Italian Cooks: Is there a reason why one would use one shape of extruded pasta over another?!


Question: Italian Cooks: Is there a reason why one would use one shape of extruded pasta over another!?
At the market, there are 30 varieties of small pasta in boxes!. Shells, radiatore, rotelle, rotini, etc!.!.!. Is there really a difference which you use!? - Or is it mostly based on tradition and family favorite!?Www@FoodAQ@Com


Answers:
The different shapes developed largely to suit different sauces!. If a sauce has "lumps" in it (meat, or capers, or whatever) then you want a shape that will "trap" those lumps so you can eat 'em!

http://www!.ilovepasta!.org/shapes!.html

http://www!.culinate!.com/articles/culinat!.!.!.

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There is!!. Different ingredients, sauces and the like require different shapes to hold them!. Normally, if you're making soups, you'll use the smaller varieties!. The longer ones are used if there are a lot of large items, such as calamari, clams, etc!. Other shapes, such as penne rigate & rotini, are used when the sauces are chunky and have lots of little items to be picked up!. The ridges and inner holes of these pasta types do that very well!. The biggest ones, such as shells and large-size rigatoni, are made for stuffing and baking!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

one practical reason to choose a specific pasta shape is the sauce you are using!. certain pasta shapes are better at catching up sauses that are not too thick while other shapes (such as the stansard macaroni stripes) will only work well with thick, sticky sauces (because thin sauces will not stick to them and you'll end up eating the pasta and the sauce separately!.)Www@FoodAQ@Com

they deffinately have a specific use that is why they were created!. each shape has a region of italy that uses it in certain dishes -
look at the long descriptions on these shapes and you'll get the gist of it!. so it's not to say you can't use them for anything - sure you can - but certain shapes hold different sauces better!
https://www!.all-things-italian!.com/produ!.!.!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

It depends on what type of sauce you're going to use, some pastas are good with chunky sauces, while others work better with creamy ones!. also, the smallest pastas are used for soup!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

Different shapes of pasta hold different amounts of sauce!.Www@FoodAQ@Com





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