All About Pasta

Featuring:

825 MAIN Marinara and Pizza Margherita Sauces from Poughkeepsie, NY

Delverde Pasta from Abruzzo region –  pure waters of the Verde river –  Majella National Park on the Adriatic side. Bronze die cut pasta. This is not an artisanal pasta although it is bronze cut.  The cost is less compared to an artisanal bronze cut pasta.  But compared to the Teflon cut pastas Delverede Pasta is more expensive.  Bronze cut pastas are generally more expensive because of the labor costs to make it.  Cooking time 11 minutes.

Pastificio Artigiano Cav. Giuseppe Cocco Artisanal bronze cut pasta.  All the ingredients in Giuseppe Cocco’s pasta  are genuine. Made in Rara S. Martino, Abruzzi, Italy.   The pasta is characterized by its coarse appearance, typical of bronze die extrusion, and when cooked has a firm and elastic consistency, with excellent resilience. They also use the water from the Verde River. These fully manual and traditional methods require more time and space; hence the small production quantity. The traditional pasta taste and flavor are guaranteed. More labor intensive pasta requires a higher price point. Cooking time 18 minutes.

Pastifficio Riscossa – made in Bari, Italy.  Teflon cut pasta. Bright yellow smooth to the touch pasta.  Requires less drying time after it is made, therefore companies are able to mass produce much more quickly.  Mass production less labor intensive yields are less expensive product.  Teflon cut pasta is much cheaper than bronze cut pasta.

La Bella Pasta  from Kingston, NY.  Fresh pasta made from semolina flour and eggs. Much more delicate pasta requires less cooking time.  Only 2-4 minutes.

How to eat spaghetti?

  1. Don’t cut it with knife and fork
  2. Don’t slurp it
  3. Don’t twirl it so there is so much on the fork that it doesn’t fit in mouth
  4. Pick up a few strands and twirl with the fork resting on the side of a pasta bowl with a rim.

Or:  if you have a flat plate or a deep bowl with no sides use a spoon and twirl the spaghetti inside the spoon picking up just a few strands of spaghetti

What types of pasta are there?

  1. Dried pasta
  2. Teflon cut – smooth and shiny and the color is amber  because it is a quicker drying time at higher temperatures.  All American made pasta is Teflon cut.  Sauce tends to slide off of shiny smooth pasta.
  3. Bronze cut  (cut refers to the die or mold) – rougher and more porous,  The color is much lighter yielding a pale yellow color. It is cooked at low temperature and longer drying time which maintains the aroma and flavor of the wheat.   The low temperature also maintains the wheat nutritional value as well as the wheat protein. Bronze cut pasta allows the sauce to cling to it.
  4. Fresh pasta – has a delicate texture.  Most of the fresh pastas are made with eggs.  It requires half the time of dry pasta.  Its delicate texture is best with light butter sauces and herbs or a light tomato sauce.  While dry pasta can handle a heartier sauce or put into soups and easier baked.

 

What are the ingredients?

  1. dry pasta is made of durum wheat  ( semolina durum) salt and water.  The most important quality of durum wheat is that it contains more protein than common wheat.  It is important to produce high quality pasta – a pasta that remains firm or al dente when cooked.  The grinding of durum wheat produces a coarse flour called semolina.  1967 a law was passed in Italy that required only durum wheat to be used in making all dried pasta.  Dry pasta is prevalent in southern Italy because of the climate.  The mild sea breeze  and hot winds from the Vesuvious  was perfect for drying the pasta without getting moldy. Durum wheat is grown in many regions of the world ..including Mediterranean countries, north America, Russia and Argentina.  In Italy it grows mostly in the southern regions – mostly notably in Puglia which produces the finest pasta in the world.
  2. fresh pasta is made of from eggs and “00” high-gluten flour.  Machine  rolled and hand cut is better because sauce sticks better  and is absorbed by the pasta to the hand cut pasta versus the machine cut.  Some fresh cut pasta is also made without eggs.

 

How to cook Pasta?
1 gallon of water per pound of pasta. Put on high heat.  Once torolling boil add 2 tablespoons of sea salt. Add pasta all at once.  Separate pasta before it comes to a boil again with a fork.  Keep it moving so it doesn’t stick. Test it 3 minutes after it comes back to a boil for fresh pasta and after 5 minutes for dry pasta. Test it if it is to your liking.  It should be just slightly hard to the teeth – “al dente”.  Strain quickly in a colander and put in bowl…without loosing all the water.  Not too dry.  Better yet use fork or tongs and pull out of water.  Or use a strainer that is part of a spaghetti pot.

After cooking a good pasta should look moist not gummy.  Cooking in too little water makes a gummy pasta.

Transfer pasta to a bowl quickly and add some sauce stir coating, all the pasta. Don’t douse the pasta.  Just moisten with the sauce and then a ladle on top for presentation.

How to serve it.
Italians serve it as a 2 oz portion while Americans serve it as a 4 oz portion.  Italians is served as a first course while Americans serve it as a main course.  Italians eat it everyday sometimes twice a day.

The Pasta War
Controversy began in 1975 between the USA and European Econimic Community  EEC subsidized  exports of pasta to get the price down so it can compete with American pasta companies.  Because Durum wheat was so much higher priced than the regular flour American were using to make pasta .  High tariffs were issued making the Italian pasta more expensive.  But then in turn the Europeans issued high tariffs on American lemons and walnuts.  But EEC continues to subsidize exported pasta to make it more affordable.

“Fare la Scarpetta”
Fare la scarpetta is a phrase in the Italian language that’s close to the heart of everyone who has enjoyed a delicious plate of pasta with sauce. Meaning “make the little shoe,” it refers to the small piece of bread used to mop up the last of the sauce on your plate.

Please enjoys today’s 825 MAIN Sauces with the pasta and be sure to “Fare la Scarpetta”!