Pasta like in Italy: how to cook it and six classic sauces

The classic rule: 1 litre water per 100 g pasta and 10 g salt per litre. The water should be salty, "like the sea": pasta absorbs salt from within, and no sauce can make up for it later. Don't add oil to the water — it floats and only stops the sauce from clinging.

Drop the pasta into rapidly boiling water and stir in the first 1–2 minutes — that's when it sticks. Cook it 1–2 minutes less than the pack says: it finishes in the sauce. Proper al dente pasta is tender outside with a springy, slightly firm core.

Before draining, scoop out a mug of the cooking water. That cloudy water is full of starch and salt — a natural emulsifier and thickener.

Move the pasta straight into the pan with the sauce, add 50–100 ml pasta water and toss hard over the heat for 1–2 minutes. The starch binds the fat and liquid into a smooth, glossy emulsion that coats every strand instead of pooling at the bottom of the plate. In Italy this step is called mantecatura.

For 400 g pasta: 800 g canned whole tomatoes (good canned tomatoes beat out-of-season fresh ones), 3–4 tbsp olive oil, 3 garlic cloves, salt, a pinch of sugar if needed, basil.

Warm the oil with crushed or sliced garlic over medium heat for 1–2 minutes — until fragrant and pale gold, but no longer: burnt garlic is bitter. Add the tomatoes crushed by hand, season and simmer uncovered for 15–20 minutes until the sauce thickens and the oil starts to separate at the edges.

Sugar is only needed if the tomatoes are sour — a pinch. Finish with basil leaves and a spoon of butter for silkiness.

Real Roman carbonara is guanciale (cured pork cheek) or pancetta, egg yolks, Pecorino Romano and black pepper. No cream, garlic or onion. The creaminess comes from eggs, cheese and pasta water.

The original Roman Alfredo is just butter, parmesan and pasta water. No cream: that was added later in American restaurants.

For 400 g fettuccine: 100 g good butter, 100 g finely grated parmesan. Melt the butter in a wide pan, add the cooked pasta and 100 ml pasta water. Take off the heat and gradually add the parmesan, tossing hard with tongs. Butter, water and cheese turn into a silky sauce.

Creamy version: warm 200 ml 20–33% cream with the butter, add the parmesan and pasta. It's more stable, but heavier.

Pesto for 400 g pasta: 50 g basil leaves, 30 g pine nuts (lightly toasted), 1 garlic clove, 50 g grated parmesan, 100 ml olive oil, a pinch of salt. Blitz in short pulses or pound in a mortar. To keep pesto bright green, dip the basil in boiling water for 10 seconds, then into iced water, and dry it.

Pesto isn't heated — heat darkens basil. Toss it with the pasta in a bowl with 2–3 tbsp pasta water.

Aglio e olio (garlic and oil) is the simplest pasta in the world: slowly warm 6 thinly sliced garlic cloves in 80 ml olive oil until pale gold, add a pinch of chilli flakes, the pasta, 100 ml pasta water and chopped parsley. Toss until the oil becomes a cloudy emulsion.

Bolognese is a ragù, not quick mince with tomato. It simmers for at least 2 hours, which makes it tender, deep and slightly sweet.

Pasta shapes are chosen so the sauce holds on best.