Pasta is the favorite dish of any Italian: We are the world’s leaders in both its production (3.2 million tons per year) and consumption (24 kg each per year). AIDEPI, or the Associazione delle Industrie del Dolce e della Pasta Italiane (Association of Italian Pasta and Cake Industries), has drawn up a guide that combines the 300 Italian pasta formats with the recommended seasoning for each – because a sauce that works with spaghetti may not be at all be suitable for fusilli. Plus, the guide helps with determining the quality of a pasta product, too!
General rules for pairing
The combinations of tradition and of centuries-old customs, always win. If, however, you are trying some new recipes (maybe even invented on the spot), keep a few small things in mind. The more delicate pasta shapes, like bow-tie pasta, go best with light and fresh seasonings – like pasta salad with vegetables. Strong sauces (ragù, amatriciana...) are better with more structured pasta shapes, like tortiglioni or bucatini. Paccheri, ziti and large pasta in general can be appreciated with elegant, smooth sauces. For an everyday pasta, versatile and perfect with a quick sauce, go for mezze maniche. Conchiglie (shell pasta) and orecchiette are pasta shapes that absorb sauce the best (especially light sauces), while a wide pasta like pappardalle calls for a rich and tasty sauce. And when you’re trying to decide between a smooth or ribbed pasta, smooth is best for more compact sauces, while ribbed pasta is better for a “looser” sauce.
Architecture for the mouth: choosing pasta is no laughing matter
As the AIDEPI experts explain, the shape of the pasta dough coincides with the substance, so much so that we even refer to it as "architecture for the mouth.” The different shapes of pasta, in fact, not only have different cooking times, but they also vary according to taste and palatability – all the more so if you change the way you cook it (boiled and seasoned, sautéed, pan-fried or cooked like a risotto).
The fusilli pasta crash test
Italian pasta makers leave nothing to chance: To determine the quality of the different pasta varieties or formats, they subject spaghetti, fusilli, pennette, rigatoni et al. to tests worthy of those done in the automotive industry. The variables pastamakers test are appearance, cooking resistance, chewing resistance, appearance and "solidity" of the pasta format. The pasta is stracotta – meaning it’s overcooked – to verify the timelapse between cooking al dente to the point at which the pasta becomes basically inedible – at least for us Italians. (Among foreign palates, some actually like the pasta overcooked to this point.) A quality test you can perform at home? Taste the pasta before you salt it or season it: Evaluate its flavor and shape, making sure it’s intact and solid at the very least.