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1
Boil the Spaghetti
10 Mins • Boiling
Boiling salted water, 100°C (212°F)
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add the salt, then add the spaghetti and cook for 2 minutes less than the packet time — it finishes in the sauce. Drain the spaghetti and set it aside, uncovered so it does not steam into a clump. If you are cooking rice to serve with it, keep it warm in its pot with the lid on.
Undercook the pasta by 2 minutes — it drinks up the tomato sauce in the pan and would turn soft if it went in fully cooked.
Done when: Pasta pliable but still firm in the centre.
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2
Fry the Onion and Garlic
3 Mins • Frying
Medium heat, about 175°C (350°F)
Heat the vegetable oil in a large, deep pan over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the chopped onion and fry for about 2 minutes, stirring often, until it turns soft and translucent, then add the minced garlic and fry for 1 minute more until it smells fragrant. Do not let the garlic brown — burnt garlic turns the whole dish bitter.
Garlic goes in after the onion, not with it — it needs only a minute and burns fast.
Done when: Onion soft and translucent, garlic fragrant and pale gold.
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3
Shred In the Pisupo
4 Mins • Frying
Medium-high heat, about 190°C (375°F); corned beef heated through to 74°C (165°F)
Tip the shredded tinned corned beef into the pan and break it apart further with a wooden spoon as it heats, so it falls into fine shreds rather than staying in chunks. Fry for about 4 minutes, stirring often, until the shreds are heated all the way through and just starting to brown at the edges.
The shreds are the point of the dish — keep breaking the beef apart with the spoon until no big lumps are left.
Done when: Corned beef in fine shreds, heated through and lightly browned at the edges.
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4
Build the Tomato Sauce
8 Mins • Simmering
Gentle simmer, about 95°C (200°F)
Stir in the tomato paste, the water, the soy sauce and the black pepper. Stir well so the paste dissolves, then simmer gently for about 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce thickens enough to coat a spoon and turns a deep brick-red. Taste and add a pinch more pepper if you like, but do not add salt — the tinned corned beef and the soy sauce have already seasoned it.
Do not add salt before tasting — pisupo is already very salty, and this is the most common mistake with the dish.
Done when: Sauce thick, brick-red and glossy; beef shreds coated throughout.
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5
Toss the Spaghetti Through the Corned Beef Sauce
3 Mins • Tossing
Medium heat, about 175°C (350°F)
Tip the drained spaghetti into the pan and toss it through the corned beef sauce for about 3 minutes, using tongs, until every strand is coated and stained brick-red and the shreds of beef are tangled through the pasta. Add a spoonful of water if the pan looks dry — the pasta will drink it up and the sauce will turn silky.
Toss with tongs, don't stir with a spoon — tongs lift the strands through the sauce without breaking them, and the beef shreds distribute evenly.
Done when: Every strand coated, beef shreds visible through the pasta, no dry pale patches.
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6
Rest and Serve Hot with Rice
2 Mins • Resting
Serving hot, above 60°C (140°F)
Take the pan off the heat and let it rest for 2 minutes so the sauce settles onto the pasta. Serve hot on warm plates, piling the corned beef spaghetti beside a mound of white rice, with cucumber and tomato salad on the side.
Serve it straight away — spaghetti left sitting in the pan keeps absorbing sauce and turns soft.
Done when: Steaming hot, sauce settled, strands separate and glossy.
auto_awesome Finishing Touches & Plating
Rest the pan for 2 minutes off the heat so the sauce settles onto the pasta, then pile the corned beef spaghetti onto warm plates beside a mound of white rice. The sauce should be brick-red and clinging, with visible shreds of corned beef through every forkful — not pooled at the bottom of the plate.
Samoa
1h 40m
France
Vietnam