EDIBLE: Inside a marathon morning of making ravioli on Monterey’s Spaghetti Hill.

The shouting really started when someone mentioned sharing the ravioli recipe with me.

In all fairness, there had been plenty of shouting before that. Some of the highlights: “You stole Karen’s dough!” “That ravioli’s not right!” “You’re showing favoritism!” And, yes: “That’s a beautiful ravioli!”

But it got a lot louder when Auntie Paula – or was it her sister Catherine, with flour on her face – handed me a sheet with the proportions for flour, eggs, hamburger, spinach and celery. (“What!?” someone yelled. “Are you crazy?!”)

At the sound of the shouts I handed it back. (Guys, it wasn’t my idea.) I didn’t want to jeopardize my shaky presence as the rare outsider. Soon enough, the group was back bustling around and shouting at one another about other things.

“I love the arguing [over techniques],” Cousin Roz said. “It’s like we haven’t done this for 30 years.”

“Auntie” Paula, the hostess of the annual marathon effort in Old Monterey, is Paula Crivello, long my mom’s best buddy. We had talked about roping me in for pre-Christmas ravioli labor for years, but when it didn’t materialize, I figured some things are reserved for honest-to-goodness old-school Italians. Only now I was in the thick of it, feeling like I was deep undercover – and out of my depth.

On one side of the garage, Cousin Bill manned the electric pasta machine local restaurateur Joe Rombi helped Catherine acquire at a wholesale rate. (They retail at about $1,500.) “It was a gold bracelet or a pasta machine,” she said.

Bill pulled wads of dough – made simply of flour, eggs, salt and oil, and rested overnight – through the rollers, reducing the thickness of the sheets with successive passes. “It’s a feel, it’s an art,” he said. “I can’t explain it. Maybe because I don’t know what I’m doing well enough.”

“Yeah, he’s an artist,” Cousin Jody agreed. “A con artist.”

Still, Jody was sticking close in anticipation of the next finished sheet. “I’m next, Roz,” she said. “Don’t get any ideas.”

Jody helped me press the edges of the wide sheets together to lock the filling inside, and seal the edges with brushed egg. The next task was to slowly work the wooden ravioli rolling pin and its square frames over the pillow. Then came the edging of the ravioli in rows and then columns with an antique tool that looks like a mini pizza cutter. (“The new ones don’t work nearly as well,” Paula said.) With the Italian eyes on me, my nerves felt like I was about to perform at Carnegie Hall. I remembered to breathe. I focused like it was the SAT. Somehow the little squares came out functionally enough.

The hustle continued and the ravioli multiplied well beyond 1,000. Talk meandered. It hit on history: “In the old days with no refrigerator, they laid ravioli out on the bed.” “Where would they sleep?” “It didn’t matter, you had raviolis!” It touched on the importance of the huge cutting boards: “You can’t use a bread board; you don’t contaminate them with anything else.” It included allegations of envy: “Don’t be jealous of my ravioli. I want my own tray.”

After a glass of wine we filled up a long dining table in the afternoon sunlight and feasted on roasted root vegetables, baked chicken and the star of the meal: all the scraps from the ravioli cutting. I can’t get over how silky the pasta pockets were despite the super simple ingredients. As we ate I realized they needn’t have worried about the recipe. Even with the all the cutting boards and the pasta makers and full instructions, there’s no way to replicate a formula – or a family – like this.

~ QUICKBITES ~

• Popular Pavel’s Backerei in Pacific Grove (643-2636) has closed temporarily to handle some code violations. More on the blog, www.mcweekly.com/edible.
• Brace thyself. The popular fast-casual restaurants of Marina Dunes complex are about to launch. Get the timeline on Blaze Pizza, Teriyaki Madness, Smashburger and more on the blog.
• Carmel by the Glass happens 5-8pm Friday, Dec. 9, at La Playa Hotel in Carmel ($75, 521-9631, www.carmelbytheglass.com) with a ton of local wineries and AquaterraCulinary food.
• Mulligan Public House has arrived, in all its chicken-and-waffle, 12-draft-beer, game-day-ready glory. Jump to the blog for hours and menus.
• From the You-Can’t-Make-This-Crap-Up File: Denny’s is donating $1 from each deep-fried cheesecake to diabetes research. Not to be outdone, KFC is giving $1 for every 64-ounce Mega Jug of soda.
• East Village Coffee Lounge (373-5601) now has NFL on its big screen Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. And $3 drafts from kickoff to final whistle, plus free popcorn with beer purchase.
• Ryan Bigelow of Seafood Watch discusses the current state and future of sustainable seafood at Middlebury Institute of International Studies 6-7:30pm Tuesday, Dec. 13 (411 Pacific St., Monterey. Free. 647-6615, www.centerfortheblueeconomy.org/speaker-series).
• Stone Creek Kitchen (393-1042) is back at it with a smart holiday menu featuring truffle parmesan-crusted beef tenderloin, wild mushroom ravioli, and a bunch more. Holiday orders must be placed by 4pm Sunday, Dec. 18.
• Life is good at il Tegamino (250-5790) in Carmel, because the food and Panzuto Brothers energy is so good. Hard to match a meal of tender sautéed octopus, wild-mushroom risotto, roasted cauliflower and the full range of meatballs, from beef-parmesan to pork-pecorino to tuna-caciocavallo to crab-chive to portobello-porcini to cauliflower-black olive. The brothers are on a trip to their native Italy, so il Teg is closed for two weeks; it reopens Friday, Dec. 16.
• Across the Court of the Golden Bough at PortaBella (624-4395), Jacques Zagouri is leaving his exec chef post for a position in Palo Alto. Farewell dinner party Thursday, Dec. 8 ($48, check the restaurant Facebook page for more).
• Taste of Monterey Wine Market & Bistro (646-5446 ext. 10) has introduced Tasting Monterey, a gift pack with a selection of curated products from places like Lula’sChocolates, Carmel Honey Company, Jeffrey’s Spiced Pecans and much more to go with great local wines, www.tastemonterey.com.
• Interesting NorCal development: The owners of Sam’s Chowder House have announced they have sold their Palo Alto location to Wahlburgers, a gourmet burger chain founded by Wahlberg brothers Mark, Donnie and Paul.
• The new, bigger Chopstix in the former Taste of Vietnam has delayed its opening from last week to post-Christmas. The classic Seaside location remains open (ICYMI, that will become a poke spot after Chopstix moves).
• Will’s Fargo (659-2774) and Jarman Tasting Lounge host a tree-lighting ceremony 5:30-7:30pm Thursday, Dec. 8. with snacks and deals on wine and Will’s holiday menu. Guests can bring a hand-crafted wine-themed ornament for a contest judged by celebrity guests.
• We went for the chile verde skillet at Turn 12 Bar & Grill (372-8876) at the urging of travel author/Weekly contributor Stuart Thornton, but they were sold out. Fortunately the special of the night, truffle flatbread, was spectacular.
• Ratel Cider has debuted its second batch, and it’s even smoother and cleaner, and lighter on the ABV. Melville Tavern and Mulligan are two of several great places to get it on tap. For more on Ratel’s origin story, peek at “Cider Rules: Monterey-based dry craft Ratel Cider’s crazy backstory” on the Weekly website.
• Martin Scorsese: “If your mother cooks Italian food, why should you go to a restaurant?”