pasta cuz we want to finish Cooking it in that tomato so that it can Kind of like absorb that fresh juicy Tomato sauce first off we're going to Get our pasta going this is really fast Like by the time the pasta's cooked We're pretty much there so we've got our

Big pot of boiling water we used to Always say back in the day that you need A giant pot of water to boil pasta but That's actually not true you can boil Your pasta in whatever amount of water It'll cover it in but when you use less Water you just have to get in there and Stir more frequently for even cooking You can actually cook it in a skillet With just enough water to cover but then You just have to be like on top of it Stirring otherwise it's going to Clump And cook unevenly so choose your Adventure so we're going to Salt our Water and it's really important to taste Your pasta water it's going to be really Gross and you need a lot more salt than You think because putting salt on it Afterwards it's only going to season the Outside you want to season the Pasta from the inside and and I know That looks like a lot of salt but you Need it most of the salt's going down The drain it's not going into your pasta You need to just start heavily salted Not as salty as the sea but like when You have a sip it should be unpleasant Kind of kick you in the throat we did it Okay so this recipe uses 12 O of pasta I Know a box has 16 oz one pound of pasta Is kind of a lot and you don't need a Scale it doesn't have to be super Precise let me show you you can do this You go that's a full box and then you go

That's a half a box and then that's half Of that and then you got 12 oz it's a Much easier amount of pasta to manage When you're starting out and I think you Are going to have some leftover pasta But you know in here you've got 4 oz so That's like a nice snack or next time You want to make this get just a half a Box and throw this in there you'll Figure it out it's easy math so once Once you add your pasta you want to just Stir It occasionally until it comes back Up to a rolling boil once it's back up To a rolling boil you really don't have To worry about it and in the meantime We're going to prep our sauce and it's a Super easy grated tomato sauce we're Going to start with these heirloom Tomatoes you can also use beef steaks And we're going to grate them the recipe Says to use four large Tomatoes this Isn't even a large tomato this is like a Jumbo gigantic tomato so I would count This as two Tomatoes we're just going to Trim off a little bit of skin Right here and that's just going to Allow it to be easier to grate going to Give The Grater something to grip Onto so we're going to grate this until We just have the Skins left now keep an Eye on your pasta we really want it to Be very alente here we want to make sure It finishes cooking in the sauce what Alente means is you want it to be a

Little bit white at the core you want it To be a little bit undercooked so you Can see this is very juicy and watery And we that's why it's wo that's why It's especially important to make make Sure that your pasta doesn't get Overcooked because you want it to be Able to absorb all this juicy liquid Uh-oh I wasn't stirring we have some Clumped it's okay we can get in there Break it up we'll survive these tweezer Tongs they're also like perfect for Gripping just one strand of pasta I Don't know if you've gone in this Journey into a pot with a pair of big Clacky Tongs we're almost there I actually think I want to drain it I'm Going to drain this in the sink and We're going to come back and continue Grating our Tomatoes another big Pitfall When you're making a simple pasta like This is how you grate your cheese and I Feel like we don't talk about it enough I love my microplane grater for a lot of Stuff like if I want to get really mushy Garlic but microplaned cheese is way too Fine to emulsify properly into a pasta It always ends up clumping it's just so Fine it melts way too fast and the key To uls Ying something is it needs to Melt at kind of a moderate speed or if You are making like a lot of pasta it's Really great to put it in a food

Processor pulse it until it's nice and Crumbly even the blender break your Cheese up into chunks pulse it in the Blender and then you get like a really Nice little pebbly texture like if you Buy pregrated cheese it's kind of a Pebbly texture and that's perfect for Mify our pasta is going to hang out in The Coler we're going right back into This pot over like medium high heat There's a lot of olive oil in this and That's like really important to the Flavor this is such a simple pasta that You need the olive oil and you need the Garlic and we're not looking for any Color we just want to like Flavor the Olive oil with the garlic this is going To kind of take the harsh bite off the Garlic but it's not like a very very Cooked flavor cuz this is like fresh and Raw and quick and easy once it starts to Get that warm like garlic bread smell Instead of raw garlic smell that's when You know you're good and I feel like We're there so I'm going to add my Tomato now and we're going to bring this Up to a Simmer and it looks really like liquidy And loose but it's it it's not going to Be like a thick cooked Pomodoro but it Is going to tighten up once we add our Cheese so let's give this a [Music] Taste I actually don't think it needs

Any more salt so the key to Emulsifying anything whether it's like a Mayonnaise a vinegret or a pasta sauce Like this besides emulsifiers like you Know Egg yolk and garlic Garlic's an Emulsifier besides like physical Emulsifiers like that a lot of Emulsification is about stirring and Vigorous bubbling and just like an Action like shaking a vinegarette that Emulsifies It I'm going to let it all come to an Active simmer and then add half the Cheese and keep stirring vigorously the Key to stirring like really vigorously And not making a mess is go for like Small tight circles you're going to be Like you're telling me how to stir but There is something to stirring small Tight circles that keeps you from Splashing all over town and it also with Something like spaghetti if you just Swirl around the pot like that see how It's just like one big nest and Nothing's really happening so you really Want to get in there the small tight Circles help break things up we're going To add half our cheese to this and Continue Stirring once the Tomato came up to a Simmer I'm going to turn off the heat Just keep stirring really vigorously and It's going to kind of give the pasta

Some time to absorb the sauce and the Cheese is going to most ify into it let Me see I'm going to just taste this see Where the texture of the pasta is At we still have a little bite in the Core teeny tiny but it's cooked through So I'm going to finish up with the rest Of my cheese and some basil and that's It we did it [Music] It's just that easy a really fresh easy Grated tomato sauce let's dig in I heard That you're not supposed to do the spoon Thing that Italians don't do it but I Like it especially for this cuz this is Such like a brothy saucy Pasta It's really surprising cuz it's Very very simple it doesn't look like Much at all but because we started with A really good tomato we treated it very Simply and made sure that our pasta was Cooked properly it's actually super Flavorful very Savory really satisfying And it's it was done before I could even Handle it this was so fast look at how Sweaty I am you can make [Music] This next pasta we're going to make a Simple carbonara this recipe is by Ian Fiser adapted from Andrew caral Carbonara has a cured pork eggs and Cheese so it's kind of like bacon egg And cheese but with pasta we're going to Get started by heating up our pasta

Water we want to bring this up to a boil This carbonara recipe relies on Finishing the eggs in a warm bowl to Prevent it from overcooking it's like Kind of full proofing it for the home Cook so we've got our hot boiling water We're going to add some to this metal Bowl to get the bowl really nice and Warm And you know the bowl is going to get Hot so I'm going to put it down and do This you know I've done this before Where you pour hot water in a bowl and Then before you know it you're like oh God that Bowl's really hot so we're Going to set this aside for after our Pasta is cooked we're going to season up Our pasta water I like a salty pasta but You do you the the the salt from the Guan chal and the pecarina isn't Overkill for me so let's get in here and Taste it Excellent okay so we're going to do the Same thing we're going to use 12 O of Pasta and I'm going to give it a stir Now and again just in the beginning Until we get it back up to a vigorous Boil now in the meantime I'm going to Dice up my gual Guan chal is a cured Pork product it's kind of like bacon but Not smoked so it's going to be a little Bit more Porky and a little bit more Funky if you can't find it I think bacon Is totally acceptable

Substitute um maybe just Don't tell the Italians so dicing up Guan chal it is helpful to have a sharp Knife but if you don't have a sharp Knife you can also just give this a Quick freeze and it'll be a lot easier To work with now we're going to let our Pan heat up and in the mean time I'm Going to whisk up my eggs here I've got A couple of eggs and a couple of yolks This is going to be very rich with a big Pinch of salt and I like to whisk my Eggs up first before I add the cheese It's good to whisk everything up first Because you want it to come together Very quickly once it hits the heat I Hate when people like don't properly Whisk up their eggs and you just have Like a little piece of snotty white and Then when you mix that with your pasta You're going to have like a little hard Bit of white and all you had to do was Mix for just like 1 second Longer okay so now here we're going to Add our grated parman peino that we Grated on those tiny holes of the Box Grater I like a lot of pepper in my Carbonara and I also often I like my Carbonara a little bit spicy so I Personally like to toast it in the Skillet before I add the quanal but you Know this is like there's so many ways You can do this by adding the pepper Into the eggs right now it's going to be

A bit more like Mild and this is going to be the like Key to the sauce these creamy eggs that Properly grated cheese those bonus Yolks it's going to be very very rich And what's great is maybe you don't Always have the Guan chal around but but You definitely usually have eggs and Cheese and I've made this without the Guan chal pretty often I'll just like Sub in like this is not authentic at all But just I'll just add some frozen beas It's actually quite delicious and you Cook everything exactly the same way my Pans warmed up a bit I'm going to add Olive oil to this Skillet and get our Guan chal a little Bit crisp you don't want to be left with Just like a skillet of fat and then just Like teeny tiny nuggets of crunchy we Want want to go at kind of a moderate Temperature so they get a little bit of Color on the outside and they still get A little chewy bite of Guan chal some of The fats rendering out but not all of it I'm turning off my Guan chal I like Where it's at everybody's Brown we still Have like nice meaty pieces it's not Fully rendered I didn't do a great job Chopping that Up it'll be [Music] Okay it's still going to be delicious See if I can terribly cut this Guan chal

And still make a delicious carbonara you Can too so our pasta is pretty close It's all about we're getting ready now Things are going to move quickly when Our pasta gets there I've got my cup Ready to evacuate a little pasta water We're going to need it to help loosen Things up because this is going to be a Bit tight and a bit creamy I'm going to Dump the hot water from the bowl and dry It out it's going to be nice and warm And ready for like mixing this pasta up I'm happy with where we're at with that I'm going to drain my pasta and we're Going to go right into the gual Skillet oh my gosh I threw out some Pasta of water no wait wait I thought You got some I forgot to scoop it oh but It'll be fine we'll talk about it okay So our pasta is going into our pan with The glum chal we're going to toss it Around just to get it nicely coated in That fat and I totally forgot to save my Pasta water but you know what the truth Is hot water will be fine pasta water is Great it's starchy and and it helps a Bit but so is pasta pasta is also Starchy I do this all the time I very often forget my pasta water and As long as your water is really hot You're going to be okay so this is nice And coated in our fat we're going to go Into this warm bowl now you got to move Quickly that's why we pre-s scrambled

Our eggs and mixed up our cheese because We want to be able to cook this these Eggs with the residual heat from the Pasta it's very important to be vigorous At this point our pasta is Al Dente so It will not break and there's hot water To the rescue so if you did what I did And just forgot to save your pasta water Hopefully you have someone offset to Quickly hand you some hot water now you Have to remember as soon as it hits the Plate it's going to tighten up even more So before you hit the plate you want it To be a little bit looser than you want Your final pasta the key to making sure That it's really good when it hits the Plate is when you think it's perfect I Add a little bit more water so this is Exactly how I would want to eat it so I'm just going to add another tablespoon To make sure that it stays like this When it hits the plate [Music] Let's dig in Saucy Glossy delightful M the pasta has the Perfect texture it got there for us just Like in this bowl while mixing still a Little bit of bite nice bit of chew Every strand is like individual and Coated in that glossy sauce and you get A little porkiness but it's not it's not Really about the pork it's more about The cheese and it's so fast and if you Don't eat pork just leave it out it'll

Still be Amazing we're going to offend a lot of The world right now this isn't a real Thing this is something my mom made all The time because we just always had Spaghetti and we always had a lot of Asian ingredients you know like soy and Vinegar and ginger and garlic so she Just put the things she had together Together so I got my pot of water coming Up to a boil and in the meantime I'm Going to sear my chicken I've got a Dutch oven here because I want to get Really nice Browning on my chicken While My Pan heats up I'm going to Pat my Chicken dry cuz we want good color and We've talked about this before the enemy Of brown is wet we're using boneless Skinless chicken thighs just cuz they Cook up really quickly and also stay Pretty moist no matter what you do to Them but you can use any protein you Want here this is a good place for a Ground meat if you want if you're more Of a breast person Go For That season in Both sides I also really like this Recipe because we're going to feed a lot Of people without a whole lot so it's Just a little bit of chicken bunch of Frozen vegetables and pasta so now I'm Going to go in with my olive oil I Wouldn't do butter here butter is going To burn and once we see a little Shimmery we're going to add our chicken

Thighs and we're going to get it really Nice and Golden there's kind of a lot of oil in Here but that is intentional because we Really want to coat our our pasta really Well and by cooking the chicken in the Fat we're immediately flavoring the oil With the chicken chicken's going to get Really Brown and golden so that's also Going to like add that fond fond is when You get those really nice caramelized Brown bits on this bottom of your pan so You know the chicken is ready to flip it Will tell you when it wants to flip when It easily releases from the pan it's Ready to go since we've preheated our Pan we know it will talk to us if you Drop chicken into a cold pan even if you Let it go just cook forever and get Really Brown sometimes it'll still stick So the combo of preheating letting it Stay put until it's brown we'll make Sure that it's not going to stick the Reason we're not going for like a a Proper true authentic stir fry noodle is A couple reasons you know you might not Have noodles growing up we didn't know Those have noodles but we always had Spaghetti and then number two for a real Authentic stir fry you do need to use a Walk which isn't something that everyone Has and more importantly you do need a Gas flame for a walk to work this is a Great way to kind of get that same Vibe

That's why using a heavy bottom pot is Really vital cuz it's going to transfer A lot of heat the same way like a walk Does Oh yeah we got Brown so the first side takes a lot Longer to get it really nice and brown You're kind of cooking it almost 3/4 of The way through and that's like a really Good technique for any kind of protein Where you want one really crispy side so I do this for duck or fish where you Want crispy Skin so our water is boiling and we're Going to Salt this very very heavily Just like before so you can see we got Really good color on the first side less So on the second but that's okay that's Like a sacrifice side and now we have These really nice Brown bits on the Bottom of our pan that's going to add a Lot of depth and richness and flavor to This like really simple dish right into This pot I'm going to add some scallions Ginger and garlic we're cooking this at Medium until we want our scallions to Get nice and soft you're going to smell That garlic and ginger and it doesn't Take too long we're developing even more Fond look at how much Golden Delicious Fond we have and we're going to deglaze This baby with Frozen mixed vegetables I Grew up on frozen vegetables my mom Worked full- time often times the only

Vegetables we had were frozen and the Moisture from those veggies is going to Help us scrape up the bottom of the pot And really Deglaze everything that's going on here I'm actually going to switch to a wooden Spoon cuz it really helps you get in There and scrape up every single bit of That brown crusty goodness and we're Going to cook this until the veggies Kind of Frizzle in the fat cuz you know Frozen vegetables they could be a little Bit Bland but we're going to give them Some love and they're going to have so Much Flavor now let's check our pasta Should be pretty close now this pasta I Don't really want this Alente I want it to be at the level I Want it to be for Eating right now the pasta is all Dente I want to take it just like another Minute we're going to run this under Cool water to Halt the cooking so it Doesn't get too mushy when we toss it With everything so now that my chicken Is like slightly cooled I'm going to cut It into bite-sized pieces now I've got Some really good sizzling action there So I'm going to add my sesame seeds to Kind of toast up in that fat I'm happy With where my pasta's at so let's drain And rinse if you're making a pasta where You want an emulsified sauce like kacho Peepe or carbonara you never ever ever

Rinse your pasta cuz you need those Exterior starches to get it like glossy And emulsified but this is totally Different we want to make sure our pasta Stays nice and separate and doesn't Overcook which is why we're rinsing so That's why it's important to remember That there's no like hard and fast rules With cooking anytime someone tells you You should never do something don't Listen to them so I'm tossing this in This fat just to get it evenly coated so We got no clumpy pasta okay so now Everybody's go joining the pot we're Going to add our chicken back in Here we're going to season this up with A little bit of vinegar rice wine Vinegar a little bit of soy sauce and Some honey for sweetness we're just Going to stir and toss until it's all Coated and there you Go okay should we plate her up no fancy Twirls here this is not a fancy twirl Pasta I'm sorry to all the food stylists Out there this is such a great recipe Because we just stretched a lot of Ingredients couple of final garnishes When I chopped up some scallions I held Back on a little just to give us a Little pop of color and now to really Really Hammer home how this is not Authentic to anywhere except my Home my favorite way to finish this is With a little bit of ketchup I'm so

Sorry I'm I'm sorry this is how we had It growing up I come from a big ketchup Family and just like that wow I would Take this to school cold in The Lunchbox And whenever I had this I was the most Popular kid I could trade this for Anything I'd trade this for chocolate Croissants for spam musubi for homemade Tofu like this this is a kids love this I'm going to have even more Ketchup it still has that perfect Texture not mushy not Al Dente it's Exactly where we want it to be Everything's coated in that really Flavorful ginger scallion garlic chicken Fond fat and then you get like little Bites of the tender chicken go make this Go offend the [Music] World it's late at night you want a Snack You want some easy mac and cheese this Is what I make and I don't want to Measure anything and I want to use up All the random pasta I have because I've Been making all these 12 oz recipes this Is the best way to make mac and cheese And what's great is it's actually it's Very easy and I think it is also the Best Mac and Cheese it rarely happens When the easiest thing is also the best I'm going to go with like think about How much mac and cheese you feel like Eating Big Bowl medium bowl little bowl

We've had a lot of pasta so I'm going For like a medium Bowl you want to do About equal parts milk and water and We're going to cook our pasta right into The milk and it's going to thicken the Milk from all the starches in there We're not going to drain this pasta it's Going to cook in this combo of milk and Water it's going to become the sauce so We want to season it lightly now we're Not going super salty we want to season It the way we want our final dish to Taste uh you can Jazz it up with like Dry mustard a little bit of paprika Garlic powder whatever you feel like Like mac and cheese In we're going to adjust as we go so you Don't really have to stress out about Anything so I'm going to make this with Like odds and ends right you got random Handful of this handful of that the way We're going to make that all come Together into one delicious mac and Cheese is you're going to add your pasta In stages pen is the thickest one we Have here going to oh God Splash going to start with my penet and Give it a head start we're on like Medium heat here and we're going to let That go for like a minut minute then We'll add our fucili give it another Minute and then by the time we get to Our spaghetti and macaroni it'll all Cook kind of at the same time and also

Remember it doesn't matter that much cuz It's mac and cheese we don't need Perfectly alente noodles here the main Thing only real trick here is you got to Keep stirring otherwise it's going to Scorch now while I'm stirring let's talk About the cheese as this pasta Cooks in The milk and water the milk is going to Reduce and the starches from the pasta Are going to you know SLO off into the Milk and it's going to get thickened and Creamy just like a bamel so then to that You can really add any kind of cheese You want anything you've got anything That'll melt I wouldn't use something Very wet you know like Feta or Mozzarella might make your sauce a Little bit wet but really like anything Else goes gouda parm monster bouran this Is a great way to use up all your pasta Bits but also a great place to use up Any like random cheese bits throw it all Together my favorite for like a classic Vibe here we have a combo of American And cheddar Pen's had a minute let's go In with the Fucili fucili don't stress out too much About how much pasta is in there if you End up with too much pasta and not Enough liquid you can just add more Liquid if you end up with too much Liquid and not enough pasta scoop out Some of the liquid it's going to be fine Now that we're at like a rolling boil

Now is a good time to add the smaller Pastas if you're just making this with Broken spaghetti or macaroni I would Wait for it to fully come to a boil cuz Those pastas cook so fast and it'll just Be complete like mhad you don't want That so in with our macaroni the classic Shape the classic did you know that back In the day all pasta was called macaroni I'm going to break up some spaghett some Spaghett I want this to be spoonable and You do break spaghetti sometimes for Fidos and we're just going to keep Stirring and cooking and it's going to Be amazing this is one of those things That like it's kind of better to add More milk as you go cuz you can always Add more milk but it's a little bit Harder to take it away go a little Harder on the pasta than on the milk and Then once you get to the the desired Dness of pasta you can add a little bit More milk to loosen it up to give you That creamy sauce we're going to taste The pen the sturdiest of the Nudes see where it's At needs another minute and needs more Salt and you can really see it's Starting to look like a bamel you're Going to think you messed up CU you're Going to be like wow it's just like Milk and hard pasta and then it just Like it just happens for you you just Have to

Believe it's really looking thick now Really Creamy transformation at this point when It's this creamy you can Scorch quite Easily so you want to stay close you Want to keep Stirring okay everybody's tender Reducing the heat I might need to add More milk but before I add milk I'm Going to go in with my cheese and then After adding the cheese if looks a Little tight we'll go back with milk you Can just keep going back and forth so I'm going to start with my American and just eyeball the cheese add It to Taste and stir Vigorously so we're over low heat and We're stirring vigorously to emulsify That cheese at this point you're kind of Thinking about it like fond do you want To add your cheese one handful at a time If you add too much at once it's going To like cool Down and everything and you're going to End up with it just just not fully Melting it's going to be kind of clumpy Now we're going to go in with our Cheddar one big handful this is exactly How you make fondue except it would be Emulsified into wine you add a handful At a time you stir vigorously and you Wait for it to melt before you have the Next handful we're over low heat the

Whole time I'm going to pull it off heat And give it a taste see if I want more Cheese we did it [Music] I like this actually more than bamal I Think it's really creamy and Rich and I Love that you don't have like the flour Kind of getting in the way of the Flavor the combo of American cheese and Cheddar really really really really Tastes like box mac and cheese but like So much Better make this when you're so you're Drunk you're lazy you got bits of pasta Bits of cheese or you just want a really Creamy delicious mac and cheese I hope You feel a little bit more confident to Go forth and spaghet huh if you can boil Water you can also probably cook Something till Al Dente emulsify stir Fry kind of mac and cheese and if you Want any of these recipes head over to NY cooking.com and if you've missed some Of our other episodes check them out on YouTube [Music]