A local business is helping Athens residents reconnect with the tradition of pasta making.
Pork and Pickles will host a pasta making class Friday at ACEnet, 94 Columbus Road, as part of its Fall Cooking Class Series.
Becky Clark, owner and butcher at Pork and Pickles, said she honed in on her pasta making skills during her time cooking at restaurants. Since then, she has even taught the craft to young kids.
“I've taught pasta rolling to children,” she said in an email. “And every time the parents always say ‘when is the adult class?’ "
Leigh Casal, a change management associate at Ohio University’s finance and administration department, said the owner is a “very talented chef and dear friend,” and she can't wait to learn from her.
Casal’s not planning on attending any other Pork and Pickles cooking classes because of her schedule, but she was interested in the pasta making class.
“I love eating and making homemade pasta, especially with friends,” she said in an email.
Leia Hoeflich, a freshman studying anthropology, said her family only uses boxed pasta when they cook spaghetti or macaroni and cheese in a slow cooker.
She has never made fresh pasta, but thought the process would be interesting because many consumers buy their food products premade.
“I think it’s cool to see how (pasta) is made because I think it’s kind of an art that’s getting lost,” Hoeflich said.
Clark said fresh pasta and boxed pasta can’t even be compared to one another.
Casal said people in other cultures still make fresh pasta, but people don’t focus enough on using their hands to create culinary dishes because they’re further from their roots.
Pasta making is an easy, yet worthwhile skill, she said.
“I grew up making homemade pasta with both of my Italian grandmothers and it’s a skill I will pass down to as many generations as I can,” Casal said in an email.
At the class, Clark said she will teach participants how to make spaghetti, pappardelle and raviolis, but it’s “more about techniques than recipes.” She wants her students to apply what they’re learned with “a variety of recipes and flavor profiles.”
“Students will be taking a meals worth of all three kinds of pasta we make home with them,” she said. “We will also be sitting down to eat pasta at the end of the class.
Casal is not sure how much pasta she would want for the $40 fee, but she’ll gain more from the class than a fancy dinner.
“It’s more about the experience of making pasta, meeting people and sharing a meal,” she said.
mm512815@ohio.edu
