This is the best supermarket pasta brand according to Italians
Pasta: you can make terrible mistakes not only when preparing it—yes, it’s quite particular—but eating pasta is also supposed to be done in only one way. But of course, everything starts with very good pasta. So which supermarket pasta is actually the best?
When it comes to pasta, we trust Italians blindly. Although supermarket shelves are packed with different pasta brands, according to most Italians there is only one brand they buy when they need dried pasta. And that is De Cecco.
The ingredients
Well-known pasta brands such as Grand Italia, Barilla and De Cecco all use 100% semolina (griesmeel in Dutch and semolina in English) made from ground hard wheat or durum wheat, so the ingredients are not what makes the difference—but what does?
The pasta-cutting machine
The difference lies in the cutting machines used to cut the pasta. At the De Cecco factory, all types of pasta are cut with bronze cutting machines. During cutting, these machines give the pasta porosity, meaning that small pores form on the pasta. And these pores are key to perfect pasta. As a result, the pasta absorbs the sauce better and the sauce clings better to the cooked spaghetti, rigatoni or farfalle. If the pasta is too smooth, the sauce easily slides off, and pasta that isn’t coated in sauce is an absolute nightmare for all Italians (and for you).
100% al dente
Incidentally, this way of cutting pasta also ensures that the cooking time indicated on the packaging is much more consistent than with other pasta brands. So from now on, you can cook your favorite dried pasta perfectly al dente, right down to the second.
Also read:
- Do you already know this hack for draining pasta?
- Recipe: pasta with crayfish
- Why pasta water is worth its weight in gold
