Chefs slam viral 'tomato sauce' pasta dish: 'Wrong and unthinkable'

This woman's pasta recipe has been slammed by chefs. Photo / TikTok

Italians around the world are hanging their heads in disappointment after witnessing the way this woman cooks pasta.

In a TikTok video that has now gone viral, a woman can be seen boiling her pasta in tomato sauce rather than water – and it's left people outraged.

In it, she refers to her method as a "hack" but it has gone on to spark a heated debate on whether it's "brilliant" or just "wrong".

Luciana Sampogna, who runs Cucina Italiana Cooking School in Sydney, told news.com.au it was "absolutely wrong" on the basis that water helps release the starch in the pasta.
"It needs to be light, grab the salt and release the starch," she said.

"Cooking in tomato sauce is simply wrong and it is unthinkable."

She went as far as saying she's never done it and "wish never to do it in my life".

Carmel Ruggeri, who runs Sicilian Food Tours in Sydney, told news.com.au the downside to the method is that it results in more starch in the pasta.

"It still works, it works fine. I have tasted it and eaten myself," she told news.com.au.

"But it only works on a small scale, half a kilo of pasta. I wouldn't do it with more.

"And obviously it's more saucy this way which not everyone agrees with."

The clip shared by user @jasminegiltrow shows a woman pouring a jar of tomato sauce into a pot on the stove.

This woman's pasta recipe has been slammed by chefs. Photo / TikTok

She then adds a dash of water before dumping a handful of uncooked spaghetti to the mix.

As it begins to cook, she then adds meatballs before moving them to a plate.

Some labelled it "genius" while others, particularly Italians, were left furious.

"The Italian in me is shaking at this video," one annoyed man wrote.

"I'm Italian plssss don't do that," wrote another.

"I'm not even Italian but this broke my heart," said another, while a fourth person wrote, "I ain't even Italian and I know this is wrong. Smh."

One person demanded: "If you can't cook pasta properly don't cook it."

The bizarre recipe involves cooking the pasta in tomato sauce. Photo / TikTok

But not everyone saw the problem with the "hack" with one TikTok user asking why "everyone is so mad".

"It looks lush," they said.

"This really isn't that wrong. If she had been adding boiling water while she was cooking then it would've been a risotto-like technique," another person said.

Sampogna added that the best way is to boil the water, add plenty of salt and then add the pasta.

"Stir immediately. Cook until al dente."

In response to the backlash, the woman who shared the controversial TikTok video said it was "supposed to be a joke that the world didn't get".

"I don't actually cook like this."