15 Life-Changing Cooking Secrets You Can Learn From Italians

Contrary to popular belief, you should not add olive oil to pasta water. It doesn't in fact keep the pasta from sticking (stirring every so often will do the trick), and it can prevent the cooked pasta from clinging to its sauce if the pasta water is too slick.

Adding crunchy texture to pasta in Italy is a common way to make the dish more interesting. Here, an artichoke ravioli is topped with flash-fried, thinly sliced sunchokes, which are the perfect match for the pillowy and rich pockets of pasta. You could add similar texture with a number of toppings, like toasted pine nuts or cheesy breadcrumbs.

Ever had chocolate salami? It's one of the best things I tried in Italy, and no, it's not made of actual meat. The traditional Italian and Portugese dessert is named after its resemblance to salami, and it's made with melted chocolate, crushed biscotti, butter, and nuts. Sometimes alcohol, like cognac or amaretto liqueur, is added to the mix. The final product tastes like brownie batter, and each smooth bite melts in your mouth. The next time you're serving up a cheese and meat platter for a crowd, I'd highly recommend adding chocolate salami for dessert.

One of the biggest things Americans get wrong about pasta is not only how much sauce should be added to pasta, but also how to incorporate the sauce into the pasta. Penne or spaghetti should never sit on the plate with a big dollop of red sauce on top of it. You want to toss all of the pasta with all of the sauce while it's still on a warm stove so that every nook and cranny of the pasta gets coated and the flavors marry.

Americans tend to go overboard on the sauce, and especially the jarred sauce. Rule number one is always make your own tomato sauce, and rule number two is to remember that less is more. For example, ragu and bolognese sauce typically go with thick-cut pasta like pappardelle. In Italy, you won't find the pasta completely drenched in the sauce; instead, the sauce complements the pasta without overwhelming it.

It's true that cooking pasta al dente is the proper way to cook it, meaning it's not completely softened and has a slight bite to it. This typically means cooking it for one minute less than the package instructions say, but Italians claim that there's not one perfect way to do it.

According to Giovanni Rana, the Italian founder of the fresh-pasta company, "A big issue in the US is whether to cook pasta al dente or not. In Italy, there's not only one cooking style — al dente is not the Italian way. In the South, like Rome, they like the 'soul' inside . . . still a little crunchy and white inside. Northern Italy, including Verona, likes it a little more soft."

An authentic Italian alfredo recipe won't call for any milk or cream. Instead, it will instruct you to make a creamy, rich alfredo sauce with just butter, parmesan cheese, pasta water, salt, and pepper. And once you try the recipe, you'll never go back to your old ways. Italians would never richen their alfredo with heavy cream or milk because it's not traditional, and it's certainly not necessary.

When it comes to making fresh pasta from scratch, the key is to get the dough as thin as possible (without it falling apart). You want the filling to shine, and you don't want to bite into a thick piece of dough that's hard to chew. A rule of thumb in Italy is you should be able to read a newspaper through the transparent dough. According to Giovanni Rana, the ideal thickness is between 0.2 and 0.4 millimeters.

While we might start a party with a toast, Italians really know how to get a dinner party started: by cracking open a whole wheel of parmesan cheese. Preshredded cheese pales in comparison, and if you're a serious parmesan connoisseur, it might be worth the cost and effort for a special occasion.

It's quite the splurge at roughly $2,500, but if it's something your heart truly desires — you can even serve pasta in the parmesan wheel like Chrissy Teigen — you might be able to justify the price.

Deep-fried Nutella ravioli is a thing, and it's beyond good. And that's not the only way to make ravioli dessert-friendly — you can stuff ravioli with figs or dates, or simply top fried ravioli dough with powdered sugar. If you don't want to make it from scratch, you can use wonton wrappers as a shortcut.

One of the best and spiciest tomato sauces I had in Italy had a secret ingredient I'd never expect: hot salami. It melted so smoothly into the sauce that I would have never guessed. If you tend to go heavy on the red pepper flakes, you'll love a spicy salami tomato sauce even more. The trick is to cut the meat into strips and render the fat in a skillet with olive oil before adding tomato sauce, so the spicy flavors have a chance to infuse every bit of sauce.

The key to the best wine pairings is to think about the sweetness of the wine and how that will complement the food. One of the most interesting and distinctly sweet wines I tried in Verona was a red wine called Amarone, which was paired with a rabbit ragu. For something a little darker and more bitter, like Cabernet, go with a richer food like meatballs or steak.

Your home-cooked meals are only as good as the ingredients you put in them, and that's especially true for things like pasta. Use only the freshest eggs — farm-fresh eggs with a vibrant orange color are best — and make sure you're buying high-quality flour. You'll be able to taste the difference.

It's easy to make fresh pasta without a pasta maker, as long as you're working on the right surface. You should make homemade pasta on one of three surfaces (wood, marble, or stainless steel) for the best results. You'll be able to roll out the dough seamlessly without worrying about an uneven or sticky surface.

The beauty of pasta is that it's the definition of a blank canvas: you can add just about anything to it, and it'll turn out great. The biggest lesson I learned from Giovanni Rana is that, in his words, "The kitchen is the land of freedom. Everything can happen. It's pure imagination." And it's true! You shouldn't take Italian cooking too seriously and be afraid to experiment with your own personality. The dish pictured here is prosciutto tortellini with sauteed shrimp, cherry tomatoes, capers, lemon, and thyme. If you prefer basil, switch it up. Scallops instead of shrimp? Just as delicious. No tomatoes? No problem. Once you start getting creative with pasta toppings, you'll never get bored of the same routine.

Travel and expenses for the author and photographer were provided by Giovanni Rana for the purpose of writing this story.