Greasing the pasta

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

 I have a question for you cookery snob fuckers, especially ECH. You are vehemently against oiling any noodles, I know. But your reasoning - that the sauce will slide off the pasta - doesn't seem to work for me. Is that because I use fat, not oil? I keep a tub of animal fat, rendered every time I roast anything, that I use in place of almost all oils in cooking, including when I need to grease pasta for purposes of running a cafeteria for my children. It seems to make sauce stick more, not slide off.

Opinion on this? Does it make a difference that I use grease, not oil? Don't tell me not to do it, because I won't listen. Nobody is paying me to do this shit and my job is for it to be reasonably presentable, palatable, and versatile enough to work for three little assholes who don't all want the same thing on their noodles, plus one boyfriend who may or may not be late.

[Jasper]

Never tried animal fat.  I will, though.  Next chance I get.  Because as men of science, we have an obligation to test the hypothesis.

My understanding was that oil in the water makes the pasta less flavorful, among other things.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Never tried animal fat.  I will, though.  Next chance I get.  Because as men of science, we have an obligation to test the hypothesis.

My understanding was that oil in the water makes the pasta less flavorful, among other things.

I usually don't oil the water, or if I do it's just a butter knife dipped in to stop it boiling over. But I do grease it after it's cooked.

[Jasper]

Afterwards should be fine, at least in my experience nothing bad happens and everyone likes it.  But then again, my pasta sauces are generally super viscous. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I don't understand how oiling the pasta water makes the pasta less flavorful. I want someone to explain the physics of that to me.

[Jasper]

Er, not the actual pasta.  It's a "nonsticking sauce" contention, you see.

[Nast]

I will meekly state that I don't think either putting oil in the pasta water, or oiling the pasta after cooking makes very much difference. I think the major factor with non-sticking sauce is rinsing the starch off the pasta (which helps the sauce adhere) after it's cooked.

That being said, in Japanese cooking one is supposed to rinse noodles after cooking to improve the texture. If you've ever made soba noodles and found them unpleasantly gummy, that's probably the case.

[Jasper]

The starch?  Interesting, I hadn't considered that as an explanation. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Er, not the actual pasta.  It's a "nonsticking sauce" contention, you see.

Yeah, but I mentioned that in the OP.   I said that it doesn't seem to be a problem to me, and that the grease seems, if anything, to improve sauce stickiness. To clarify, this thread is specifically about the question of whether meat-based grease has different properties on pasta from vegetable oils.

[Nast]

Hm, it would  be my guess that if the pasta is served cold, or coolish room temperature then the meat grease, being a saturated fat, would solidify and therefore improve the cohesiveness of the dish, more than an unsaturated fat like olive oil. Other than that I can't really imagine a difference, but who knows?

It requires science!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Cold pasta? Gross! No, I serve it hot.

[Nast]

Oh, silly me, I was thinking something like pasta salad but then I realized that pasta salad doesn't have a "sauce" in the first place.

Well then I'm stumped.

[East Coast Hustle]

Er, not the actual pasta.  It's a "nonsticking sauce" contention, you see.

Yeah, but I mentioned that in the OP.  I said that it doesn't seem to be a problem to me, and that the grease seems, if anything, to improve sauce stickiness. To clarify, this thread is specifically about the question of whether meat-based grease has different properties on pasta from vegetable oils.

It does not improve sauce stickiness, unless your sauce is for some reason oil-based instead of water-based. If you were using pesto sauce or just tossing it in XVOO and herbs, it wouldn't make any difference but any tomato-based sauce or cream-based sauce or anything else with a water-soluble base is not going to stick as well to oiled noodles. The starches on the surface of the noodles will bond to any water-soluble sauce and that process is made impossible if the noodle has been oiled before tossing in sauce. That's also why the pasta should ideally be tossed with the sauce in a hot pan rather than just piled on a plate and sauce poured on top of it.

But you're not selling it for $20+ a plate so I'd say just keep doing whatever works for you and the kids. The reality is that most people probably don't have a developed enough palate to notice much if any difference, or just don't give a shit as long as they've got something to eat.

[Nast]

I'm content with my feedbag filled with nutritious soybean mash, thankyouverymuch.

[Jasper]

I plan to try using animal fat, just to try it.  I mean, animal fat makes everything better.  Will inform of results when I get around to it.