breaking dry pasta

[Popcorn]

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.

There was a great essay by I think John Thorne about the class politics of methods for eating pasta. Something along the lines of (it was a while ago that I read this) originally only the very wealthy could afford pasta, so eating it was a sign of refinement, and was done with the bare hands. When flour, and thus pasta, became more available - the wealthy began eating it with forks and spoons, and looking down on those who used their hands.

later this was repeated with the transition from forks and spoons to merely twirling forks.

And though I use only a fork to eat my pasta usually, I will break out a spoon if I know I can thusly offend someone. And on the off chance that they correct me, I loudly proclaim in my worst faux upperclass british accent "Mummy, raise the drawbridge! the commoners are approaching!"

Ben

[calimero]

Calimero, when you say "left over" do you mean that you're using an assortment of uncooked pasta?

Yes.

  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. 

If the cooking time is similar, 1 or 2 minute of difference shouldn't be a serious problem. I use pasta from Naples for everydays pasta dishes. The brand is Pasta Garofalo. For special occasions (if I have to use dry pasta) i use pasta Setaro. Btw, when you by any italian food product be shure to check the bar code: if the first 2 figures are 80 it means that is a 100% made in Italy product.

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

yes, from Rome, so please forgive my English

[slkinsey]

I use pasta from Naples for everydays pasta dishes. The brand is Pasta Garofalo. For special occasions (if I have to use dry pasta) i use pasta Setaro.

Setaro! One of my favorites. JosephB turned me on to a place in NYC that sells a lot of Setaro, and I've been cooking it frequently. In fact, I have some Setaro bucatini in my kitchen right now that is about a meter long.

I also like Latini and Rustichella d'Abruzzo.

[Behemoth]

originally only the very wealthy could afford pasta, so eating it was a sign of refinement, and was done with the bare hands. When flour, and thus pasta, became more available - the wealthy began eating it with forks and spoons, and looking down on those who used their hands.

later this was repeated with the transition from forks and spoons to merely twirling forks.

If we really want to keep the riff-raff out, we should go back to eating it with bare hands. Fun! And reinforces my suspicion that 2-year-olds know everything but play dumb because the're lazy and want to be carried everwhere.

[calimero]

I think that pasta Setaro is one of the best italian pasta brands; the first problem is that is very expensive (2,50 € for 1 Kg) so i use it for special ocassions; the second problem is that Setaro is expensive in Rome, so i go to Naples (to visit their industry) once a month because there it costs half price than in Rome, but they sell 30 kilos, not less!! I know pasta Latini very well, and if you like it try also pasta Cocco. Latini and Cocco are good quality pasta (and cheaper than Setaro), but i like much more Setaro.

[JosephB]

I think that pasta Setaro is one of the best italian pasta brands; the first problem is that is very expensive (2,50 € for 1 Kg) so i use it for special ocassions; the second problem is that Setaro is expensive in Rome, so i go to Naples (to visit their industry) once  a month because there it costs half price than in Rome, but they sell 30 kilos, not less!! I know pasta Latini very well, and if you like it try also pasta Cocco. Latini and Cocco are good quality pasta (and cheaper than Setaro), but i like much more Setaro.

Calimero, I'm glad to hear that you think Setaro pasta is a top product. As Sam said, the Italian grocery store in the Chelsea Market in NYC has an impressive selection of Setaro pasta. The prices are $3.99 to $4.99 per kilo, which is quite a bit more than you are paying, but well worth it. It is now the only brand I buy.

Ci sentiamo.

[Craig Camp]

You mean, spaghetti and such? It's just unnecessary.

There's the right answer. Italians would get a kick out of all this hand wringing over breaking or not breaking. The right answer would be it depends -

-on where you're from

-on what your parents liked to do

-on what sauce or dish you are preparing

-on whether you're a good cook or not (not all Italians are great cooks!)

In other words there is no one "right" answer. This is cooking after all not dogma. The main rules are loose -

-don't overcook so you can still taste the pasta

-don't over sauce (Italians are still frugal)

-pick a pasta shape that compliments the flavors of your sauce

...the Garofolo brand is good commercial pasta. It goes for about 75 Euro Cents a package at the IperMarket.

[slkinsey]

Calimero, I'm glad to hear that you think Setaro pasta is a top product. As Sam said, the Italian grocery store in the Chelsea Market in NYC has an impressive selection of Setaro pasta. The prices are $3.99 to $4.99 per kilo, which is quite a bit more than you are paying, but well worth it. It is now the only brand I buy.

It's not the only brand I buy (I have maybe 4-5 favorite brands), but I certainly am buying a lot of it!

I think it's worthwhile putting the price in perspective, too. While Setaro may cost as much as $2.27/pound ($4.99/kilo) in New York City compared to De Cecco at around $1.30/pound and "lower" brands as low as $0.75/pound... a pound of pasta is still a lot of food for two dollars and twenty-seven cents! That's enough pasta to make dinner for a family of four, or... er... Fat Guy and me. So, while Setaro may be "expensive" compared to Garofolo, it's still quite inexpensive in the grand scheme of things -- especially within the context of what everything else costs in a place like NYC. It's certainly cheap enough that making Setaro one of the "house pastas" I like to have around for frequent use doesn't have much of an impact on my food expenditures.