POLL: Pasta fave

Another thread discusses a certain pasta. Several people have posted their dislike for angel hair pasta. I'm with them. If I'm served spaghetti, I like the thicker spaghetti, not the thin variety, or esp. angel hair.

What's your fave? And if it's not a spaghetti-strand type, name your favorite shape/type.

I probably eat spaghetti more frequently than any other pasta dish, so I vote for spaghetti.

We tend to buy rotini more often any other. But spagetti is a close second!

No penne? No rigatoni? No manicotti? No ravioli? No pappardelle? No linguini? No bucatini?

If limited to the spaghetti family, I'd still punt. It depends on the sauce.

No penne? No rigatoni? No manicotti? No ravioli? No pappardelle? No linguini? No bucatini?

If limited to the spaghetti family, I'd still punt. It depends on the sauce.

That's what "Other" is for. Otherwise, I'd have to list 100 or so shapes.

Other: Wild Yam Soba (made with wheat, buckwheat, and wild yams).

[Robin Garr]

What's your fave?

What Stuart said. There's a good reason why Italians have as many kinds of pasta as Eskimos have snow: It's not just for yuks but because specific sauces and specific pasta shapes - long and short, fresh and dry - are made for each other.

I voted spaghetti among these three choices because I like the thicker styles in the spaghetti-type family. You get more textural contrast and flavor with a thicker strand.

If you had asked what shapes I <i>always</i> keep around (although these are never the <i>only</i> pastas in my larder), I would have counted spaghetti, bucatini, linguine, fettuccine, penne, conchiglie, rigatoni and orzo. I usually buy lasagne and manicotti only when I want to make those dishes.

There's almost always some other goodies around, but basically, with the armamentarium mentioned above, you can fake it or get by with just about any Italian pasta dish.

More pasta notes: I tend toward Italian imports (or their U.S. branches) just because it pleases me, but I'm not <i>that</i> much of a snob: I'm okay with mass-produced Barilla. I get mostly traditional pasta, but usually keep a box of green linguine around so I can do a paglia e fieno without having to run out and buy some. I never get whole-wheat pasta, which seems about as silly as making sushi with brown rice.

[Jenise]

Among the string pastas, I'm with the nix on angel hair crowd and go totally the other way--linguini. If I need an ulta-thin pasta then vermicelli, but I don't even stock it in the pantry, so rarely is that what I want.

In general, though, especially for entertaining, I prefer the shaped pastas. Can't bear to serve string pastas to people who won't wind their pasta on a spoon, so I don't even chance it.

I had to go with other - I like them all, depending on the sauce/dish. I even like angel hair with some dishes, like a chicken scampi, or fish in citrus cream sauce. For heartier fare, I prefer the heavier pastas.

I love angel hair. <ducking> No, really! I do!

linguini

We eat more linguine than anything else.


Richard

Thankfully no-ones suggested the stuff in the shape of male genitalia...

I'm not as clued up about the suitability of the various shapes for specific dishes as I should be. Typically it's a grab for the nearest of the 2-3 packets we have in the cupboard at any one time, but if I have a preference it's for homemade fresh tagliatelle (partly because it's one of the easiest to make).

regards

Ian