Food Notes: 2/11

Nduja Vodka sauce, pickle soup, tacos, and more

We made a vodka sauce using ‘Nduja. I say we because I concepted it, but my wife executed it. She’s been making a variation of vodka sauce, loosely inspired by Carbone’s, for the last few years which has become our go-to. I make a more traditional vodka sauce, closer to the 1960s original, but that wasn’t quite right for adding ‘nduja.

Regular readers might remember back in January when we cooked up a farfalle with ‘Nduja and broccoli rabe. That’s a great way of celebrating the unadulterated flavor of ‘nduja. Most vodka sauces have pancetta or bacon in the base, but in this case, the ‘nduja replaces the salted pork.

The end result was a deep red sauce, less pink and less orange than typical vodka sauces, and a lot more spicy. We used big fat rigatoni which our three-year-old then wore as finger extensions. (Bruno Rigatoni Hands did not eat the sauce).

‘Nduja vodka sauce feels like it has strayed far enough from the original that it deserves its own name, some way of distinguishing it from vodka sauce that has become so common today.

There are a few conventions to consider. Armando Mei, chef and owner of Fontana di Trevi in New York City, and inventor of the original vodka sauce in the 1960s, called his dish Penne alla Vodka. The “alla” signals “in the style of.” Rigatoni alla ‘nduja and vodka though doesn’t sound quite right.

Another version by Luigi Franzese at Orsini’s restaurant in 1979 was known as penne alla Russia. The Russian style was the addition of the vodka, despite the fact that Russians had not heard of pasta alla vodka at that time.

“In the style of” is a very common naming convention though. “Alla Napolitana” and “alla Siciliana” were common ways of describing basic tomato sauce, and “alla bolognese,” a meat-filled pasta sauce, each in the style of the given region, Naples, Sicily, and Bologna respectively. Following that tradition, we could call this ‘nduja and vodka sauce an “alla Brooklyn” or “alla East Williamsburg,” neither of which exist as far as I know.

We could simplify to the basic construction to pasta ‘nduja e vodka. The problem with this name convention is other dishes like cacio e pepe and aglio e olio are two-ingredient sauces. ‘Nudja e vodka contains cream, onions, and tomatoes, and would be far too complicated for such a simple naming convention.

There are some names for pasta dishes like arrabbiata, meaning “angry sauce.” That makes me think we could name it something like pasta alla ubriaca e speziata, “drunk and spicy.” (There’s already Spaghetti All'Ubriaco, drunken noodles made with red wine, butter, and garlic). Still, ubriaca e speziata is a bit of a tongue twister.

Of course we could always go with a profession, a sauce named for a type of worker. These are more common than you might think, like pasta alla carrettiera (coachman) or pasta alla scarpariello (shoemaker). Even spaghetti alla Carbonara is technically named for charcoal makers, even if they have nothing to do with the origin of the sauce. We could call it pasta alla scrittrice, the writer’s sauce? However, as I mentioned in the first line, my wife executed this sauce based on her vodka sauce recipe, so perhaps pasta alla pubblicista, the sauce in the style of the publicist, would be more apt?

I suppose only time will tell whether one of these names sticks.

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