Italian Cooks: Is there a reason why one would use one shape of extruded pasta over another?

2 responses so far ↓

• 1 nicholeati // Sep 27, 2008

  they deffinately have a specific use that is why they were created. each shape has a region of italy that uses it in certain dishes -
  look at the long descriptions on these shapes and you'll get the gist of it. so it's not to say you can't use them for anything - sure you can - but certain shapes hold different sauces better!
  https://www.all-things-italian.com/products.php?cat=78

• 2 Nir H // Sep 27, 2008

  one practical reason to choose a specific pasta shape is the sauce you are using. certain pasta shapes are better at catching up sauses that are not too thick while other shapes (such as the stansard macaroni stripes) will only work well with thick, sticky sauces (because thin sauces will not stick to them and you’ll end up eating the pasta and the sauce separately.)