Bigoli

Classic sauce: in salsa (onions and anchovies) Bigoli are the Veneto's thick strands, traditionally pushed through a hand-cranked press called a bigolaro, which leaves a rough, matte surface. Today they are usually whole wheat, and that coarse, nutty strand is the whole point of bigoli in salsa: onions cooked down slowly until salt-cured anchovies dissolve into them, with no tomato and no cheese. A sauce that plain needs a pasta with grip and flavor of its own, and bigoli supply both. Outside the Veneto they can be hard to find; thick whole wheat spaghetti is the usual stand-in, though it is smoother and holds less.