breaking dry pasta

[riboflavinjoe]

and if breaking dry pasta is a food crime, why is it so?

thanks,

joey

[Suzanne F]

You mean, spaghetti and such? It's just unnecessary. Unless you're going to make it into a pasta salad, in which case it's easier to deal with if you break if first. (Although to me, making a pasta salad = committing a crime )

[Moopheus]

and if breaking dry pasta is a food crime, why is it so?

In fact, the pasta polizei will come and break you if you do it. The ghosts of untold millions of Italian grandmothers will wail in the night. All of the flavor runs out through the break, a trick that should only be reserved for the calories of chocolate chip cookies. Sauce will refuse to stick to the pasta, run off on to the floor, staining your pants along the way. Dogs and cats will live together; frogs will rain from the sky. Pope Unctious XIX declared in his infallible way that God whispered in his ear the perfect and unalterable dimensions of the pasta box into which all spaghetti must be fit.

Have you been breaking your pasta?!? HAVE YOU?!? Say ten Hail Marios and get a bigger pot.

[slkinsey]

The main thing about breaking pasta is that it ruins the textural element that is created by the long strands. If long strand pasta was meant to be eaten in short little pieces, it would have been manufactured that way.

Besides, regular mass-produced strand dry pasta is only what, a foot long? No reason to make it any shorter. I have some artisinal dry pasta that is around 4 feet long!

[mnebergall]

The main thing about breaking pasta is that it ruins the textural element that is created by the long strands. If long strand pasta was meant to be eaten in short little pieces, it would have been manufactured that way.

Besides, regular mass-produced strand dry pasta is only what, a foot long? No reason to make it any shorter. I have some artisinal dry pasta that is around 4 feet long!

Braggert.

[eunny jang]

and if breaking dry pasta is a food crime, why is it so? 

In fact, the pasta polizei will come and break you if you do it. The ghosts of untold millions of Italian grandmothers will wail in the night. All of the flavor runs out through the break, a trick that should only be reserved for the calories of chocolate chip cookies. Sauce will refuse to stick to the pasta, run off on to the floor, staining your pants along the way. Dogs and cats will live together; frogs will rain from the sky. Pope Unctious XIX declared in his infallible way that God whispered in his ear the perfect and unalterable dimensions of the pasta box into which all spaghetti must be fit.

Have you been breaking your pasta?!? HAVE YOU?!? Say ten Hail Marios and get a bigger pot.

Heh.

The carbonara carabinieri are far more dangerous.

Edited May 26, 2004 by eunny jang (log)

[SobaAddict70]

I used to be one of those food criminals until I saw Mario slaving away over a hot stove in the middle of a studio audience.

That's when I became enlightened.

Soba

[jhlurie]

Of course you could just buy better pasta.

[Moopheus]

Besides, regular mass-produced strand dry pasta is only what, a foot long? No reason to make it any shorter. I have some artisinal dry pasta that is around 4 feet long!

That only indicates that the length is completely arbitrary--packaged pasta is cut for the convenience of the producer. I've broken my spaghetti in half my whole life--so did my mother, and her mother too. I've cooked it whole, and as far as I can tell, it made not the slightest bit of difference. Either way, you twirl it up and stick it in your mouth.

Of course, if you make your own pasta, you can cut it to whatever length you darn well feel like.

[Toliver]

Pasta Police, be damned.

I cut up my spaghetti after it's cooked...nothing precise...I just run a dull table knife through the pasta bowl. Why? I'm not interested in recreating the spaghetti scene from "Lady and the Tramp". Short strands get the job done. There's no need to do the winding-the-fork-on-the-spoon trick with short strands and short strands also tend to save my shirt from errant sauce splatters more than with long strands.

But then what do I know? I've cooked crock pot meals that call for condensed soups and have actually made desserts with Cool Whip.

[JosephB]

Actually, there are several pasta dishes in Italy which instruct to break spaghetti into thirds. These dishes are typically with beans and broth. One example of such a dish is Millecosedde from Calabria. Bugialli gives a recipe for this dish on page 42 of his out-of-print book, Bugialli on Pasta.

[Moopheus]

One example of such a dish is Millecosedde from Calabria. Bugialli gives a recipe for this dish on page 42 of his out-of-print book, Bugialli on Pasta.

The second edition of this book is still in print, and coincidentally I happened to buy a copy today at the Strand. Though that recipe is now on p.43.

[Bernaise]

If your goal is strictly utilitarian then sure....hack the pasta to fit your fork. But surely, is not the pleasure of your meal in some small part a sensual esthetic adventure? I love pulling up a half curled strand of spaghetti allowing it to air cool for just a moment and the that meeting of my mouth and that glorious coated wonder...

i think i'll slither off somewhere to consider what I have just shared

[riboflavinjoe]

so wait a minute here. is it a food crime? akin to eating the roquefort before the brie de meaux? akin to using the napkin as a bib? akin to ... blah blah blah.

[ellencho]

Korean superstition says that breaking your dry pasta shortens your life. But then again, Koreans think cutting/trimming (not plucking) one's eyebrows does the same thing. Either way, I'm a sucker for Korean superstitions and you'll never catch me breaking dry pasta or trimming my eyebrows.

[Moopheus]

If your goal is strictly utilitarian then sure....hack the pasta to fit your fork. But surely, is not the pleasure of your meal in some small part a sensual esthetic adventure? I love pulling up a half curled strand of spaghetti

Sure, but the spaghetti does not really have to be very long for this to happen. Maybe three or four times the width of you fork.I have to admit, I'd think a very short piece of spaghetti would be hard to hold on your fork. But beyond a certain minimum length, I would still say it does not matter.

Riboflavinjoe said:

so wait a minute here. is it a food crime? akin to eating the roquefort before the brie de meaux? akin to using the napkin as a bib?

What happens between consenting adults and their food in the privacy of their own homes should be their own business.

[slkinsey]

Besides, regular mass-produced strand dry pasta is only what, a foot long?  No reason to make it any shorter.  I have some artisinal dry pasta that is around 4 feet long!

That only indicates that the length is completely arbitrary--packaged pasta is cut for the convenience of the producer.

No, I wouldn't exactly say that is true. What I would suggest is that around a foot long is the minimum length required for long strand pasta. Your suggestion that the typical length of long strand dry pasta is completely arbitrary doesn't make sense to me. If that's true, it is only true insofar as it relates to how short the pasta is, rather than how long. This is to say that it is undoubtedly more convenient for the producers to have shorter lengths of strand pasta. It would certainly be easier from a packaging, shipping and breakage standpoint for the producers to make 6-inch spaghetti rather than 12-inch spaghetti. That they don't implies to me that the current length is considered a minimum standard. It is quite common for artisinal dry pastas to be sold in a longer length.

I've broken my spaghetti in half my whole life--so did my mother, and her mother too. I've cooked it whole, and as far as I can tell, it made not the slightest bit of difference. Either way, you twirl it up and stick it in your mouth.

Of course I can't dispute your personal subjective experience. From my own experience, I'll say that I can definitely tell the difference. On the other hand, I tend to cook and eat pasta more like an Italian than an American. This is to say that I don't use much sauce, that the taste and the texture of the pasta is the most important thing to me, and that I always make sure the pasta stands up to the tooth. When I am eating spaghetti, I want that subtle "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d" feeling as my teeth break through every individual strand of pasta on my fork.

In my experience, broken-in-half strand pasta does not have very much textural interest. Also, broken-in-half strand pasta does not pick up the other ingredients very well as it is spun around the fork. In fact, I find that broken-in-half strand pasta doesn't spin around the fork very well at all.

That said, perhaps a more American style of pasta cookery (more sauce/less firm) might eliminate many of these differences that are important to me. I cannot imagine that any Italian would agree that 6-inch long spaghetti was just the same as 12-inch long spaghetti.

[slkinsey]

I cut up my spaghetti after it's cooked...nothing precise...I just run a dull table knife through the pasta bowl.  Why?  I'm not interested in recreating the spaghetti scene from "Lady and the Tramp".  Short strands get the job done.  There's no need to do the winding-the-fork-on-the-spoon trick with short strands and short strands also tend to save my shirt from errant sauce splatters more than with long strands.

In my mind, you're missing the best part of what pasta can be. If you're finding sauce splatters on your shirt, you're using too much sauce. If you don't notice the difference, I bet you're cooking the pasta too much. Now, of course, these ideas come from my own personal Italian-influenced ideas about what pasta should be like, and I wouldn't suggest that there aren't other ways to enjoy pasta... but I will admit that I think many of these other ways are missing out on the best part.

Pasta Police, be damned.

Speaking of the pasta police, we have a funny story in my family. When my mother was living in Rome after the War, she went out to a trattoria with her family for some pasta. They commenced the fork-and-spoon routine that is common in America. Upon seeing this, a friendly older Roman gentleman jumped up from the adjacent table in mock horror, said "oh, no! you mustn't eat spahgetti that way!" and went on to explain that the pasta should only be twirled by the fork on the plate -- never with a spoon.

[calimero]

Actually, there are several pasta dishes in Italy which instruct to break spaghetti into thirds. These dishes are typically with beans and broth. One example of such a dish is Millecosedde from Calabria. Bugialli gives a recipe for this dish on page 42 of his out-of-print book, Bugialli on Pasta.

Usually we break "long" pasta when is a leftover: for example, pasta e fagioli (beans) is always cooked with short and long broken pasta (of course adding different pastas according to differnt cooking time). Another example is the classic roman recipe bucatini al forno con alici e porcini (baked bucatini with anchovies and porcini mushrooms): break the bucatini in three parts, boil them very very al dente, add the prepared sauce (made with garlic, anchovies and mushrooms), cover with breadcrumbs and bake them

[TRK]

I don't have a strong opinion, but I have a funny story. I once taught a foreign graduate student to cook pasta. I lived in a coop and we had a program where non-residents could come and pay a fee to use our kitchen and supplies. He came for a trial run and looked concerned when I told him we cooked for ourselves. He asked me to show him how to boil pasta, so I did. Put water in pan, put on stove over high heat, boil water, add spaghetti, stir, cook until you take out a piece and it is done. Then I left him to it and went to make my own lunch. I returned when I heard the screams. He had used too small a pan, with the flames licking up the side of it. The pasta was sticking out the side and the dry part had caught fire. Needless to say, he went elsewhere for his meals. That, I think, is a situation in which breaking the pasta would have been not only acceptable but wise.

Tim

Edited May 27, 2004 by TRK (log)

[Moopheus]

[On the other hand, I tend to cook and eat pasta more like an Italian than an American. This is to say that I don't use much sauce, that the taste and the texture of the pasta is the most important thing to me, and that I always make sure the pasta stands up to the tooth. When I am eating spaghetti, I want that subtle "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d" feeling as my teeth break through every individual strand of pasta on my fork.

I don't overcook my spaghetti or use too much sauce (actually, I use less than my Italian grandparents). I can get plenty of strands on the fork. When you're biting through a forkful of strands of spaghetti, there's no way you can tell if those strands happen to be long or short.

[JosephB]

Aside from what are essentially soup recipes, I would agree that the proper length for long pasta is around 12", and that breaking it in half makes twirling more difficult -- I don't think 6 inches provides enough slack to wrap around a fork without flopping off. On the other hand, I think the yard-long stuff that slkinsey has brought into my kitchen is the other extreme, and at times becomes unwieldy.

[JosephB]

Actually, there are several pasta dishes in Italy which instruct to break spaghetti into thirds.  These dishes are typically with beans and broth.  One example of such a dish is Millecosedde from Calabria.  Bugialli gives a recipe for this dish on page 42 of his out-of-print book, Bugialli on Pasta.

Usually we break "long" pasta when is a leftover: for example, pasta e fagioli (beans) is always cooked with short and long broken pasta (of course adding different pastas according to differnt cooking time). Another example is the classic roman recipe bucatini al forno con alici e porcini (baked bucatini with anchovies and porcini mushrooms): break the bucatini in three parts, boil them very very al dente, add the prepared sauce (made with garlic, anchovies and mushrooms), cover with breadcrumbs and bake them

Calimero, when you say "left over" do you mean that you're using an assortment of uncooked pasta? I often have an assortment of less-than-full packged pastas, none of which by itself is sufficient for a meal. As long as the cooking time for each is similar, I mix them together. The other day I even saw a package of mixed pasta from Naples at the Chelsea Market in NYC.

By the way, when you say "we" do you mean Italians? Are you from Italy?

[Behemoth]

Speaking of the pasta police, we have a funny story in my family. When my mother was living in Rome after the War, she went out to a trattoria with her family for some pasta. They commenced the fork-and-spoon routine that is common in America. Upon seeing this, a friendly older Roman gentleman jumped up from the adjacent table in mock horror, said "oh, no! you mustn't eat spahgetti that way!" and went on to explain that the pasta should only be twirled by the fork on the plate -- never with a spoon.

THANK YOU. Now can you tell me where this place is so I can take my German relatives there and convince them to stop harrassing me about not using a spoon? I know how to twirl my pasta right, damnit.

[slkinsey]

[On the other hand, I tend to cook and eat pasta more like an Italian than an American.  This is to say that I don't use much sauce, that the taste and the texture of the pasta is the most important thing to me, and that I always make sure the pasta stands up to the tooth.  When I am eating spaghetti, I want that subtle "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d" feeling as my teeth break through every individual strand of pasta on my fork.

I don't overcook my spaghetti or use too much sauce (actually, I use less than my Italian grandparents). I can get plenty of strands on the fork. When you're biting through a forkful of strands of spaghetti, there's no way you can tell if those strands happen to be long or short.

Well, then, all I can suggest is that our perceptions are different. In my experience broken-in-half pasta long strand is unappealing for the reasons I outlined, namely: 1. it does not wind around the fork very well without flopping off (unless overcooked); 2. it does not do a very good job of twirling up the other ingredients (e.g., little clams or pieces of guanciale); 3. when biting into the pasta twirled around the fork, it lacks a certain textural interest it has for me at full length. As with everything in life, YMMV.