Professional cooks generally prefer artisanal dried pastas from Italy.
There are two main kinds of pasta: fresh and dried. Even though fresh pasta is often depicted as the most traditional, it's not actually the most commonly consumed in Italy. Not only is industrially made dried pasta more convenient, it has different properties that make it best suited for a number of preparations.
Know that every Italian household has plenty of dry pasta on hand, though! It's not inferior. But buying high-quality dried pasta will make a difference in the final dish.
In some foodie circles, dried pasta was labeled as inferior to its fresh counterpart and unworthy of sauces prepared by five-star chefs and home cooks alike. Well, if there was ever a food opinion that was undercooked, it's that! The truth is, both fresh and dried pasta belong in your kitchen repertoire!
That's because dry pasta can be cooked al dente, giving the pasta a chewy bite and thick texture that holds up to these hearty sauces. Dry pasta is also ideal for casseroles and soups because it can hold up to the extended cooking time.
Conversely, fresh pasta is best with smooth, creamy sauces that have either milk or butter as bases, such as carbonara or alfredo. Fettuccine, pappardelle, and tagliatelle are best enjoyed as fresh pasta since they are typically tossed in cream-based sauces (via Paesana).
According to that line of thinking, the starchy pasta water helps to bind and thicken the sauce, and in some cases—such as buttery or oily sauces—emulsifies it into a creamy, non-greasy coating.
Dried pasta can be soaked in water to achieve much of the hydration that normally occurs in a boiling pot. The approach is similar to the way many cooks soak rice before cooking to speed up the process.
Along with Barilla, De Cecco, and Voiello, Garofalo is among the most widely distributed and sold dry pasta brands in Italy. Do Italians eat store-bought pasta? Yes, Italians buy and consume a lot of dried pasta, especially for quick pasta dishes to eat every day.
This pasta is almost always made with a dry storebought pasta because it's a pantry pasta, and boxed pasta is made with semola and water. A fresh egg pasta and an egg yolk pasta sauce would be considered too heavy so it goes very well with dried storebought pasta.
The SPAGHETTI rule
Not everyone knows that, when Italians cook spaghetti, they never break them before putting them in the hot water! It is forbidden! Spaghetti must be cooked just the way they are: intact! Then, they must be eaten rolling them up with a fork.
Penne. Italy's most popular pasta is penne. This quill-shaped pasta is unusual in that it has a very precise origin. It was born in 1865, with a new device patented by Giovanni Battista Capurro in the small town of San Martino d'Albero, near Genoa.
The quality of pasta is very dependent upon the kind of wheat used and the manufacturing process. Barilla uses a blend of the finest durum wheat to produce the semolina that makes our pasta. Barilla's innovative milling process and methods assure the high quality and excellent cooking properties of our pasta.
The Italian way may be better
Italians eat the most pasta worldwide – about 60 pounds of pasta per person per year. Most Italians eat pasta every day but they keep their portions in check. A portion in Italy is about a cup and the meal includes a small portion of meat and a large portion of vegetables and salad.
In fact, starting your pasta in cold water has a myriad of benefits: It takes less energy to heat, it takes less time since the noodles come to a boil with the water, and you end up with concentrated starchy cooking water that gives a silky, creamy finish to pasta sauces.
Italians have a special relationship to food: cooking is both tradition and an art, so ingredients are held to a high standard of quality. In Italy, the only ingredients in most dried pastas are semolina wheat flour and water. For example, these are the ingredients in Barilla's classic Spaghetti in Italy.
Barilla Pasta produces many types of pasta and is the biggest pasta producer in the world (40-45% of the Italian market and 25% of the US market).
The reason De Cecco is preferred is because it's a higher-quality product. While both De Cecco and Barilla hail from Italy and use 100% semolina flour (the flour of choice for dry pasta), De Cecco takes an extra measure: they use bronze dies to cut the pasta.
Barilla Pasta is Italy's largest dry pasta brand and dominates the European and American markets. With a long-standing reputation as one of the best Italian pasta brands in the United States, Barilla's products are made with high-protein durum wheat flour, ensuring top quality.
Scientifically speaking, there's only one valid reason to salt your pasta water: it evenly seasons each noodle from the inside out. In culinary school, chefs-in-training are taught to season their dish a little bit at a time from the first step on; this enhances each ingredient and builds gradual, more complex flavors.
"By adding pasta to boiling water, it cooks more evenly since the temperature is a constant," he told TODAY. "When you add to cold water, first of all, the salt isn't going to dissolve quick enough to flavor the pasta and, depending on the pasta, you risk not being able to achieve al dente."
Contrary to popular myth, adding oil into the water does not stop pasta sticking together. It will only make the pasta slippery which means your delicious sauce will not stick. Instead, add salt to the pasta water when it comes to the boil and before you add the pasta.
Olive oil is said to prevent the pot from boiling over and prevent the pasta from sticking together.
Using a little bit of pasta water is the key to making smooth, restaurant-level sauces. Some of the most classic Italian pasta dishes, like cacio e pepe and carbonara, depend on the starchy, binding power of pasta water to make the sauce.
After pasta noodles have finished cooking, Italian cooks do not throw out all the water. They keep a small amount to use when making the sauce for the dish.