Restaurant El Coq | Vicenza 2017

Pasta-Chef

To be loved and and to be fed are initially the same thing.

Only later can we differentiate it.

And the notion of ‘later’ can be stretched indeed … just like pasta dough, speaking of which..

Where it all started: I wouldn’t call it an obsession with pasta but hell, I grew up with Spätzle ...

Plus maybe the following: In 2016 I’ve decided that the forthcoming year should allow for the exploration of my so far, underdeveloped skills.

While I’m naturally drawn to conceptualization and abstract thinking, my ability to experience the world more closely, more immersively — essentially more instinctively — and derive knowledge from said situation through ‘doing’ rather than ‘thinking’, was as at most — rudimentary.

Not only do the limits of prior theoretical / booked-learned knowledge show themselves very quickly, they also miss the point entirely.

It rains outside during pasta making, you better adjust. The room warms up throughout the day, you gotta adjust. Even worse, your hands become warmer than usually? You better have some ice cold water nearby..

Oh you wanna swap in some different type of flour or even jump into another ‘category’ such as semolina? You better have time to redo it 20 times, in order to truly understand its impact post-cooking.

This doesn’t even take into consideration the endless possibilities of whole egg / yolk or water ratios and not even to mention the potent influence of adequate resting periods and little tricks like vacuum-packing the fresh dough. And we haven’t even adressed the myrad types of flours, and I don’t even mean the grinding sizes, but it’s compositions, resulting in various liquid absorbtion rates, textures, gluten development etc. Take a look at Petra, the praised flour company we’ve been working with and which I still buy flour from where ever I live. They nicely unscatter and point out the characteristics of each flour type they offer.

Now, this was just the preparation of the dough.

Then you gotta develop that ‘feeling’ when to stop kneading the dough; plus kneading techniques aren’t that straightforward either. The learning curve, regarding the command of the pasta-machine including another set of folding techniques and at last, manual dexterity aka Fingerspitzengefühl! is quite steep and took me a few weeks just to become acceptably consistent.

Apart from learning to shape sublimely looking pasta, to an Italian, their aesthetic value always comes second; behind their function.

How much sauce should the pasta hold? What’s the ratio of pasta to filling? What kind of shape favors which kind of sauce? Does it cook evenly and how can you ensure that the pasta cooks aldente as a whole and not only some minor thicker or thinner parts?

La gatta frettolosa ha fatto i gattini ciechi

You see, by trying to find the correct and adequate words to tie all these thoughts together, I run somewhat counterwise against the spirit of pasta-making. It seems to be an art-form, if properly addressed, similar to that of sushi. It is not just technique, or quality of produce, or simply learning and building muscle-memory across time, it’s all of them plus for the lack of a better word: living for and through it.

It sounds simple but hell, of course nothing simple is easy.

In fact, it’s the greatest art to be simple.

Ma magari!

And dare I say, ‘only’ living in Italy will reveal the depth of this simplicity: being enraptured by this pasta culture which orients itself or differently put: mirrors back itself deeply over the course of time through changes in architecture, regional competitions, music, cultural conquests, religious conflicts, political disagreements, and of course the lovely Chinese - where it all started.

All hail to the remaining Italian Nonnas, safeguarding this immensely rich heritage especially as most young Italians (possibly rightfully) storm the universities or go abroad.

So who’s gonna take that over? Maybe the Germans? Ahh well, we’ve tried that one before, maybe we should leave the Spätzle be Spätzle this time.