What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of fresh pasta?
Outside of Italy, most people probably think of egg pasta, such as tagliatelle and fettucine. However, egg pasta is just one branch of fresh pasta. The latter, as we intend it in Italy, is made with water and semolina flour (durum wheat), whereas the former is made with eggs and double-zero flour (soft wheat). It goes without saying that there are countless exceptions in both cases. Some recipes may require the addition, removal or substitution of ingredients.
There’s a further distinction to be made. In northern and central Italy, fresh pasta is usually made with soft wheat flour, while in the south it's almost always made with semolina flour. Indeed, fresh semolina pasta is deeply rooted in southern gastronomy.
I’ll be introducing some of the most common types of fresh pasta in the next few instalments. So stay tuned!
A side note: if you’re a keen observer, you may’ve noticed that fresh pasta has the same ingredients as dry pasta. That’s because dry pasta is basically fresh pasta, but dried. Of course, the former goes through different steps before it’s dried, but that’s a topic for another post.
Anyway, there’s enough information on this post for you to reach an interesting conclusion on your own. Post your guesses in the comments below, but don’t cheat by looking things up.
Headline image by andersjilden on Unsplash
I love tagliatelle a lot! Unfortunately, we can't get good ones here, though. My mouth is watering, lol
Do you mean fresh or dry tagliatelle?
Fresh one, of course. I have a question. Is gluten-free popular there?
Excellent English! I read it three times and don't see what I'm meant to be guessing at, so I'll wait to see what other keener users have to say.
I can't really see what I'm supposed to conclude either. Is it that egg pasta is preferred in the north?
I've made pasta and enjoyed it. The supermarket that I go to now sells 00 flour, so I might have a go with the correct ingredients. It also sells some types of Barilla pasta, so I've got two to try. They're rather expensive.
@Dripdrip Barilla is good. I once found a dry pasta put out by Mario Batali and it was unbelievable. Before eating it, I though all dry pasta was the same, but no — it had a texture and elasticity that was unparalleled. Unfortunately, I never saw it in the supermarket again… maybe because it was quite pricey. Now that I’ve tried a few brands and realize there is definitely a difference, Barilla is my go-to.
@CocoPop Now my expectations are really high.
@Dripdrip You’ll like it. People stopped buying it here for a while because apparently Barilla did something to annoy the LGBTWXYZ community — and we all know how difficult it is to do that! 😅 — but that just meant more for me to enjoy. And when they inevitably had to reduce the price just to move it, I stocked up and have enough to feed a small army. It’ll probably last me the rest of the year because I only eat pasta on Sundays.
@CocoPop I think I've had pasta three times this week, so buying the 'good stuff' will be quite expensive.
@Yumi Unfortunately, coeliac disease isn't rare amongst Italians. I myself know a few people who have it. You can find gluten-free pasta everywhere. Of course, Italy being Italy, there are actually many types of gluten-free pasta. When I say "types", I mean that the ingredients are different.
@Dripdrip Gotcha! 😉
@Dripdrip and @CocoPop You might want to look forward to my post about dry pasta. Like seriously, you'd better not miss it.
@Simone- Duh... as if we'd miss any of your posts 😅
@Dripdrip, it's true that egg pasta is a northern thing. However, it's not what I meant.
I've had pasta 11 times this week. Pasta is only expensive in the UK because of Brexit. Pasta companies have been forced to raise prices in the UK because it's become a lot more expensive to import pasta over there. This in turn has opened up the UK market to cheap American pasta made with low quality wheat. Just to be clear, egg pasta is made with 00 flour.
@CocoPop I know what you're talking to. The owner of Barilla said some very offensive things about gay people on a radio show. There's a YT video of it.
@Simone- Then I have no idea.
We have pasta and we have cheap pasta. It's only recently that I've seen half-decent pasta from Italy in my supermarket. It's ironic that we didn't have in while we were still in the EU. I've reached a point in my life where I think that it's worth paying more for things that I really like. I'm also growing San Marzano tomatoes in my vegetable patch so that I can have decent tomatoes for my pasta sauces.
@Simone- Yeah, my Italian painting teacher's husband has that disease. He and my teacher are not good at English and they explained about it, but at that time, I didn't understand what they wanted to say. Thank you, Simo. Now, I understand it. When I visited my teacher's we always had to eat anything gluten free. You explained Northern pasta and Southern pasta are different. One of my Italian friends said when we go South, food gets much better. While I was in the States, I felt the same. Maybe Uly disagree with me, though. We are the same. Western Japan and Eastern Japan are different. It's very interesting to know. Thank you for sharing the post.
@Dripdrip I'm really impressed that you're growing San Marzano tomatoes. They definitely deserve a post of their own. Of course, I wouldn't expect your tomatoes to have the same flavour profile as those imported from Italy. San Marzano tomatoes develop their unique flavour thanks to the volcanic soil and the Mediterranean climate.
@yumiyumayume I don't think your friend actually meant that southern cuisine is better than northern cuisine. They probably meant that, on average, restaurants in the south offer better value for money.
I think my friend mean it because she didn't mention about food potion or prices.
@Simone- I don't expect my tomatoes to taste as good as anything grown in Italy, but they will taste better than anything I can buy locally.
@yumiyumayume Where's your friend from?
@Dripdrip Of course they do. I didn't mean to imply that your tomatoes don't taste good.
Except you, all my Italian friends are from Brescia.
Are you sure that your friend isn't a Southerner in disguise?
I don't think she is from South.
Understood. She must really like food in southern Italy.
I think so. I'll meet her in two months and ask her about food in South.
👍 (in the South*)