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Info - Did You Know?

 

Do you know what sauce to choose?

Shapes Perfect Sauce Match (Descriptions and Suggestions)
 

Flat Long Shapes
 

  • Fettuccine
  • Fettuccine Rigate
  • Linguine
  • Linguine Fini
     

 

As the thicker flat long shape, Fettuccine can withstand extremely robust sauces:
  • Dairy-based, oil-based or tomato-based sauces
  • Sauces combined with meat, vegetables, seafood or cheese
     

Linguine is best known paired with traditional pesto.

Other perfect matches include:

  • Tomato sauces
  • Oil-based sauces
  • Fish-based sauces
     

Round Long Shapes
 

  • Bucatini Rigati
  • Angel Hair
  • Spaghetti,
  • Thin Spaghetti
    Thick Spaghetti
  • Spaghetti Rigati

 

Thicker in diameter than regular Spaghetti, Spaghettoni give a fuller taste to each sauce.
  • Extra virgin olive oil with fresh aromatic herbs and garlic
  • Fish-based sauces
  • Carbonara
     

Long and thin, yet not too fine, Spaghetti becomes brisk and graceful after cooking and is one of the most versatile shapes. Everybody’s favorite, Spaghetti pairs well with just about any kind of sauce.
 

Simple tomato sauce, with or without meat or vegetables (medium-size chunks work well).

  • Fish-based sauces
  • Oil-based sauces
  • Carbonara
     

Slightly thicker than Angel Hair but still refined and delicate, Spaghettini is often used with seafood-based sauces (like Tuna) or oil-based sauces.


Light structured sauces work best to balance the delicacy of Angel Hair:

  • Simple, light tomato sauces (tomatoes, oil, and basil)
  • Broths, consommés, and soups
  • Light dairy sauces like parsley crème
     

Oven Shapes
 

  • Lasagne
  • Manicotti
  • Jumbo Shells
     
These famous baking shapes are known for their generous consistency and heartiness, allowing for use with the most robust and highly flavorful sauces and the most sumptuous and creative fillings. Sauces can be rich in chunks and abundant with moisture to facilitate oven-baking. Lasagne, the most well-known pasta al forno, varies from region to region – Tuscans and Emilia-Romagnans make it with a béchamel, a meat ragu and grated Parmigiano; Ligurians make it with pesto.
  • Meat-based sauces like traditional Bolognese
  • Other tomato-based red sauces
  • Dairy-based sauces like a classic béchamel
  • Vegetable-based sauces
     

Soup Shapes
 

  • Pastina
  • Orzo
  • Ditalina
     
 

Known for being served in children’s meals across all of Italy, these very delicate shapes (Pastina) are great with light vegetable, meat or fish-based broth soups.

Heartier soups like vegetable soups with peas and lentils are perfect for these more substantial soup shapes. Also great with cream-based soups.
 

Specialty Shapes
 

  • Campanelle
  • Gemelli
  • Cellentani
  • Large Shells
  • Castellane
     
 

For a touch of elegance to any dish, these decorative shapes are great with:

  • Hearty dairy-based sauces (cheese or béchamel) [Campanelle, Gemelli, Castellane]
  • Vegetable sauces (like beans, lentils, chick peas, pumpkin, or other chunky vegetables) [Large Shells]
  • Meat sauces [Large Shells]
  • Fish-based sauces [Castellane, Cellentani]
  • Robust tomato-based sauces [Large Shells]
     

Tube Shapes

 

  • Mostaccioli
  • Penne
  • Mini Penne
  • Tubini
  • Rigatoni
  • Mezzi Rigatoni
  • PLUS Penne
  • Ziti

 

 

The thickness of these shapes requires full flavor sauces.

The large diameter, combined with the ridges that Penne & Rigatoni bring, make them ideal to retain sauces on the entire surface, inside and out!
 

  • Chunkier meat or vegetable-based sauces work well with the ridged shapes, like Ragu alla Bolognese – red sauce made with ground meat, onions, celery, carrots, and tomatoes.
  • Refined dairy-based sauces, like Quattro Formaggi – four cheese- or a Mushroom Cream Sauce
  • Fresh, light sauces – like olive oil or simple fresh tomato – work best with smooth shapes (Mostaccioli, Ziti) since they do not have the benefit of ridges to hold more sauce.
  • Tomato sauces or spicy sauces, like Arrabbiata.
  • Also great for baked casserole dishes, known as “pasta al forno” – great with cheese-based sauces like Quattro Formaggi, four cheese)
     

Versatile Shapes
 

 

  • Farfalle
  • Elbows
  • PLUS Elbows
  • Pipette
  • Medium Shells
  • Fiori
  • Tri-Color Fiori
  • PLUS Rotini
  • Rotini
  • Tri-Color Rotini
     
 

Farfalle is great with intense fragrances and flavors.

  • Light sauces with vegetables or fish
  • Dairy-based sauces
  • Simple oil-based sauces
  • Pasta salads

    Traditionally, these shapes (elbows, medium shells, pipette, fiori) are used widely in American-inspired pasta salads, and in the American favorite macaroni & cheese.

Traditional Italian usage might include:

  • Dairy-based sauces (butter or cheese)
  • Tomato-based sauces with or without vegetables
  • Chunky fish/meat-based sauce.

Rotini’s shape is made of lots of twists and spirals, allowing it to embrace both refined and simple sauces.

Vegetables, meat, seafood or fragrant spices love to glide in the grooves of this shape.

Rotini is often used in the U.S. in pasta salads.

Traditional Italian usage might include:

  • Light tomato sauces with or without vegetables (small diced)
  • Dairy-based sauces
  • Oil-based sauces
     

 

 

 



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