Pasta Shapes

[albiston]

I must try bucatini--this fits well with carbonara, no?

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I believe spaghetti is the "default" pasta for carbonara, but I could be wrong. Bucatini is for amatriciana.

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I completely agree about Carbonara, spaghetti or spaghettoni is the pasta to use.

Amatriciana is an altogether more complex affair. The thing is, there actually are two kinds of Amatriciana: the one from Amatrice and the one popular in Rome. The first one has only tomato, ganciale, pecorino and a little chilli pepper in the sauce, the second has onions (and garlic sometimes) and a dash of wine or vinegar added to the sauce. In Amatrice they eat their pasta with spaghetti or penne, in Rome strictly with bucatini.

[NYC Mike]

My favorites are rigatoni and cavetelli.

-Mike

[Pontormo]

QUOTE(Brad Ballinger @ May 12 2006, 02:48 AM)

QUOTE(ludja @ May 11 2006, 10:30 AM)

I must try bucatini--this fits well with carbonara, no?

I believe spaghetti is the "default" pasta for carbonara, but I could be wrong. Bucatini is for amatriciana.

I completely agree about Carbonara, spaghetti or spaghettoni is the pasta to use.

Nonetheless, the Trattoria La Carbonara cooks penne for what it claims as its signature dish. When in Rome...

Edited May 12, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[albiston]

I completely agree about Carbonara, spaghetti or spaghettoni is the pasta to use.

Nonetheless, the Trattoria La Carbonara cooks penne for what it claims as its signature dish. When in Rome...

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Didn't know that, thanks for the info.

Plenty of places that serve spaghetti alla carbonara in Rome though .

[Kevin72]

Yeah, the odd observation I have from our Roman trip is that even though every place we went had Amatriciani on the menu, invariably it was on penne, rigatoni, or some other short tube pasta instead of bucatini.

Faves: Pappardelle, tagliatelle, orecchiette, ziti, penne rigate.

[Adam Balic]

Spaghetti alla chitarra, Pappardelle.

[Pontormo]

Favorite name: strozzapreti.

[Andrew Fenton]

Favorite name: strozzapreti.

Heh. Those poor priests!

My favorite pasta at the moment are casareccie- which, come to think of it, are pretty similar to strozzapreti, despite coming from the opposite end of Italy. They're short (so easy to eat), grooved (good for catching sauce), and a little thick (nice texture).

[dockhl]

BARILLA, which is my favorite (easily accessible) dried pasta, comes in many interesting shapes (for a supermarket pasta) I especially like their 'rigati' fettucini and bucatini.

their website clicky........... has a lot of interesting info about pasta types and what they are best paired with.

"Bucatini, a long tubular pasta resembling a drinking straw, originated in central Italy, but found its home in the cooking of Rome, especially in the classic dish Bucatini all’ Amatriciana – a dish served with a delicious sauce of pancetta, tomatoes, red pepper, and grated Pecorino cheese."

Even recipes, and they don't (necessarily) include Barilla jarred sauces ! (Well, feel free to substitute your own Marinara.......) Althogether a very informative website.

[srhcb]

For Mac & Cheese I like Radiatore.

They hold the most cheese!

[Pontormo]

Favorite name: strozzapreti.

Heh. Those poor priests!

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I change my mind. Just learned about "cazzetti d'angeli." Immature, I know.

[Andrew Fenton]

Favorite name: strozzapreti.

Heh. Those poor priests!

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I change my mind. Just learned about "cazzetti d'angeli." Immature, I know.

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Pontormo, I like the way you think.

But I have no idea what that pasta looks like... and I'm not sure I really want to know. There are some serious theological difficulties inherent in that dish...

[Pontormo]

For a discussion of theological implications see this link on angels and the Summa.

For the ahem aspect of the pasta's name, see Post #156 of this terrific thread and Alberto's correction of a typo.

Edited May 16, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Cleo]

I seem to end up buying a lot of Barilla pastas. My favorites are Campanelle, Gemelli, Radiatorre, Orichette, and I haven't seen these mentioned here yet: Cellentani (I never actually knew what these were called) and Fiori.

Actually, I like it all.

[jess mebane]

Our first baby tomatoes are coming in, and I dream about bowls of Barilla angel hair with tomatoes, basil, S&P, oil and parm. It's pedestrian, I know, but so am I!

[Anna N]

Recently discovered orzo and love it!

[ghostrider]

For my garlic & oil preparation, spaghettini. It may not be traditional but I like the way it works.

For my amatriciana forays, penne, rigatoni, or my new favorite, elicoidali.

For bolognese sauces, my other new favorite, serpentini.

[Pontormo]

In the cooking thread devoted to Abruzzo/Molise, members discussed different types of imported dried pasta. When the name De Cecco came up, a number of posts concerned the differences between the products sold in Europe and the United States.

I found something relevant that I thought you might enjoy, but first let me explain that I recently visited a new source for Italian groceries and brought home a number of unfamiliar shapes of pasta. I now have a new favorite which you can find here: spaccatella. Apparently, it's Sicilian and brilliantly designed so that the cooked noodle resembles a Chinese soup spoon--except the entire "handle" is grooved to accommodate extra sauce.

I've linked up De Cecco's official Web site here since it was one of the first links I came across. The bag I brought home is from a different manufacturer.

What interested me about De Cecco's site is the INCREDIBLE variety of shapes and types of pasta available to Europeans. If the link I tried to capture is stable, you just looked at a photograph illustrating one type of noodle available in the U.K. At the bottom of the Web Site, you'll note, there are different flags for European nations that you click to change the language. So, if you go to the section called "Product Catalogue" and click on "Pasta", you'll see a range of categories and then sub-categories that include regional varieties, basic lines and specialities. Whether German or French, you seem to be able to order whatever an Italian might buy.

Click on the flag of the United States and the site changes utterly. There are hardly any choices. I'm sure all the shapes are familiar to you, sold by other manufacturers as well. The corresponding recipes begin with pasta salads (!!!) and reflect a conservative restraint that you don't find in recipes translated for cooks in Soissons or Leeds. When selling their product over here, De Cecco doesn't merely alter the recipe and emphasize nutritional value over quaity of grain. It tells us what it thinks of American taste.

[dockhl]

BOO HOO !

I love trying new shapes and am always thrilled when I find an unusual one. What a shame that we are relegated to eating elbow macaroni

ETA: I wonder if a major eGullet email campaign would make a difference?

Edited May 16, 2007 by dockhl (log)

[Maureen B. Fant]

QUOTE(Brad Ballinger @ May 12 2006, 02:48 AM)

QUOTE(ludja @ May 11 2006, 10:30 AM)

I must try bucatini--this fits well with carbonara, no?

I believe spaghetti is the "default" pasta for carbonara, but I could be wrong. Bucatini is for amatriciana.

I completely agree about Carbonara, spaghetti or spaghettoni is the pasta to use.

Nonetheless, the Trattoria La Carbonara cooks penne for what it claims as its signature dish. When in Rome...

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Yes, but that's a famous exception. Even though penne are very common in Rome, they're not normal with carbonara. Spaghetti is the standard, rigatoni the usual "pasta corta" alternative. Bucatini are becoming quite rare, but they are traditional in Rome for la matriciana (amatriciana), for which spaghetti has become more usual. Bucatini are still favored for la gricia, also called amatriciana in bianco, i.e., guanciale and pecorino romano without tomatoes. In any case, we are talking about industrial substitutes for the original bucatino, which was a string of handmade pasta rolled on a sort of thin stick or knitting needle to form a thin tube.

[Kent Wang]

As far as the noodles (or long pasta) go, I like them thick. My favorite is Pastificio Romita's laganelle which is 9 mm wide, wider than fettuccine. Pappardelle, which is even wider, is nice once in a while but laganelle seems to be ideal for me.

For short pasta, I like fusilli the most because I think it holds the most sauce. Unfortunately Romita's fusilli is not available at Central Market. They do have the penne classico, which I like, but I would prefer the rigate (with ridges) more because it holds more sauce. I also fear that penne and elbows will retain more of the cooking water because of they holes they have while fusilli would more easily allow the water to be shaken off.

These days, I only buy the laganelle and penne, in about equal proportion.

Just so we're on the same page, Wikipedia has a nice pictorial guide to the names of the varieties of pasta shapes.

[slkinsey]

For me, my favorites are pretty simple: I like bucatini, vermicelli and spaghetti alla chitarra best for strand dry pasta; I like penne (either rigate or lisce, and in the larger sizes favored by the artisinal producers) best as a chunky short tubular pasta. For special shapes I like orecchiete and strozzapreti. Oh, and I also like ditalini/ditaloni.

I really only like the extra-wide flat shapes in fresh pasta, and short shapes like fusili, cavatappi and farfalle never are quite the kind of al dente I like.

[Okanagancook]

Made some chitarra pasta today on my 'guitar'.  I love using this thing.  I am still not sure how thick to make it but from what I have read it should be about twice as thick as spaghetti.  I rolled the dough out to #3 on my hand cranked pasta roller.  I rolled some dough out to my normal spaghetti setting which is all the way to #1 and then folded it over on itself and rolled it on #2.  I cooked these and asked DH which one he preferred.  The one from #3 setting.  So that what we will be having with meatballs and Marcella's butter tomato sauce and lots of grated Parmesan.

 

Anyone else have one of these machines?  What thickness do you use?

 

 

[Eatmywords]

 

 

(mines ziti, not to be confused w penne)

[Tropicalsenior]

Mine is farfalle. I have no idea why but I just don't like it.