Like all of Europe, Italy is in the midst of a debate on the energy crisis and the rise in gas prices. The co-winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics, Giorgio Parisi, 74 years old and multi-awarded for his work on disorder in complex systems, finds himself thrown into this discord.
He wanted to give an unassuming little tip on his Facebook page for anyone looking to lower their gas bills. A simple tip: turn off the heat under the pan to cook the pasta. “As soon as the water comes to a boilhe explains in his post, the pasta is poured in and the gas is immediately lowered to the minimum, which allows to consume as little as possible. You can also completely cut it, the pasta will still cook but, in both cases, don’t forget to leave the lid on the pan. It is he who retains the heat and allows the cooking.“
Giorgio Parisi suggests cooking pasta in hot but not boiling water. Except that, in a country where households eat it every day, what should have remained in the field of the anecdote has taken on an incredible scale. Corriere della Sera to the Repubblicaall the press is talking about it, food critics are getting involved and chefs are tearing themselves apart through the media, some like Antonello Colonna denouncing a dangerous technique “making pasta chewy”and the others like Dario Bressanini confirming that “it is not the boil that makes the cooking, but the temperature of the water”and the lid on the pan.
For five days, the Nobel Prize in Physics has been talked about and he is a little bitter. He would have preferred that we talk about his platform calling on Italian elected officials to tackle the issue of climate change head-on. He would have preferred that we talk about his speech in Parliament, warning about global warming, that of the planet and not of pasta water. Nevertheless, feedback is flourishing, Internet users test cooking fusilli, penne and other spaghetti over low heat, and conclude that yes, the pasta cooks very well when the gas is turned off. It’s not worth a Nobel or the headlines, but it will have put a little physics into the debate.