Jason Perlow

The pasta water contains starches which are helpful for allowing sauce to stick to pasta. Which is why you should never, ever wash your pasta after it has been transferred to the colander because all those starches are on the surface of the pasta. Sometimes I reserve some, sometimes I dont. Usually just the pasta being unwashed itself leaves more than enough starch for the sauce to cling just right.

Alright Michael.. Touche. Its getting way too icy in here.

Really? was he like that early on in his fame?

The amount of water, heat of the water and the oil/no oil thing I think is up for debate. I use somewhat less than six quarts of water to 1lb of pasta -- and it never sticks. I presume this is the oil, but I am sure someone has some snotty food science explanation of why its not needed :) I do it because Mrs. Ventemiglia, a nice 75 year old lady from Siclily, who first taught me how to make sauce from scratch told me to do it that way some 15 years ago. Whenever I make pasta I think of her. My pasta never sticks. Ever. :) As to the stirring... yeah, once or twice for good measure.

Okay you have a point about frozen ravioli. But no way in #### should a box of barilla spaghetti /penne /rigatoni take that long. Firstly if you are only cooking for 1 or 2 people you dont need a huge pasta pot, thats for restaurants dude. If I am just cooking for rachel and myself a 6 quart pot will do fine. You'll need to break the sphagetti in half or push it down to get it in there, but it will work -- which is why I prefer penne or ziti or radiatore or other compact pasta shape for this purpose. First fill the pot with hot water -- it should not be cold. Next you want to salt the water and add a little olive oil to prevent sticking (a lot of chefs say you dont need to do this, but a little old lady that taught me how to cook pasta properly did it, and I still do it out of respect). Boil the sucker with the pot covered and slightly ajar, it should happen in like 5 minutes or less, especially with your big-ass DCS 14K burners. Throw the pasta in. Throw the lid back on. Come back in 5 minutes. Stir it up. Taste a peice of pasta. If still a little hard, give it another minute, it should be slightly underdone. Throw the pasta into the colander in the sink and let it sit there. Dont rinse it. With the same pot, and dont bother to wipe it down, throw in your pre-prepared sauce, or chop your canned tomatoes, throw in the garlic/olive oil/, heat it up good for 5 mins, then toss in the pasta. Add fresh basil, cheese, etc. Kill the heat and plate. Entire procedure -- 15 / 20 minutes tops. Here's another real simple dish that I make for myself when I am hungry late at night, ate it all the time in college. The recipe uses a pot and a pan, but I've done it with just one pot, transferring the pasta into the colander, doing a quick wipedown with a paper towel and making the sauce in the pot the pasta was in. I also add a pat of butter to this when the sauce is done. SPAGHETTI AIO OIO 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced, or more to taste 1/2 a dried red pepper, crumbled, or more to taste (don't overdo it) 1/4 cup plus two tablespoons good olive oil 1 pound spaghetti Grated Parmigiano Bring 6 quarts of lightly salted water to a boil and add the spaghetti. Meanwhile, mince the garlic, crumble the red pepper, and sauté them in the oil until the garlic begins to brown. Turn off the heat (the garlic will continue to brown; you don't want it to overbrown and become bitter). When the spaghetti are done, drain them well, transfer them to a bowl, and stir the sauce into them. Serve with grated Parmigiano or Grana Padano on the side; I've also used Romano as well.

How long does it take you all, from start to finish (from the time you pull the first pot down from the rack and start filling it with water to the time you have pasta on the table), to make pasta and marinara? It takes me about 35-40 minutes 25 minutes tops, even when making a quick homemade sauce out of canned tomatoes. Your pot is too #### big Shaw. :)

Also, what does Fat Guy's homemade sauce entail? I mean, smash a clove of garlic, toss it in a skillet with some olive oil, pour in a can of diced tomatoes, and boil it for ten minutes. That's called sauce in my house. It was 10:00 at night and he didnt even have the energy to do that. He gets totally immobilized and kvetchy, you know.

Since leaving the Morristown area, I've been craving for a place in Bergen County where they make home made peirogis. I cant seem to find a place. In Cedar Knolls, theres a Ukranian church on RT 10 that makes incredible pirogi as well as kielbasa and donuts during the holiday months on the weekends made by little old ladies in the church kitchen -- you gotta get there real early, before noon to be able to get some, because they run out quick.

a few nights ago Fat Guy was bellyaching tme over instant messenger that all he had in house was a bag of frozen ravioli, but as it was late he didnt feel like going through the hassle of making his own sauce -- and adding that he never bought jarred sauces. I quickly chided him for being such a prima donna, and that some brands were good and not just sugary concoctions resembling ketchup. There are times when boiling up some pasta and quickly heating up some sauce without major additional preparation can be a satisfying meal. The other end of the spectrum however reveals jarred sauces in the 8 bucks a jar and over microbrew sauce category (such as Rao's, Patsy's, etc) which arent quite worth the money although they do taste very good. Rachel told me after her experience working for Lipton that 5 Brothers is actually a decent sauce since apparently, unlike its brother Ragu, is made in 1 day from a process of reducing fresh tomatoes to sauce, whereas ragu is made from paste. And its fairly cheap. Anyone else got brand recommendations?

The Food Network recently had a show all about an extra virgin olive oil from sicily, Ravida, thats been getting a lot of awards of late. Anyone try this stuff? Its like ำ a bottle! http://www.demedici.com/Products/Ravida/default.htm O&CO in NYC seems to have their own 16oz pacakges of this for ศ http://usa.oliviersandco.com/browse.cfm/4,479,1,8,41.html

As if you'd want to drink Dom Perignon anyway. Yeech. Give me Bollinger or Pol Roger anyday over that stuff.

Albert Einstein, Howard Hughes, Gene Roddenberry, and Jimi Hendrix.

Please explain, I never went to university, I was working in a coal mine at the age of 12. Thats like, an english joke right?

Its not generally used as the primary alcohol in any mixed drink -- usually a half a shot of it is used to supplement other things, or to be ignited on fire when floated on top of a fruity punch. Small amounts of it added to fruit juices is good. Overproof rum is revered in certain cultures like Jamaica for medicinal purposes and such. But I'm not particularly crazy about it.

Jtracey: Fresh mozzerella can be found at Esposito's on RT 10 in East Hanover, near the Fedex complex. They've also got a nice selection of salamis, olive oils, olives, cheeses, etc.

I must say, if this is as uncivil as it gets on this site, I'll be very happy indeed...

Rail: Maxims isnt bad but for some reason theres an odor in that place I cant stand. Have you checked out Kam Man Food on RT 10 in East Hanover, which is in the shopping plaza also that has the great malaysian restaurant Penang? Kam Man is bigger if not better than Maxims and I think their produce is just as good if not better, IMHO...

Jayrayner: Just so that you understand, its not the policy of this board to condone abuse of ANYONE, let alone professional food writers such as yourself. However, because we are a "free speech" site, we can't and will not censure our users or alter their posts, even if its "flamebait" material. The only things we can and will delete from the site is obscene and hateful material and blatant commercial spam. LML has his reasons for choosing this particular fight, obviously. I guess he just doesn't like you. It happens :) Still, I hope you don't feel dissuaded from participating on and using our site, as we greatly appreciate it and are flattered when professional writers come on here and share their thoughts with us. I know you had some bad experiences on another board -- as did many of our current users, so I hope you take this gesture as a breaking of the bread, so to speak. And while we are on the subject, since Fat Guy will not ask for it directly, I WILL. Guys, lets keep the discussion civil, even if you don't agree with someone, thanks. None of this, of course, applies to Andy. You can beat the living daylights out of him verbally as much as you please :)

Theres a good Rodizio place in lauderdale off US 1 called Brasil Brasil.<p>My favorite crab spot is the Rustic Inn (http://www.crabhouse.com). Go here for garlic blue crabs. For ice cream/dessert be sure to check out Jaxsons in Dania. This is Rachel's post on CH about Lauderdale, although I heard Billy's is closed at this time of year -- youre at the tail end of stone crab season but there still should be plenty. http://www.chowhound.com/south/boards/flor...sages/2053.html Also Alpine Village in Lauderdale for good German http://www.chowhound.com/south/boards/flor...sages/2054.html for Breakfast, The Original Pancake House on Lauderdale also on US 1. Also, if you are willing to schlep down to Miami, you MUST go to Versailles on Calle Ocho for Cuban food. 3555 SW 8th St, on the corner 36th Ave.

I love the peice where Jay takes his kids out to eat. Hillarious!

Shame to hear about Harolds. Its been a while since we were last there so its possible things went downhill.

Jay: Thanks for joining up! Its always a huge compliment to know that professional food writers like yourself utilise us for research and whatnot... and we have some of the best international boards anywhere. Please feel welcome here, theres no need to be shy.

Interestingly enough I had to preserve several pounds of basil recently -- last weeked we had gotten a frost scare and had to pick all the remaining vegetables and herbs from our garden -- among it was two grocery bags filled to the brim with italian basil. So, I proceeded to take all the leaves off, wash them in the salad spinner, and throw them in the blender with some olive oil. I left out the cheese and pignoli, so that I had the option of turning it into pesto later. I froze the mixture into ice cube trays, so now I have it for use in pastas, sauces, etc.

Actually wasnt rum originally from Barbados? EDIT: Cane was first imported into Barbados from New Guinea ... where the first "Rum" was made. Not sure about your cane drink though.

I sadly admit that I am not much of a Beer drinker casually when I am by myself. To me, drinking beer is a social thing -- I'll drink it when out to dinner or lunch with friends when eating certain cuisines (like Thai or Dim Sum -- its usually de rigeur for me to have a Singha or a Tsingtao then). I also buy beer when doing the beverage runs for summer barbeques, but usually at those times I am more of a cider person. If I'm out with the guys having dinner it will be beer. I do have one exception though -- Japanese food. I really like ordering a Kirin Ichiban with a bottle of sake and doing "sakebombers", especially with friends. Repeat as necessary. Most of the time if I am pouring myself a drink at home its going to be a rum or bourbon on the rocks or a brandy served neat. When having dinner with my wife its almost always wine.