Tagliatelle

Tagliatelle are long flat ribbons of egg dough, typical of Bologna and Emilia. On 16 April 1972 the Bologna delegation of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina lodged the recipe and the measure with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce: a cooked tagliatella should be 8 mm wide – said to be 1/12,270 of the height of the Asinelli tower – so about 7 mm when raw. Other sources give around 10 mm and a thickness under 1 mm.

Dough of soft 00 flour and eggs (roughly 100 g of flour per egg) is rested and rolled out with a pin; the sheet is left to dry a little, then rolled up and cut with a knife. Fettuccine is the Roman name for a similar, slightly narrower noodle; pappardelle are much wider. Green tagliatelle with spinach are an Emilian classic.

Bolognese tradition serves them with ragù, whose recipe the Accademia lodged in 1982 – not as “spaghetti bolognese”.