The Best Type Of Sauce To Pair With Linguine

Linguine isn't taking home any prizes for being the most unique pasta shape, but that doesn't mean you can't be using it wrong. To make the most of your linguini, what's the best sauce to use? To find out, The Takeout spoke to Joe Isidori, Michelin-starred chef and restaurateur who draws on his Italian-American heritage at Arthur and Sons, an old-school eatery with locations throughout New York City. 

"Linguine is best with seafood-based sauces," Isidori told The Takeout. "White clam sauce or shrimp fra diavolo are perfect because the slightly flat, ribbon-like shape of linguine holds onto the delicate, briny flavors without overwhelming them." He went on to explain that the light, briny sauce pairs perfectly with lanky linguine. "Lighter olive oil-based sauces, garlic, white wine, and seafood are a match made in heaven with linguine." 

As versatile as linguine looks, it isn't a one-size-fits-all. "Thick, heavy meat sauces — like a hearty Bolognese — don't work as well because they need a pasta shape with more structure, like pappardelle or rigatoni, to really hold up to the weight," Isidori said. You can add that to your list of Italian pasta cooking hacks.

As Isidori explained, what pasta you pick can make or break a dish. "It all depends on shape, size, and texture," he said. "Certain pasta shapes are designed to hold onto certain types of sauces. Smooth, long pasta like spaghetti and linguine are great for light, oil-based, or seafood sauces, while ridged pasta like rigatoni or penne are perfect for hearty, chunky sauces since they catch all that goodness in their grooves." 

Isidori didn't touch on the merits of fresh pasta versus dried. That said, there is a simple rule you should follow when shopping for pasta. No matter what style of pasta you choose, check the box for the words "bronze drawn." Many modern pasta producers coat their dies (the devices used for extruding pasta) with Teflon. Pasta drawn through Teflon-coated dies is smooth and shiny, which (counterintuitively) isn't ideal. Sauces slip right off Teflon-drawn pasta. Bronze dies are less precise and more traditional; they produce little nooks and crannies where the sauce can settle in.