[ebiester]

If you cook it in a lot less water, and add a quarter teaspoon of corn starch, you can get the same effect. Play with the ratios to taste.

[SAI_Peregrinus]

I prefer to use semolina, since that's the same flour the pasta is made of. I find corn starch can add an "off" flavor.

[fsckboy]

corn starch is widely used because it has no taste raw; a flour based roux needs to be "browned" in oil to eliminate the floury taste (i've tasted the grain of wheat from a plant in a field: tastes floury)