Photo/Illutration Unbeatable peperoncini (Photo by Yoshimi Karo)

Editor’s note: In the Taste of Life series, cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.

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It’s an unusual way to prepare pasta. You boil it so that it becomes overly salty, then rinse it in hot water to remove the salt.

This is how chef Masayuki Okuda does it. He wrote about the method in his book “Yuderon” (Theory on boiling).

In 2022, the book won awards in two categories of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, which some regard as the Academy Awards for cookbooks.

If the pasta is boiled in hot, salty water with a salinity of at least 2.5 percent, it turns out shiny and smooth on the tongue. It is springy and elastic, and has a bouncy, popping texture.

Okuda discovered this about 30 years ago at an unpleasant lunch. You might say that he had too much on his plate that day.

He was working at a farm restaurant in Yamagata Prefecture. His past and curry had become popular, and the owner had added seats, increasing diner capacity from 24 to 72.

Yet Okuda, then in his late 20s, was the only cook. Moreover, the kitchen was fitted with only three domestic-style gas burners.

The orders streamed in. Okuda kept trying to heat the pasta, but it wouldn’t boil. The pasta became sticky. He added salt since the noodles become shiny and smooth this way, but then the noodles tasted salty.

Half giving up, he decided to rinse the noodles. He dipped them in hot water before mixing them with the sauce. He found that the washed noodles had the ideal flavor and texture.

Okuda experimented with the concentration of salt. He decided that a salinity between 2.5 and 2.7 percent was best.

Later, this was verified. A TV science program showed that the elasticity of pasta increases when boiled in hot water with high salinity.

Okuda went on to demonstrate this boiling method at a pasta manufacturer’s headquarters in Italy.

He says the pasta flavor partners well with an oil-based sauce.

Whenever Okuda runs a pasta workshop in Japan, he likes to compare the taste of his peperoncini with that of other cooks or members of the audience. Okuda has won 723 times out of 724 when the audience was asked to judge.

The contest ended in a draw only once, when he competed against a staffer of his own restaurant.

Meanwhile, it is also important to keep the temperature of the sauce at no more than 90 degrees and keep it from emulsifying. The garlic and chili pepper flavors will remain, and the texture of the pasta will be retained.

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Masayuki Okuda (Photo by Yoshimi Karo)

Masayuki Okuda owns Italian restaurant Al che-cciano, which he opened in 2000. In 2023, he was awarded a Terroir Award by the French restaurant guide Gault&Millau Japan 2023.

BASIC COOKING METHOD

Ingredients (serves 1)

100 grams fedelini pasta, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 clove garlic (thinly sliced), 1/2 pod red chili pepper (sliced 2-mm thick) to taste, 1 tbsp chopped Italian parsley, 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1. Bring 1.5 liters water to a boil, add 37.5 grams of salt. Boil the pasta. At the same time, boil a generous amount of water in another pot.

2. Add olive oil and garlic to frying pan and cook on medium heat. Add red chili pepper to taste. When the garlic begins to color, and when the chili pepper becomes a vivid red, drain using a sieve to remove the oil.

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Transfer the aroma of garlic and red chili pepper to the oil. (Photo by Yoshimi Karo)

3. Move this oil to a bowl and add Italian parsley. Wait for it to cool to 90 degrees or less.

4. When the pasta is al dente, remove it and dip it in the second pot of boiling water. Leave it until the desired saltiness is reached. Add to (3). Mix three or four times to coat with oil and serve.

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The cooked pasta is dipped in hot water until the desired saltiness is reached. (Photo by Yoshimi Karo)

5. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil in a circular motion and top with the garlic and chili pepper from (2).

Each portion contains about 645 kcal and 3.3 grams salt, calculated by the Nutrition Clinic of Kagawa Nutrition University.

SHORT MEMOS

Fedelini is a thin, long pasta. It goes well with an oil-based sauce.

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From The Asahi Shimbun’s Jinsei Reshipi (Life Recipe) column

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