Tallarines are the everyday pasta of Italian-Argentine home cooking, the weekday cousin of the more elaborate Sunday ravioli. Fresh egg noodles, rolled and cut by hand or machine, are served with tuco, the Argentine version of tomato sauce, slow-simmered with onion, garlic, ground beef and oregano. The tradition was brought by the millions of Italian immigrants who settled in Argentina, and the pasta survived as a daily staple rather than a special-occasion dish. Every Argentine family has a tuco recipe, and the combination of fresh noodles and the rich, meat-laced sauce is the homeliest, most comforting plate of the Argentine-Italian table.
Tender, silky fresh egg noodles coated in a rich, slow-simmered tomato-and-beef sauce, the oregano warm, the pasta and sauce binding in each forkful. Eaten in a bowl with grated cheese, the comfort food of the Argentine table.
The dish combines fresh pasta with a slow sauce. The pasta is flour and eggs, kneaded smooth, rested, rolled thin, and cut into wide ribbons. The tuco is onion and garlic fried in oil, ground beef browned, crushed tomatoes and oregano added, and the whole simmered 30 to 45 minutes. The noodles are boiled fresh in salted water 2 to 3 minutes until they float, drained, and sauced generously. The Argentine tuco is thicker and more meat-forward than an Italian sugo, the beef adding body and protein, and the sauce coats rather than bathes the noodles.
Variations
Some use chicken in the sauce. A cream sauce version replaces the tomato.
On the Palate
Where Tallarines Argentinos sits in the Argentinian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
5 steps · 35 min
- 18 min
Make the pasta: knead 400g flour with 4 eggs and salt until smooth; rest 30 minutes.
- 25 min
Roll thin and cut into 1cm-wide ribbons; dust with flour.
- 37 min
Make the tuco: fry 1 onion and 3 garlic cloves in oil; add 300g ground beef and brown; add 800g crushed tomatoes, 1 tbsp oregano and salt; simmer 30 minutes.
Watch outSimmer the tuco 30-45 minutes until it's thick and meat-forward — a thin, watery sauce slides off the noodles instead of coating them.
- 45 min
Boil the tallarines in salted water 2 to 3 minutes until they float; drain.
Watch outFresh tallarines need only 2-3 minutes to float — a minute more and they turn soft and clump.
- 54 min
Toss with the tuco; serve in bowls with grated Parmesan.
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