Andrew Carmellini, the former chef at A Voce, is also the author of a new book, Urban Italian. Here, he demonstrates the proper way to sauce pasta. Who knew that starch and fat are so crucial to a good bowl of pasta?!

As it turns out, taking pasta out of the water and putting on plate, then saucing is wrong; rinsing the cooked pasta with cold water is wrong; dumping the water is wrong! Starch makes pasta shinier and silkier, so the water the pasta is cooked in becomes a key ingredient in this awesome cooking technique.

Here’s how you really cook and sauce pasta:

Take the hot pasta out of the water and put in inside a pot with hot sauce.
Cook the pasta and sauce together for one minute, so the pasta absorbs the sauce and becomes more like a stew.
Add a spoonful of the starchy water back into sauce for a yummy flavor.
Turn the heat off and add your butter, water and cheese.
Add fresh herbs at end and mix them in, instead of sprinkling on top.
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