Michelin starred chef Angela Hartnett has suggested that the British public may be ordering spaghetti bolognese all wrong.
In an episode of On The Dish, the podcast she co-hosts with former Radio 1 presenter Nick Grimshaw, she told Capital presenter Jordan North what would happen if someone ordered spag bol in a restaurant.
Spag bol is the colloquial abbreviation of spaghetti bolognese and whilst Angela, 56, told Jordan, 34, there was nothing inherently wrong with the order, it was the terminology that was the problem.
She explained that in many restaurants, both in Italy and the UK, spaghetti bolognese is not referred to by that term, but instead denominated by the type of pasta used in its cooking.
Angela explained: “Well, I’ve got my own issues on a different level because traditionally, and I think William [Hanson] would back me up hopefully, it’s never spag bol in Italy, it’s always tagliatelle or pappardelle or fettuccine.
“We have you know, anglicised it by using spaghetti. I would never, we would never have spaghetti bolognese on the menu, we would have tagliatelle bolognese or fettuccine.”
Angela is well placed to comment on spaghetti bolognese as the restaurant which she runs is a Michelin-starred venue. In the past she has shared her main pasta related grievances and annoyances on the podcast, much to the surprise of listeners.
Last year she shared alongside Nick and guest Stanley Tucci: “Cream in carbonara is one.” Angela went onto explain a shocking pasta-related act she had witnessed earlier in her career involving cheese.
She said: “I remember when I was at college, someone having pre-grated parmesan in one of those plastic tubs and I was like such a snob. I was like ‘oh my God. And then people pre-cook pasta and refresh it in cold water.”
Angela isn’t the only expert to comment on the dos and don’ts of cooking pasta. Last year, one expert told the Sunday Times that pasta could help someone lose weight if is warmed up after being left to cool down.
Diet expert Giulia Crouch told the publication: “One of my favourite meals is leftover pasta, which I reheat in a pan with oil until some of it goes deliciously crispy. It turns out that as well as being even tastier than the original dish, it’s also better for you.
“Cooking and then cooling pasta changes its structure, turning it into “resistant starch”, which acts like fibre in the body according to a 2020 study. This feeds the good bacteria in our gut. When you reheat the cooled pasta, it becomes even more rich in resistant starch.”
