On May 26, 2016 at 0:40 AM, JoNorvelleWalker said:I tend to think of fresh pasta (particularly fresh egg pasta) and commercial dried pasta as being two very different things.
Absolutely. It's apples and oranges.
I like making fresh pasta from scratch; it's marginally better than what I can buy from specialty shops, although I don't have the tools / patience to make anything besides lasagne or paparadelle. So I'm perfectly happy to buy really good fresh pasta. And sometimes even halfway good versions.
As far as dry pasta, I don't think any of the brands mentioned here is very good. None has much flavor. Of the brands available at supermarkets in NYC, there's occasionally something that looks like it's made from quality durum wheat and extruded through rough bronze dies. One is DeLallo, which Whole Foods carries. I forget the others—but these are just halfway decent. They differ from De Cecco and Barilla and Ronzoni etc. by having real flavor, and texture that's more satisfyingly pasta-like.
The only great pasta I can find comes from specialty shops. There's a brand called Setaro available at Buon Italia in Chelsea Market. Fortunately you can order online. This is as good as any I've had. Everything I've bought from Eataly has been first rate also. I can't remember what brands I've had there—I usually go for what looks good and isn't too stratospherically expensive.
It's a drag that you have to go such lengths for f'ing noodles in this country. At list the internet exists!
