» Italian Pasta

Respect Your Pasta

Joe — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:15:49 +0000

When you’re making pasta… please, please, please make sure to mix your pasta sauce (not gravy… you turkey) with your pasta before serving it! Don’t serve pasta with sauce just plopped on top.

Italians don't do this... mix your sauce with your pasta!

Delicately Priced Pasta

Joe — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:36:00 +0000

I was at a local grocery store the other day that in my my opinion has been modeled after a Whole Foods…. basically it has lots of organic foods, high end products, etc. and I came across a display for “Benedetto Cavalieri” pasta (from Lecce.) It was in a real fancy package (that included a ribbon.) It looked good and since I am always one to try new pasta, I bought a pound of the Casarecci…. even though it was $7.99! I cooked it and it was good… not sure if was $7.99 good but I chalked it up to experience. De Cecco is still better:) I guess I got a deal since I just saw some online for $8.60.

Here are a few reasons I think they can justify the high price of this pasta:

They’ve been around since 1918…. if it’s an old company they can charge more.
Apparently they use the “Delicate Method” which is VERY expensive. It costs more to be delicate.
The Blue ribbon on the bag.
I hope you’re not taking me seriously.;)

Brand Italy – Barilla

Joe — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 13:23:00 +0000

Happy June!
Last week was a crazy week! I helped my brother move out of his house and into his new house, so there was plenty of catching up to do on the work front when I got back, which is why I haven’t posted much.

Last night we had some friends over for dinner and when I opened a box of Barilla thin spaghetti, I was surprised to find this.

Did someone forget to do something here or are we looking at a new cut of pasta?

Barilla as a brand has managed to rise to the top of the packaged dry-pasta world, while maintaining authenticity and its Italianess. There are many brands that claim to be Italian but have not maintained their authenticity. Many of these same brands are brands that have been gobbled up by large international companies over the years and are no longer managed by Italians, so it shouldn’t be a big surprise. That is not the case with Barilla as they are still Italian owned. According to their website, they became the number one brand of pasta in the US in 1999 and by 2003 had twice the market share of their next largest competitor. All that being said… it’s hard to maintain brand quality when you’re the “big pomodoro” on the block. Has Barilla lost its edge? What would the Barilla brothers say if they knew the above pasta came out of a box of Barilla thin spaghetti? Overall, in my opinion, its a good quality pasta that is consistent. The above sample aside, you (usually) know what you’re going to get with Barilla. Are they the best? I prefer De Cecco myself but can only find limited varieties in my local grocery store. What are your thoughts on Barilla? and what’s your favorite readily available dry-pasta brand?