Aglio e olio is as simple as pasta sauce gets. Oil and garlic is the base for almost every Italian pasta sauce; it is pasta sauce in its primal form. But how does oil and garlic even make pasta sauce? How can you get it to coat and stick to your pasta like most cream based and tomato based sauces do? The answer is simple, and it's a process that Sonny applies in his video very well: Emulsification. Unfamiliar? Chances are, you've encountered or even eaten emulsified foods before. Mayonnaise and vinaigrettes being the most common products of emulsion.
It's not an exaggeration to say that knowing that oil and water don't mix is common knowledge. These two types of molecules don't get along with each other, and needs a third ingredient to bind: an emulsifier. In this case, the starch in the pasta water acts as a binding agent and thickener. With the oil, garlic, and water together, you get a smooth, silky, and fine pasta sauce. Moral lesson here is: never throw out your pasta water!
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