Hello, this is OLIO.
This time, we would like to introduce Tomomi Ogura, owner and chef of the Michelin one-star Italian restaurant “Regalo”, who has posted a video on his YouTube channel “Tomomi Ogura’s Italian Professional Training Course” on 2023/02/05, titled “Why Regalo uses garofalo pasta with “Calletierra”, an arrabbiata arrangement from a one-star Italian restaurant”.
The second half of the article, “Why Regalo uses Garofalo’s pasta and “Calletierra”, a 1-star Italian restaurant’s arrabbiata arrangement [Italian Professional Training Course vol.63]”, was published on his YouTube channel “Tomomi Ogura’s Italian Professional Training Course” on February 5, 2023.
I would like to summarize the second half of this article as a memorandum.
If you are interested in learning more about Italian cuisine, this is one of the best channels to subscribe to, so be sure to subscribe!
About the content of this video
This video is a tie-up video with Meidi-ya, to which Chef Tomomi Ogura has been sending love calls for some time. The first half of the video introduces a recipe for “Calletierra,” an arrabbiata arrangement, and the second half features Ogura talking about why he uses Garofalo pasta.
Garofalo is a popular pasta series from Meidi-ya that has many loyal users. In this article, we hope to summarize Tomomi Ogura’s perspective on why Garofalo is so popular and why it is used by professionals.
The main story: Why use Garofalo pasta?
The following is a story by Tomomi Ogura↓
――Finally, Meidi-ya responded to our love call…but if you ask me why we don’t use it because Meidi-ya doesn’t come to us, well, that’s not the case.
I will keep using it even if you don’t come, and I will keep introducing it to you forever, but I will say again why I am using it.
Why use Garofalo?
In Japan, we have soft water, so the surface of the noodle becomes rough when it is boiled.
I think that everyone adds Contrex (ultra-hard water) or something similar to hard water to boil pasta to make it juicy and juicy.
To be honest, I’m a very lazy person, and it’s quite a hassle to do it every time.
But if the boiling time is too short, the pasta is too thin, and if the boiling time is too long, the pasta becomes rough and blurred around the edges.
Of course, if you use a very thick pasta, it will have a chewy texture like handmade pasta, which I think is very local.
But when it comes to pasta that suits the Japanese palate, Japanese people like thin noodles, and this is the only pasta I can think of that has bronze dice, is coarse, and cooks in just the right amount of time.
I usually use this 1.5mm.
It has an irregularity, and I use it from 4 minutes 50 seconds to 5 minutes 30 seconds, depending on the pasta sauce. I got a very sharp comment from a student, “Why do you have to use Garofalo when it is so uneven?
There are many pasta sauces with Teflon dice, such as Company B and Company D. I don’t dislike them, of course, but that’s just the way it is. I don’t dislike them, of course I use them.
Teflon dice are too constant in boiling time, and I get tired of eating them. I get bored with handmade pasta, too, when the texture of thick pasta stays the same for a long time.
I think noodles are tasty because they stretch.
I like it when the noodles are hard at first, but as you eat more and more of them, they become al dente.
It’s true that there is unevenness, but to be honest, all of Bronze Dice’s pastas are uneven. You just don’t notice it. I think the one that fits best among them is Garofalo.
Of course, I don’t dislike the bronze dice from Company B, but they are too thin, too delicate, and I feel like they can’t withstand the heat of a frying pan.
Garofalo Product Lineup
So today, this plus a little introduction.
Garofalo 1.9mm
1.9mm 12 minutes boiling. 12 minutes boiling, there are times when I use two different companies, and to be honest, if the boiling time is too long, the cross section becomes too rough, and Garofalo has a nice al dente texture at the end.
So 1.9mm is recommended for such a rich sauce. The longer boiling time gives it a rougher cross-section and makes the sauce entwine with the sauce so much better.
Garofalo 1.7mm
So, 1.7mm, this is the one that says, “I want to make three or four servings, what should I do?”
The answer is this 1.7mm.
The 1.7mm cooks for 9 to 8 minutes and 30 seconds, but it cooks for 2 to 3 minutes longer than the 1.5mm, so it stays al dente for a much longer time.
If you have a party and want thin spaghetti, but don’t want to cook a lot of spaghetti for everyone to eat, you should definitely use 1.7mm pasta.
This one is just perfect. I use it sometimes. I think that 1.7mm or 1.9mm is surprisingly good for amatriciana, for example, when you don’t want to finish eating it quickly.
Garofalo linguine
And there were already a few different kinds. There was fusilli and many other things, but two of the most outstanding ones were probably linguine and fettuccine.
Linguine is good to use for Genovese, of course, but if you compare them, the more you boil it, the chewier it becomes, but the Garofalo has a sharpness or al dente texture that remains right to the end.
Boiling for 11 minutes and 30 seconds to 12 minutes is probably just right.
And the linguine is very consistent. I wonder why it’s not shaky. I think maybe it’s because it’s not as popular as spaghetti.
I think it’s because…spaghettini is popular in Japan. In Italy, the slightly thicker ones are more popular.
The mold has a rough surface inside, and the spaghetti is pressed out of it.
But if the inside is rough, the resistance value is high as it is pushed out more and more, the mold probably breaks, and the lot changes the moment a new mold is attached.
I think that the boiling time is quite stable.
Garofalo fettuccine
Fettuccine is also stable, but the boiling time is probably 14 or 13 minutes.
To be honest, if you are not confident about making fettuccine by hand, this fettuccine is fine. If you are not confident about making it by hand, I think this fettuccine is fine.
If you want to make handmade pasta and use pasta that cooks unevenly and becomes powdery, or pasta that is so soft that it loses out to the sauce, you might as well just give up making handmade pasta and use Garofalo’s Fettuccine.
Fettuccine and linguine look almost the same, but they are slightly wider and have a stronger handmade shape. If you want to use fettuccine with a strong sauce, such as Bolognese or creamy companna, please use fettuccine. It really does taste very professional.
――
Summary of why Chef Tomomi Ogura uses Garofalo pasta.
That was a very rich introduction to Garofalo…!
To sum it up in my own way…
Chef Ogura’s favorite Garofalo 1.5mm has a good balance of bronze dice, just the right amount of boiling time, and al dente progression that keeps you from getting bored during the meal, all of which are appealing to Japanese tastes for thin noodles.
He also recommended 1.7mm, 1.9mm, Linguine & Fettuccine because of their bronze dice and still remaining al dente sharpness.
Incidentally, at the end of the video, there was a scene where he was talking with a Meidi-ya representative about the origin of the name “Garofalo,” and it seems that “Garofalo” is a name taken from a person’s last name. (The developer’s name?)
