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How to Make the Best Traditional Pesto
In American Recipes

How to Make the Best Traditional Pesto



The best method to get the most flavorful pesto.

FULL STORY: https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/07/how-to-make-the-best-pesto.html

I’d be willing to wager that every summer when people make pesto with fresh basil that they probably are using a food processor at the end of the day I think the best pesto is made in a mortar and pestle there’s a difference between the spinning action of a blade and a

Food processor which chops everything up and a pestle which smashes the cells it actually breaks the cells open in your basil and your garlic and that releases the flavor and the aroma more this more in pestle comes straight from Italy it is a marble mortar mortar as the bowl

And this is an olive wood pestle and it’s got a really nice broad head to the pestle which is going to help us crush these basil leaves more effectively than a pestle that’s very narrow so here’s my garlic this is a huge clove so I’m just

Using one give it a couple solid wax and already not a pace yet but already very broken down in go our pine nuts and I’m just gonna start tapping them my pine nuts I do not toast some recipes call for toasting I tested it side-by-side and in my test I found that

Most people couldn’t tell the difference between toasted and untoasted pine nuts in the pesto so I just skip it now that I’ve broken it down into a rough paste this grinding motion is going to help me take it the rest of the way so now it’s

Time to add our basil and this is the most time-consuming part because breaking down the basil leaves is not the easiest thing to do and a little bit of coarse sea salt which is going to act as an abrasive I’m in a cloud of pesto aroma right now it’s pretty magical it’s

Work to do this you kind of have to suck up for good parts start adding more basil a little more salt for grinding Once I’ve broken down my basil enough I start to switch to more of a swirling motion to grind the little bits up more there’s a bit of creaminess forming I still have a fair amount of breaking down to do of the basil leaves this is the mortar and pestle equivalent of

Scraping the food processor Bowl we should all just elect to do this to get some exercise this is what we want this is really the goal so aromatic already I have this beautiful creamy basil garlic pine nut paste it didn’t even take me that long which is really why the mortar

And pestle matters so much it can take something that could become a serious drag if it just goes on and on forever you’re not seeing results to something that’s really kind of fun to do now all that’s left is to add the cheese and the olive oil the cheese that I’m

Using here is a mixture of parmigiano-reggiano and pecorino romano pecorino romano is a very salty spicy cheese very sharp parmigiano-reggiano is more nutty more buttery a little bit sweeter it balance each other out traditionally there’s also a pecorino fury Sardo that often finds its way into pesto sauce here in the United States

It’s harder to find that unless you go to a really good cheese shop the pecorino romano is the much more common cheese so put cheese in okay and olive oil and I’m gonna start to drizzle in some of the olive oil here and really notice how it’s creamy and it’s emulsified almost

Looks like guacamole the pesto is done I’m gonna transfer to a container basil if you’ve ever noticed if you chopped up basil the leaves can turn black pretty quickly and so you want to keep the air off of it and a little olive oil on top the olive oil forms a protective layer

To keep the air off the pesto and prevents it from oxidizing and turning Brown prematurely now it’s just time to cook the pasta and finish it it’s a classic way to serve pasta with pesto potato and green beans mixed in with the pasta cut it into chunks I have my pot of

Salted boiling water in goes today I’m using moving wienie linguini our potatoes pouch and please give it a little bit of a spin great my pastas cooked I am going to reserve some of the starchy pasta water and I’m gonna strain the rest of this here we go

In we go into our serving bowl that’s too small got my strained pasta and I put it into my serving bowl with the cooked potatoes and the cooked green beans now I take my pesto and start with that and see how that goes start to stir it around then add a

Little bit of the pasta cooking water to help loosen the sauce up because pesto is a fresh pasta sauce with a fresh basil flavor I don’t want to cook the sauce so I’m tossing everything in the serving bowl using the pasta water that’s high but I’m not exposing the

Pesto to prolonged high heat and the potatoes should be so soft that like some of them may start to smash up around the edges and the corners on them and that’s gonna also add to the kind of creaminess of the sauce we don’t want it dry we don’t want it peanut butter

Ha there we go I really don’t know what to say it’s just delicious it’s sweet and creamy and it’s not too pungent in any particular way tastes like summer

42 Comments

  1. @ramonpascual155

    Change your pestle for a stone or metal one.
    It 'll be easiest to crush the basil, and you' ll get more creamyness and quickest.

  3. @flymoto3870

    Can I use Cashew nuts or Almonds instead of pine nuts?.. as they are hard to get here due to lockdown scenario.

  9. @Muck-qy2oo

    Actually the salt doesn't act as an abrasive only but as a chemical activator. It helps extracting the essential oils and preserves them while they get mixed up with the nut paste. I've forgotten to use it once and my Pesto became a mud.

  10. @vgil1278

    So in order to smash the ingredients I use the dough blade for my processor. It will smash, not cut. Then I don't have to use up an afternoon. I can be done in 1/2 hour.

  11. @MrMars456

    Hello your the first cook I’ve seen that adds potatoes, I learned that from grandma and use them all the time. She also put about 2 tablespoons of cream cheese to the hot pasta just after straining then mixed it good before adding the pesto. She said it was the glue to make the pesto stick to the pasta. 👍👌

  23. @ransomcoates546

    Excellent and classic technique. But I have a question. It may have to do with the kind of basil we grow in the US, but I find that no matter what method I use, if I do not go through the very laborious process of stripping out the central vein of each basil leaf I end up with a stalky, unpleasant, and certainly not emulsified result. Can someone comment on this problem? Thanks.

  28. @rand-san2095

    I am using a large 4 cup Thai style mortar and pestle and can never get this texture. Anyone have any tips?

  32. @brucewayne5894

    With statements like this I would always love a blind taste test, food processor vs morter & pestle pesto. See if that makes a real difference

  33. @condorX2

    Cool.
    Found this article and you both use the same methods like green beans. Your is more visual appealing xD

    I took some notes

    Here are the steps:

    Step 1: Boil pasta until al dente.
    Step 2: Transfer pasta to a mixing or serving bowl.
    Step 3: Add pesto.
    Step 4: Add pasta water bit by bit, mixing to bind and emulsify the oil-based sauce.
    Step 5: Eat.

    But Wait, There's More! (The Mystery of Potatoes and Green Beans)

    I've been adding potatoes to my pesto pasta for years, almost always choosing russets for their high starch content.

    As for the green beans, I'm still at a loss, aside from the simple reason that they taste good and add a tender element to an otherwise starchy dish. Maybe that's all there is to it?

    Tell you what: I promise to dig even deeper and reveal my findings…next time.

    The Right Way(s) to Serve Pesto on Pasta

  34. @judymercado3776

    Ingredients:
    -2 medium cloves garlic
    -2 tablespoons (30g) pine nuts
    -3 ounces basil leaves (from about a 4-ounce bunch), washed with water still clinging to the leaves
    -Coarse sea salt, as needed
    -3/4 ounce (about 2 tablespoons) grated Parmigiano Reggiano
    -3/4 ounce (about 2 tablespoons) Pecorino Fiore Sardo
    -3/4 cup (175ml) mildly flavored extra-virgin olive oil

  38. @joeylipovich8182

    I genuinely appreciate this video. I'm an amateur cook who recently purchased his first mortar and pestle (as well as received a bunch of new cooking equipment for Christmas). If anyone in the comments has other suggestions for M&P I would love to hear about them!

  39. @danmeyertholen3158

    I have to revisit this video every time I have a hankering for pesto. Using this recipe, I now make the best pesto I have ever had. Thanks!

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