$8.50 Vs. $30 Pasta

Pasta Dishes and Preparation

The video visits three restaurants serving Japanese, Italian-American, and Mexican-Italian pasta. These are descriptions of the restaurants’ dishes, not complete home recipes; most quantities and exact cooking times are not given.

Pasta Stories — Napolitan

Ingredients mentioned

• Thin spaghetti
• Ketchup mixed with honey, roasted garlic, and a little soy sauce
• Sliced onion, red pepper, and sausage

Method and cues

1. Cook the thin spaghetti until al dente. The chef says thinner pasta lets the sauce soak in.
2. Mix the ketchup-based sauce with the honey, roasted garlic, and soy sauce.
3. Combine with the onion, red pepper, and sausage. The subtitles don’t provide a more detailed cooking sequence.

The restaurant describes Napolitan as a nostalgic Japanese dish. A serving of about 120 g is mentioned, though the conversation doesn’t make completely clear what that amount refers to.

Pasta Stories — Okinawa-Style Pork Ragù

Ingredients and preparation mentioned

• Pork marinated in red wine
• Tomato sauce
• Pasta

The chef says the pork is sautéed after marinating, then added to a large pot with tomato sauce. The video doesn’t specify the cooking time or other ingredients. The dish is served with spaghetti and is described as tender and comparatively light for a ragù.

Sunday Gravy — Short-Rib Ragù with Rigatoni

Ingredients mentioned

• Short rib
• Mirepoix (rendered unclearly in the subtitles)
• A little tomato
• Rigatoni
• Pecorino

Method and cues

1. Cook the short rib with the mirepoix and a little tomato.
2. Let it cook for hours, until the short rib is ready to shred.
3. Serve the ragù with rigatoni and pecorino.

The restaurant describes the dish as a simple, slow-cooked comfort-food ragù. Its garlic bread and Caesar salad are also highlighted, but the video doesn’t provide their full recipes.

Sunday Gravy — Al Limone

Ingredients mentioned

• Bucatini
• Black pepper
• Pasta water
• A touch of cream
• Grana Padano and pecorino
• House-made lemon oil made from lemon peel
• Fresh lemon juice
• Chopped fresh basil
• Serrano peppers

Method and cues

1. Toast the black pepper to bring out its fragrance.
2. Add pasta water to keep the pepper from burning.
3. Add a little cream, then the cheeses and lemon oil. Build the sauce while the pasta cooks.
4. Once the sauce comes together, add fresh lemon juice, chopped basil, and serrano peppers.
5. Combine with the bucatini.

The chefs describe their bucatini as thicker and shorter than typical store-bought pasta, with a hole through the middle and a somewhat flattened shape.

Amiga Amore — Corn Agnolotti

Ingredients mentioned

• Filled pasta dough
• Corn
• House-made cotija-style cheese
• Lime
• Chili
• Brown butter

The restaurant fills the pasta with corn and cheese, then serves it with lime, chili, and brown butter. The subtitles don’t provide quantities or detailed instructions for making the dough or filling.

Amiga Amore — Duck Pasta

Ingredients and preparation mentioned

• Linguini dough flavored with epazote and parsley
• Duck legs marinated with oranges, Coca-Cola, and Peroni beer
• Broccolini
• Duck gravy
• Crispy duck skin

The restaurant began making pasta by hand, then switched to a pasta extruder. The dish features duck cooked in a carnitas-style preparation, with duck gravy, broccolini, and crispy skin. No exact cooking times or temperatures are given. Epazote is described as a strongly herbaceous Mexican herb.

Tips and Serving Notes

• Pasta Stories emphasizes cooking its thin spaghetti al dente and using it to absorb the sauce.
• For the al limone, add pasta water to the toasted pepper to keep it from burning.
• Sunday Gravy’s short-rib ragù relies on a long cook until the meat can be shredded.
• The hosts’ favorite dishes differed: one chose Amiga Amore’s duck pasta, another chose Sunday Gravy, and another chose Pasta Stories’ Okinawa pork pasta.

Presenters and Referenced Sources

The presenters are Andrew, Steven, and Adam, from the channel Andrew, Steven, and Adam. The restaurants featured are Pasta Stories, Sunday Gravy, and Amiga Amore. Interviewees include Pasta Stories owner Josh and chef Ashley, Sunday Gravy co-owners Saul and Gazi, and Amiga Amore’s Danielle and Alejandro.