‘Gas-saving’ cooking causes stir with Italian pasta chefs
IN a nation where cooking pasta is treated with religious reverence, any challenge to the traditional way of doing things is bound to be viewed as controversial – if not downright heretical. So when one of Italy’s biggest pasta makers began telling its customers to ignore what generations of the country’s nonni (grandparents) had taught them, it was as if the Pope had told his flock to ignore one of the central tenets of Catholic dogma.
Italian children, and cooks, are told from an early age that the water in which the pasta is cooked must be kept at a rolling boil, in order to disperse the starch so the dish can be served al dente and not as a glutinous mess.
But Barilla, the pasta company, has told shoppers they can boil the water, turn off the pan after two minutes and put on the lid so that the pasta sits in the hot water until it is cooked.
The Parma-based firm, which makes 160 different types of pasta shapes, is promoting the idea to help its customers save on gas and electricity costs during the energy and climate crisis. It describes the technique, which it calls “passive cooking”, as “an alternative way of cooking pasta that reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80 per cent”. The technique was suggested by Nobel-winning physicist Giorgio Parisi, 74, after he studied old and new methods of cooking. But the energy saving tip has landed its proponents in hot water at home and wherever Italians cook pasta. Gennaro Esposito, one of the country’s most acclaimed chefs, said: “There’s a thousand ways we can cut back on heating costs, from wearing an extra jumper to turning down the central heating. But cooking a plate of pasta is a liturgy. Maccheroni, paccheri and bucatini rehydrate when placed in boiling water and kept there for the right length of time.” Gennaro Contaldo, one of the pioneers of Italian cooking in Britain, said: “I am a traditional chef with ‘old school’ methods. I was sceptical with this new method, but I tried it and it works. “My only point would be to reduce the waiting time by a couple of minutes so it is perfectly al dente. If it means saving CO2 emissions, then I’m all for it.”