Comments on: Fuel, Water, and Pasta

By: TracyFood » Monkey Monday: thoughts on a theme, and more.

TracyFood » Monkey Monday: thoughts on a theme, and more. — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:08:19 +0000

[...] those same lines, I continue to enjoy Rachel Laudan’s blogging on fuel, water, and pasta, which led to a great post on fire, water, and [...]

By: Adam Balic

Adam Balic — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:31:42 +0000

There is an egullet discussion/put down of the McGee article. One of the people there contacted me to point out an Elizabeth David quote from “Italian Food” where she points out that here preferred method for cooking pasta is modified absorption method she found on a side of a box of Agnesi pasta bought in the early 1970s.

I thought that it was an interesting enough departure from the “traditional” method for cooking pasta that I looked into Agnesi pasta. It turns out that Agnesi was the first industrial producer of pasta and they are based in Genoa (Liguria). So perhaps there cooking method is a modified version of the Ligurian method that has been discussed here?

By: Adam Balic

Adam Balic — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:03:31 +0000

I think that “a wide vessel, with a lot of water” is most simply interperated as a wide vessel with a lot of water.

This site (http://fxcuisine.com/Default.asp?language=2&Display=98&resolution=high) has images to the pasta type in question. As you can see it is not possible to cook it in a small pot.

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:10:02 +0000

But what was to Artusi ‘a lot of water’ may not be what to us is ‘a lot of water’. (?)

By: Adam Balic

Adam Balic — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 09:37:59 +0000

I think that the root of large amounts of water for boiling pasta comes from the more widespread use of dried durum wheat pasta in the late 19th/early 20th century. In discussion Neapolitan macaroni Artusi says;

“Quanto ai maccheroni, insegnano di farli bollire in un recipiente largo, con molt’acqua, e di non cuocerli troppo.”

(As for the maccheroni, they [Neapolitans] instuct to make them to boil in a wide container, with a lot of water, and not to cook them too much.)

Since Artusi was from Emilia-Romagna, a great centre of fresh pasta making, it would seem odd that he would mention the instructions for boiling Southern pasta if it wasn’t note worthy.

By: shelora sheldan

shelora sheldan — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:46:24 +0000

Great food for thought Rachel.
Perhaps historically smaller types of pasta were made as it took less water,less ingredients and less time to cook in a small amount of water.

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:49:56 +0000

Yes, Abandoning settlements is always a possibility. I can only speculate why it’s not done more often in Mexico. Exploding population? No money to move on? What often happens is that these villages have water to sustain them much of the year, and then run out at some point before the rains begin.

I’m wondering too about that huge water supply for boiling vegetables in English cooking. This is really just a question because I am not sure. Much of our vegetable water went into gravy or into soups. Was that traditional? Or was it the result of World War II? I really don’t know. Boiling is a fuel-efficient way of cooking things so perhaps that’s why it was so popular in England where fuel was very tight for several hundred years and water was abundant, even if laborious to carrry.

By: Adam Balic

Adam Balic — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:22:31 +0000

“These kinds of things must happen in Australia too.”

Yes, which is why we have abandoned settlements. Which isn’t a joke. Some, areas were settled for a few years or a decade, then abandoned because the conditions changed and crops faied etc. Also the English tradionally need a huge water supply for the boiling of vegetables, so any viable settlement needs to be a large lake or river.

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:21:57 +0000

Yes, and I have a pitiful weak burner and a pitiful weak water supply from a garafon–holding the pot underneath it is difficult.

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:20:49 +0000

Adam, Margaret and all,

Amazing how many people out there do ignore huge amounds of water instructions.

Who on earth settles a village without water? Well, one answer is that they settle the village and the water disappears for some reason. This has frequently happened in Mexico. Either the population exploded or a damn prevented the water flowing or the cutting down of trees meant higher and quicker run off. These kinds of things must happen in Australia too.

And I think the point about street food is critical. Lots of water like lots of oil was not possible for an individual poor family.