Pasta

[LooneyTunes]

The kids apparently insisted we bought fresh spaghetti (they've never had it before so god knows why!). I figured I'd cook some for dinner this evening and have been left thoroughly underwhelmed.

Even though it was in the pan for a little over half the recommended cooking time it lacked bite and tasted more like noodles than spaghetti. The dried stuff I buy tastes and holds the sauce much much better.

It got me thinking, what's the best pasta you can get in the UK?

[Mobile Chicane]

Supermarkets are keen to push 'fresh' pasta as it's a high margin product.

Far, far, better results will be had from 100% durum wheat dried pasta. De Cecco is my preference.

[LooneyTunes]

We usually buy De Cecco too or, if they've got it, Rustichella d'Abruzzo (it's not cheap but I find I end up using less per serving).

[sherman]

You could make some yourself. All you need is flour eggs and a bit of oil. You could even get the kids involved in making their own dinner

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/freshpastadough_...

[J8 SVG]

The best stuff is the tagliatelle, as it's much thicker it holds lots of sauce as long as you don't over cook it. I'll agree that the spaghetti isn't great though.

[TIGA84]

This

http://www.dececco.it/EN/Semolina-Pasta/Traditiona...

Is the best, by far.

Failing that if you happen to shop in waitrose..

http://www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?...

Is a good runner.

[oddman]

LooneyTunes said:

It got me thinking, what's the best pasta you can get in the UK?

We're lucky (Imagine asking where can you get the best chips in Italy) . It's the same answer as 'What's the best pasta you can get in the Italy?'

Which is de Cecco or DIY

[deadslow]

Spag holds the sauce a million times better if you 'dry' (i.e. pitchfork) it with a fork, in the collander. That way you're not adding sauce to a watery mess.