NEVER change grandma's recipe - EVER.

[Torch&Tone]

Every time I ask for a restaurant suggestion for a certain dish in Italy, the answer inevitably starts with "Well, of course, my nonna makes the best, but..."

Making my own pasta was one of the first kitchen skills that I developed (talk about low-risk/high-reward!) and, man, did it help me out, both feeding myself and romantically! My cacio e pepe and amatriciana are fairly dialed in, still improving my carbonara, and there will never be an end to my stuffed pasta experiments.

Ethan Chlebowski makes some good videos, and did a San Marzano taste test, as has ForkingTasty. I recommend them not as straight-up take-their-rec's but as examples of how to do your own tasting/ranking.

Yes, Italian versus Italian-American is a hugely important distinction to make, but more than a few Italians get just as worked up over geographical differences within Italy (after all, it only became a 'unified' country in the 1860's).

 

[noboundaries]

Dan, I feel your pain. My wife can cook and bake as long as she has a recipe. I've seen her improvise maybe twice in 46 years together.

I taught myself to cook after force-eating uni food my freshman year. I had my mom write her recipes on computer punch cards. I've think I've still got 'em up in the attic somewhere. I also bought a Fanny Farmer cookbook which I still have.

Then the engineer and the Italian in me said, "I can improve on this." Been doing it ever since.

Oh, and if anyone has a young man about to go to college or university, make sure he knows how to cook. The only thing more effective than wearing a uniform is telling a young lady, "Let me make you dinner." Trust me.