I saw a CBS interview with the owner of Sfoglini Pasta, Dan Pashman, who designed this new form of pasta and claimed his pasta held the sauce better than conventional pasta. He designed this pasta form conforming to these criteria:
- Sauceability: How readily sauce adheres to the shape
- Forkability: How easy it is to get the shape on your fork and keep it there
- Toothsinkability: How satisfying it is to sink your teeth into it
Katie ordered some Sfoglini Cascatelli and brought a box home for us to try.
My favorite pasta is DeCecco, but I gave the Sfoglini Cascatelli pasta a try. First of all, Cascatelli is squiggly. It reminded me of Cthulhu’s tentacles. The Cascatelli prep instructions call for boiling it for 17 minutes. The result is a pasta that is firm. Yes, it holds the sauce nicely and it’s easy to spear with your fork. I liked the texture. But, I still prefer the flavor of DeCecco pasta. Notice taste is not one of Pashman’s criteria. What’s your favorite pasta?
GRADE: SFOGLINI CASCATELLI – B
GRADE: DECECCO – A
I don’t really have a favorite. Pasta pretty much all tastes the same to me. Most of the taste is in the sauce.
Steve, I like the texture of some pastas like DeCecco.
“Cthulhu’s tentacles” conjures up a very strange image for my taste buds. I may try it the next time I visit the House of R’lyeh Pancakes.
Jerry, the first time I saw Cascatelli pasta cooked, it sure looked like Cthulhu’s tentacles to me. I’d love to visit the House of R’lyeh PancakesQ
Just don’t ask for the “special” “syrups”….
Pasta is pasta. It’s like brands of gasoline.
Michael, there are subtle differences in pasta. I’m big on texture.
If one has been eating Ronzoni all one’s life, it all tastes like Ronzoni, it’s true. But even differences in how it’s cooked change the mouthfeel, at very least.
I will try almost anyone’s angel hair at least once. Except maybe Barilla’s.
Todd, if you haven’t tried DeCecco, you might want to give it a taste test. I buy it at Wal-Mart which has the best price.
I tend to boycott WalMart as well…never been in one which wasn’t kind of unpleasant, atop all else. Target may not be too much more noble, but at least it usually feels less like a holding pen/warehouse. I have tried DeCecco, it didn’t seem much better than the typical store brands (we rarely know who’d supplying those).
Todd, I only shop at Wal-Mart a couple times a year for a few specific items. I rarely shop at TARGET. I mostly buy my stuff from AMAZON.
I have to agree with the “pasta is pasta/flavor is in the sauce” contingent here. I buy the basic brands (usually, Walmart’s Great Value label) and focus on making a delicious sauce. Since we’ve had an Instapot, I’ve been cooking my pasta in that—you don’t have to wait for water to boil or drain the pasta after: four cups of liquid (I use chicken broth for extra flavor, but water is fine too) for every pound of pasta; six minutes on high pressure; six minutes of cool down; release the valve; stir in your ingredients (I like to use butter & a small can of evaporated milk before I add grated cheese and other ingredients); voila! One of our favorites is chicken-brocco-mac: macaroni cooked in the Instapot; stir in butter, evaporated milk, a ton of grated sharp cheddar, some Dijon mustard, and a few shakes of hot sauce; then mix in some shredded cooked chicken and some cooked broccoli. Dinner in about 20 minutes. Yum!
Deb, many of our friends love their Instapots. We may have to invest in one. Once again, you’ve delivered a comment that is making me hungry!
That settles it. I want to live at Deb’s house.
Jerry, I’ve been to Deb’s house. And, had dinner there. Yum, Yum, Yum!
As a red sauce devotee (though I like alfredo sauces as well), and a lacto-ovo vegetarian, I won’t use that recipe for myself, but it’s good you’ve found a groove with that tool!
Over the years we’ve come to like Barilla pasta the best. And now we eat their Whole Grain pasta, which has six grams of fiber and tastes nearly as good as the other. White flour is not good for you, especially for diabetics. I like linguine but Jackie prefers Angel Hair so we usually go for the thin spaghetti (or regular if the thin isn’t available). When available we also get penne or rotini for other dishes (we had baked ziti last week but with rotini instead of the ziti, as there was no Whole Grain available). I always watch for sales and we stock up when there is a sale that is 4 for $5 or even 5 for $5. We also get whole wheat ravioli in a local grocery. Let me check the local brand – Papa Pasquale’s. As for sauces, we’ve tried various brands over the years. We both hated Prego – way too sweet. We used to use Ragu. Currently, our sauce of choice is Francesco Rinaldi (tomato and basil. though there are other choices), which we also stock up on when they are on sale (currently, 2 for $3).
As you can tell, Italian food is very important to me. If I had to choose one type of food only to eat every day, this would be it,
As for cooking, it is 7-8 minutes for the spaghetti, 10-11 for the macaroni as a rule, though I always check to make sure it isn’t too al dente. The ravioli is even easier – boil a big pot of water, throw the ravioli in (you can throw them in frozen, if you haven’t remembered to defrost them!), and when it returns to a boil and the ravioli floats to the top, it’s done!
Jeff, Italian food is a favorite for Diane and me. Our backup pasta is Barilla (it goes on sale frequently). Diane uses CHEF’S sauce which is made by a local Buffalo restaurant and sold in local grocery stores. It’s a tad sweet, but Diane likes it that way.
Of course, they do have DeCeccho here too. Lately, they’ve been pushing Rao’s Sauce (from the expensive, hard to get into Italian restaurant in East Harlem), but it costs about twice what regular sauces cost, even on sale. I am curious as to how good it is and whether it is worth the high price.
Jeff, I’m always trying new sauces and pastas, but we tend to return to DeCecco and CHEF’S sauce.
Rao’s isn’t too shabby (and some places have it for less than three times the price of other tolerable jar sauces). Alice is a great fan of Priano sausage sauce (usually ridiculously cheap at Aldi, when they have it), whereas my go-tos in jar sauce tend to be the vegetarian Wegmans store brand items, which are, like most jar sauces, way too sweet indeed. Diavolo sauces when they have more robust flavor other than being Hot are among my favorites.
Never really liked Barilla; became even easer to not buy their products when they became the loud backers of Italian Trumpoids.
Todd, my mother used to make her own spaghetti sauce but I found some of the bottled variety–like CHEF’s”–to be just as good and much quicker to prepare.
My half-Italian mother and my father. out of the heavily Italian Barre, VT, both would make their own sauces, and Alice made some herself after taking a cooking class while still in med school over the break; I liked Alice’s more than she did; my parents’ tended to be a bit strong on the basil but they could do some impressive improvisation, including a shrimp-based sauce one night. Jar sauces definitely indulge us…I tend to expend more time working on chili.
Todd, chili…yum!
Pasta = carbs = sugar = high glucose = bad for diabetic (me). I avoid carbs whenever I can, and it’s not easy, but no pasta is fairly easy, when Barbara has pasta, I have a salad. I sure miss the days of my younger self, when I could eat what I want.
Rick, small portions of pasta can be acceptable.
I’m a type 1 diabetic but I still eat carbs. If I don’t eat some my sugar gets too low. I just balance it out with my insulin. I rarely eat salads since I’m hungry an hour later when I do. They just don’t fill me up.
Steve, I’m a Type 2 diabetic and I can control my glucose numbers with a blend of exercise and low-carb foods.
I prefer shells! Any brand, and Ragu is fine for a sauce! I don’t have it often, however!
Bob, I’m a fan of shell pasta, too. Diane uses it when she makes her pasta salad.