RCP: Rigatoni in Pink Vodka Sauce

Pink Vodka Sauce is something we found in the Mohawk Valley area in New York. This one came from cooks.com:

1 lb Rigatoni
5 T Butter
2/3 C Vodka
1/4 tsp Red pepper flakes
1 14 1/2 oz can Muir Glen Fire Roasted diced tomatoes lightly pureed
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 C Freshly grated Parmesean
3/4 C Heavy cream

Cook Rigatoni for 14 minutes and drain. In the same pot melt the butter and add Vodka and red pepper flakes; simmering for two minutes. Add tomatoes and cream and simmer an additional five minutes, adding salt at end. Return drained Rigatoni to pot with cheese, and simmer on very low heat for ten minutes or so until pasta absorbes most of the sauce. Serve.

You can serve half of the sauce with a half pound of pasta and half the cheese as we did tonight; saving the remaining 1 1/2 cups of sauce and half a box of pasta for another night.

[Robin Garr]

Pink Vodka Sauce is something we found in the Mohawk Valley area in New York.

If I'm not mistaken, Carl, it's a Miami Beach "Continental" classic. Maybe brought back north by snowbirds?

The general premise of adding a little tomato to make a cream sauce "pink" is pretty appetizing to me ... I've never found that the vodka contributes much to the flavor, but this particular recipe has a pretty good jolt of it.

Pink Vodka Sauce is something we found in the Mohawk Valley area in New York.

If I'm not mistaken, Carl, it's a Miami Beach "Continental" classic. Maybe brought back north by snowbirds?

The general premise of adding a little tomato to make a cream sauce "pink" is pretty appetizing to me ... I've never found that the vodka contributes much to the flavor, but this particular recipe has a pretty good jolt of it.

Yes, a jolt indeed, but I have trouble with the over cooking of the rigatoni.

I flip the concept on its head. I make a basic fresh marinara with chopped, peeled tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, salt and pepper. I reduce the vodka long enough to steam off the alcohol. I might add some red pepper flakes or ground cayenne. I then simmer, covered, until the tomatoes soften and the flavors meld. I grate in some Reggiano or Grana.

I cook the pasta only once the sauce is nearly finished, so that I can add hot pasta into the simmering sauce, the way it's done in Italy. When the pasta is al dente, I add a few tablespoons of cream to the marinara and adjust the seasoning and cream. In other words, I soften the acidity with cream rather than color the cream with tomato. I add the pasta and simmer for 1-2 minutes longer, to finish. I add pasta water if needed. I finish the dish with minced parsley.

[Robin Garr]

I have trouble with the over cooking of the rigatoni.

Whoa! I read right past that. Cook the rigatoni to completion and then simmer it in sauce for 10 <i>more</i> minutes? I don't think so ...

I used a very sturdy Rigatoni, and it was still al dente when served.

I do it the way Bernie does - though it isn't a dish I make often. Judging by how many menus I see it on in neighborhood red sauce joints back home, it sure is a popular dish.

First, the vodka and crushed red peppers, then, I add the tomato into that.
While it's cooking, I drop the pasta, then, at the very end, a touch of cream into the sauce turns it pink. I add the cheese and parsley after the pasta has been combined with the sauce. I use penne for this dish.

I find that after a few quick tosses of the cooked pasta in the sauce, it's ready for plating.

What does the vodka actually do? Once the alcohol is cooked off, it's just water.

What does the vodka actually do? Once the alcohol is cooked off, it's just water.

I have to think it's for the cook to glug while preparing the meal for guests.

You're right - little vodka flavor remains after the alcohol flames off. I read somewhere that dish came about as an entry in a recipe contest sponsored by a vodka producer. (edit - according to this, that isn't true.)
I will tell you that you would have a hard time finding a red sauce joint in NY that doesn't have it on the menu - so it's been a popular success, that's for sure.

What does the vodka actually do? Once the alcohol is cooked off, it's just water.

Just speculating here, but perhaps the alcohol in the vodka acts as a solvent, allowing flavors to be extracted from other substances in the sauce, in the same way that alcohol, as the content rises during fermentation of red wine, extracts compounds from the grape solids, skins and seeds. Heating during cooking would accelerate this process. By using vodka, as opposed to brandy, rum, whiskey, etc., no other flavors are added.

But the recipe only has the vodka cooking with the butter and the red pepper. By the time anything else joins the party, the alcohol is pretty much gone.

[Robin Garr]

you would have a hard time finding a red sauce joint in NY that doesn't have it on the menu - so it's been a popular success, that's for sure.

This is true, but I'm still virtually certain that it was first created in South Florida - Miami Beach or Palm Beach - which, after all, are pretty much subtropical extensions of Bridge and Tunnel NYC. My guess is that it started with red-sauce Italian joints in South Florida and came back north with the snowbirds.

What does the vodka actually do? Once the alcohol is cooked off, it's just water.

I have to think it's for the cook to glug while preparing the meal for guests.

You're right - little vodka flavor remains after the alcohol flames off. I read somewhere that dish came about as an entry in a recipe contest sponsored by a vodka producer. (edit - according to this, that isn't true.)
I will tell you that you would have a hard time finding a red sauce joint in NY that doesn't have it on the menu - so it's been a popular success, that's for sure.

As in another thread--pecan pie--the power of marketing and promotion cannot be underestimated.

The two or three times I ate pasta in vodka sauce at a restaurant I thought it boring and found whatever taste was there was there thanks to the "pink"addition. Never tried to cook it at home.

I add the vodka to the tomato marinara. Not sure if it does anything.

This would make for a good side-by-side experiment, running two pans, one that omits the vodka.

[Jenise]

I, too, read that the origins of the recipe was an Absolut Vodka contest winner--I believe that was in a Cooks Illustrated article. But I've since read several attributions to Northern Italy--even Marcella Hazan has a recipe for it in one of her earliest books.

Seems to be very popular--I'm probably one of the few people who can say I've never had (or made) the dish, probably due in no small measure to the fact that I detest vodka.

There's a classic simple pasta sauce with vodka (promoted for example by hard-smoked Alaskan salmon firms). Chopped smoked salmon, cream, vodka, and I think black pepper. Tossed with penne or whatever.

The salmon is cooked briefly in the cream; vodka is added late, and retains alcohol. Lends a sweet flavor that plays off the smokiness.

[Jenise]

Max, I had almost the dish you describe in Holland, made with (Dutch) gin. It was surprisingly good--and I say surprising because it doesn't taste nearly as hoochy as I expected it to. Rather it gave the sauce and sweetness like you say, and a rather svelte sophistication.

Max, I had almost the dish you describe in Holland, made with (Dutch) gin. It was surprisingly good--and I say surprising because it doesn't taste nearly as hoochy as I expected it to. Rather it gave the sauce and sweetness like you say, and a rather svelte sophistication.

Svelte! I like that.

Yes it's an unusual flavor combination. Jenever would indeed have been good, especially the "young" (Jong) kind -- the "old" (Oude) smells and tastes like toluene or model-airplane glue. (Don't tell teenagers this, or it will become another fad just like absinthe.)

Note that (ethyl) alcohol, as in vodka, is not quite, but near being, a sweetener. It's a simple-minded cousin of a class of chemicals natural in foods (and digestible) that are not sugars but are conspicuously sweet. The polyols or multiple alcohols nicknamed "sugar alcohols." Glycerin is in this class, others are manufactured and used for "sugarless" confections. Some of them have common names with the Greek glyc- prefix, from "sweet."


This by the way seems like a fine food forum. I note that most of the Usual Suspects who post about food and wine across the Internet are posting on this site. (Where is Frank Deis though? If he's not posting here, would someone please go get him?? Then we will really be cooking. Compare food forum on the Squires site, where Frank often posts.)

[Jenise]

Jenever would indeed have been good, especially the "young" (Jong) kind -- the "old" (Oude) smells and tastes like toluene or model-airplane glue.

I agree on the use of the jong, but for different reasons. That is, I adore oude jenever and would require that be saved for the cook! That is, if there is no corenwijn (Bols brand, thank you) available, which I like best of all.

Note that (ethyl) alcohol, as in vodka, is not quite, but near being, a sweetener. It's a simple-minded cousin of a class of chemicals natural in foods (and digestible) that are not sugars but are conspicuously sweet. The polyols or multiple alcohols nicknamed "sugar alcohols." Glycerin is in this class, others are manufactured and used for "sugarless" confections. Some of them have common names with the Greek glyc- prefix, from "sweet."

I never looked at it from that perspective, but I get it. In fact it's that sweetness, along with a nutty quality, that I like about oude jenever and corenwijns. I do not care for vodka, though, so I'm unable to relate to its qualities. Vodka smells like cleaning solvent.

This by the way seems like a fine food forum. I note that most of the Usual Suspects who post about food and wine across the Internet are posting on this site. (Where is Frank Deis though? If he's not posting here, would someone please go get him?? Then we will really be cooking. Compare food forum on the Squires site, where Frank often posts.)

Well! On behalf of all, I thank you! Yes, go get Frank. I've seen his posts on eBob, though I don't post there.

I adore oude jenever and would require that be saved for the cook! That is, if there is no corenwijn (Bols brand, thank you) available, which I like best of all.

Maybe I should give it another look. My strong impression is from 35 years ago at a youth hostel in NL that also had a bar. I was well under age by US, but not European, standards and knew only a little about spirits. Wry Nederlanders there said that they didn't like Oude Jenever ("people here drink it to show that they're tough") and when I tried a little I saw why. Maybe it was the brand. Toluene, lightened up by a touch of acetone.

[Jenise]

Maybe I should give it another look. My strong impression is from 35 years ago at a youth hostel in NL that also had a bar.

You probably should. I wouldn't have liked it much when I was a teenager, and I liked it now even though I don't generally do 'spirits'.

The problem is that I have pretty good smell-taste memory and a vivid memory of Oude Jenever (and have worked in laboratories with many organic solvent examples to compare it against) and I did like some spirits flavors even at the time, so I'm doubtful ...

Never was a big a spirits fan in general but I prefer artisanal whiskys to most anything else. Have lots of kinds of them (in three ranks -- those out where any guest can see them including certain people I won't name who'll drink with equal pleasure anything with alcohol in it; the whiskys that are out of view because rare and hard to replace; and finally the ones that require rotating PK-secure password and retina scan, because they are impossible to replace, and represent the only bottle of the kind in the county if not further).

This is a dish that, as an Italian-American, I never heard of until about 10 yrs ago...now every restaurant here in NJ and NYC have it on the menu. My British husband loves it, and I do like a well made one.

I make it quite often, but like some of you, never thought the vodka actually imparted any flavour...so, in a pinch, I will leave it out.

My version calls for sauteeing proscuitto in olive oil until crisp. I set that aside. Then I pour about 1/4 cup of vodka into the sauce pan and add my already made sauce (which I like finely pureed in this recipe...I can't stand lumps or green bits in my vodka sauce). I let that simmer for a bit, add some cream and some of salt (or a lot of salt if I don't use and Proscuitto) and simmer again. I add the Proscuitto at the end (and sometimes some frozen peas).

I will under cook my penne or rigatoni by about a min, drain, and then add the sauce to it, stir for a min and serve. This is my husbands favorite "Italian" dish

I usually make this every Christmas Eve to bring to my parents house who do the "Seven Fishes".

Edited to add: I leave out the proscuitto for the Christmas Eve version since we are not supposed to eat any meat...LOL!

Edited to add: I leave out the proscuitto for the Christmas Eve version since we are not supposed to eat any meat...LOL!

I was just about ready to pounce on you when I read your edit.
I thought I had you there for a minute.......