La mantecatura is an italian culinary word for the process of marrying sauce with pasta to get a creamy texture. When adding pasta to a sauce in a pan, recipes usually call for extra pasta water to be added. Some pasta water is also brought over along with the pasta.
The starch from the pasta and pasta water help to emulsify the fats and water in a sauce together to create a smooth, creamy, delicious sauce.
This technique is how simple sauces like brown butter sauce or aglio e olio can start with butter or olive oil, but end with creamy sauces.
Having trouble getting a sauce to emulsify? Try these tips:
- Add some more fat
- Add some cheese, but be careful that the pan is not too hot. If cheese gets too hot, it will separate
- Stir the pasta water in the pot before snagging some. This will kick the starch up from the bottom of the pot.
- Vigorously stir your sauce or shake your pan back and forward to toss the pasta in the pan. The friction will help the emulsification.