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Sporkful's Cascatelli


Vapre

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9 minutes ago, jedovaty said:

I gifted almost all boxes, and kept a couple for myself.  Wish I had tried the pasta first, before gifting. 

 

A few basic sauced dishes from one box and I found myself unable to finish each dish!  It was a texture thing, which is weird because I'm all for exploring and enjoying variety, not to mention I've been conditioned to eat everything on my plate even if I don't like the food.  The shape just kept giving me a sense of chewing on gums and teeth, like that bad dream where teeth fall out (I think everyone gets this once in a while, it is so bizarre).  Ugh.

Thanks for this.

 

So, just to ask further, no matter how long you boiled it, it had the texture that you describe

 

I love allll pasta, but I don't like al dente that is too al dente if you know what I mean.

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9 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Thanks for this.

 

So, just to ask further, no matter how long you boiled it, it had the texture that you describe

 

I love allll pasta, but I don't like al dente that is too al dente if you know what I mean.

 

I'm sorry about the graphic description, I sat for several minutes wondering whether I should press "submit" and I can still go back and remove it if you all would prefer, but it is what I was experiencing and I am trying to be truthful.  Same with me, I like all pasta, I sometimes even chew the dried stuff while waiting impatiently. 

 

This could be a totally one-off with some deep-rooted childhood issue, who knows 😝

 

I haven't tried to boil longer than about 13-15 minutes yet.  I'll give it a go later this week, and have pizza delivery on standby :o

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2 minutes ago, jedovaty said:

 

I'm sorry about the graphic description, I sat for several minutes wondering whether I should press "submit" and I can still go back and remove it if you all would prefer, but it is what I was experiencing and I am trying to be truthful.  Same with me, I like all pasta, I sometimes even chew the dried stuff while waiting impatiently. 

 

This could be a totally one-off with some deep-rooted childhood issue, who knows 😝

 

I haven't tried to boil longer than about 13-15 minutes yet.  I'll give it a go later this week, and have pizza delivery on standby :o

No no, I didn't find it graphic at all!  I appreciate the input.  

 

I'm the same....I've crunched on angel hair before--my whole life I've been a pasta fan.  For as expensive as it is, I'm glad I didn't buy any because I don't really like farfalle all that much even though I use it...the middle never gets done enough for me.

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Wow, interesting and vivid observations, @jedovaty!  My anxiety dreams tend to be travel-related mix-ups of all sorts but, thankfully, no dental crises yet! 
I'll have to do a cooking-time comparison with this stuff. I think I’ve been cooking it around 11-12 min. I think Pastagrammer liked 9 min or less but that seems on the crunchy side to me. 

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1 hour ago, jedovaty said:

I gifted almost all boxes, and kept a couple for myself.  Wish I had tried the pasta first, before gifting. 

 

A few basic sauced dishes from one box and I found myself unable to finish each dish!  It was a texture thing, which is weird because I'm all for exploring and enjoying variety, not to mention I've been conditioned to eat everything on my plate even if I don't like the food.  The shape just kept giving me a sense of chewing on gums and teeth, like that bad dream where teeth fall out (I think everyone gets this once in a while, it is so bizarre).  Ugh.

OH and YES, I've had the tooth dreams for my whole life.  Also, losing my hair. 

 

Again, thank you for the review.  Maybe there are just some of us that don't like that texture........

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13 hours ago, weinoo said:

People - if pasta was meant to be this shape, with weird varying thickness, don't you think it would've been 'invented" in Italy and been in use for a long time?

 

 

No. 

 

Eva from the Pasta Grammar Youtube channel seemed fine with it even though it wasn't Italian.  And if you've watched their videos, she's very, very Italian.

 

This is an excellent example of how you can understand a cuisine but put your own spin on it,  If you can do that AND impress the purist (e.g. Eva), you've accomplished something.

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20 hours ago, weinoo said:

People - if pasta was meant to be this shape, with weird varying thickness, don't you think it would've been 'invented" in Italy and been in use for a long time?

 

 

 

You mean, 'This is all reinventing the wheel' ...don't you? :D It's nice that there's another player in a field dominated by corporate behemoths, but shapes such as galletti are very, very similar to the cascatelli (especially in in terms of holding sauce), and have been around for a long time.

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Michaela, aka "Mjx"
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8 hours ago, IndyRob said:

Eva from the Pasta Grammar Youtube channel seemed fine with it even though it wasn't Italian.  And if you've watched their videos, she's very, very Italian.

 

 

I think it's Ava

 

She pretended to like it, at least with her favorite sauce, a combo of 'nduja and ricotta, not a sauce I find myself making often.  And even then, both of them were mentioning how the pasta cooks quite unevenly.

 

2 hours ago, Mjx said:

It's nice that there's another player in a field dominated by corporate behemoths, but shapes such as galletti are very, very similar to the cascatelli (especially in in terms of holding sauce), and have been around for a long time.

 

Sure...and they've touched on all the good marketing terms. Artisinal, Brooklyn, organic, etc. etc.

I'm fortunate enough that here in NYC, I do have access to not only those behemoths, but some smaller producers of high-quality pasta as well.

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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Cascatelli with sage & walnut pesto from Zuni Cafe Cookbook and roasted tomatoes

ED053E59-3A03-4B52-991A-E74FCD3EADE9_1_201_a.thumb.jpeg.79a29fc307168335e0d0e546e074c37b.jpeg

Had this for dinner last night and experienced no unpleasant dental sensations nor subsequent nightmares.  I did have a weird dream about an obscure word from yesterday's NYT Spelling Bee but I'm pretty sure that was unrelated to the Cascatelli consumption. 

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This and That .

 

this and that .

 

these days , 

 

often or not ,

 

the above has less eventual appeal than it once did.

 

New Pasta Shape ?

 

no matter what

 

once you cook it ' to your tooth-some delight '

 

and no less

 

you at least get to eat it.

 

 

 

 

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21 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

One of Time magazine's 100 best inventions of 2021:  Sfoglini Cascatelli

 

 

Editing as the first post lost a paragraph and photo did not fit the copy. Dyslexic brain function. 

 

A mini road trip to the Catskills we listened to the entire pod cast series. Really enjoyed the process. Good for him. I thought it was well produced with all the cast of characters. Patent pending and the insistence of licensing that bronze dyes be used instead of teflon. TJ's will give it a lower price point and has the experience and funding to go full throttle into production. 

 

Your dish above using Cascatelli looks amazing. Nice hold on the pesto in the folds. I've been a bronze dye convert for years. Microscopic sandpaper surface. Misfits has had a bronze dye brand for a few months now I've stocked up on. I will admit that the first 'cascatelli' release---I could not get basic good bronze dye spaghetti on the stove fast enough. His shape gave me shivers at first look. Visually not what I look for usually.  

 

The last memorable moment jumping on a food item---the NewYorker article about RanchoGordo. I've never been a 'club' food person. I was a bean club member within a hour. 11,000 members. 35,000 now on the wait list that he just cannot accommodate. A few dozen, maybe more, co-workers and friends, jumped as well. I do get pantry over-stock but such a great gift. 

 

 

---most of my post deleted above. Apologies it makes no sense a bit. Re-posting is a time suck. 

 

 

 

Edited by Annie_H
made no sense (log)
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9 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

One of Time magazine's 100 best inventions of 2021:  Sfoglini Cascatelli

It was, as we all know, a slow year.

 

I guess Time doesn’t think anything of note will happen in November or December. I agree. 

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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  • 1 month later...

FWIW, I gave this another try, cooked thirds to 18 and 20 minutes.  Very little difference between them.  There appears to be a thin, uncooked line inside both - maybe it is cooked, just shape or density prevents it from fully changing.  The longer cooked texture was softer than my first attempts, but it's still unpleasant.  I tried eating cold leftovers as a pasta salad tossed with mayo and veggies, and it kind of worked for the first few bites, however, after a few more the noodles reminded me of gloved hands at the dentist.

 

I've got one box left, anyone in this thread here that hasn't tried it, let me know before end of 2021 and I'll happily send it to you.  Otherwise, I'll leave it at the office and see who picks it up.

 

Its redeeming factor: pasta water actually has the dusting flours/starches in it, unlike the typical commercial pastas.  So, adding pasta water to my sauces does thicken them up :)

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  • 2 years later...
On 3/25/2024 at 1:01 PM, blue_dolphin said:

 

Please report back once you do!

Flipped through it. I think it’s pretty good, a lot of Indian and Asian fusion going on that I hope to try out. If you need a pasta book, you could do a lot worse.

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On 3/28/2024 at 4:43 PM, Vapre said:

If you need a pasta book, you could do a lot worse.

 

Damning with faint praise?  I suppose this means that for a serious pasta book (and there are plenty), one could do a lot better.

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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