What is Pasta? Classification, How to Make, Shaping and Distinguishing Pasta from Spaghetti
Pasta is Italian pasta, but how well do you really know this dish? Let’s delve deeper into what pasta is, how it differs from spaghetti, its classification, how to make it, and how to shape it with Điện máy XANH’s section!
1. What is Pasta?
Definition
Pasta is a food originating from Italy, made from unleavened wheat flour dough mixed with water, then formed into various shapes, most commonly macaroni and noodles. Additionally, pasta can also be made from various flours and eggs (instead of water).
How to process pasta based on characteristics
Pasta comes in two forms: dry and fresh. Dry pasta is largely commercially produced with the aid of pasta machines to supply a large quantity to the market. Meanwhile, fresh pasta is handcrafted, occasionally using simple machinery.
Regardless of the form, pasta is among the famous culinary categories of Italy with 3 processing methods as follows:
- Pasta asciutta (or pastasciutta): is pasta that is cooked, served on a plate and eaten with sauce or other seasonings.
- Pasta in brodo: is pasta that becomes an ingredient cooked in soup.
- Pasta al forno: is pasta combined with other ingredients and then baked.
2. Basic types of pasta
According to records, there are up to 310 different types of pasta with different names (often called by local language, shape, ingredients or usage habits). However, Điện máy XANH will reveal to you some basic types of pasta – commonly used as follows:
- Spaghetti: a type of long pasta, 25-30cm long.
- Penne: a type of tube-shaped pasta.
- Lasagna: a type of sheet pasta.
- Agnolotti: a type of pasta that is round, half-moon or square shaped, and has a meat filling inside. Usually eaten with cheese, spinach and cherry tomatoes.
- Bigoli: a type of pasta made from whole wheat flour or buckwheat, quite similar to spaghetti.
- Bucatini: a type of pasta similar to spaghetti but hollow inside.
- Cannelloni: a type of large tube pasta, usually stuffed with meat inside and topped with sauce before baking.
- Cavatappi: a type of spiral-shaped pasta, often served with spinach.
- Conchiglie: a type of shell-shaped pasta, with unique colors and usually dried.
- Farfalle: a familiar type of bow-tie pasta.
- Lumaconi: a type of snail-shell shaped pasta, often stuffed with chicken and walnuts.
3. Distinguishing pasta from spaghetti
Spaghetti is also commonly used, often causing confusion with pasta. In reality, spaghetti is one of many types of pasta, and you can distinguish between pasta and spaghetti through some characteristics that Điện máy XANH suggests below:
|
Pasta |
Spaghetti |
|
|
Flour type |
Made from unleavened wheat flour, or other types of cereal flour. |
Made from semolina flour |
|
Shape characteristics |
Diverse, with over 310 types with different shapes, such as long, short, tubular, flat shapes, etc. |
Long, thin, cylindrical strands. Initially, this type of pasta was very long, but later it became shorter, around 25-30cm. |
|
Processing methods |
There are 3 types of processing methods:
|
Boiled, then served with tomato sauce, or other sauces (such as cream sauce, seafood sauce, etc.). |
|
Name |
Pasta is a general term, with different names depending on the local area, even based on shape, ingredients and usage habits. |
Spaghetti is the plural of the word spaghetto (in Italian) and is also a diminutive of the word spago (meaning thin rope, thin thread in Vietnamese). |
4. How to make pasta
Ingredients and tools
Ingredients:
- All-purpose flour: 2 cups.
- Salt: 1 pinch.
- Chicken eggs: 2 + 6 yolks.
- Olive oil: 1 teaspoon.
Tools:, fork, etc.
How to make pasta dough
Step 1: Pour flour onto a clean surface, spread evenly and create a well in the center.
Step 2: Put olive oil into a bowl of eggs (including 2 whole eggs + 6 yolks), stir well with a spoon, do not whisk!
Step 3: Pour the eggs into the well of flour, continue to beat the eggs clockwise with a fork (or spoon). At the same time, use the fork to gradually bring the flour from the outside into the center to mix with the eggs.
Step 4: After the eggs and flour are mixed together, a dough will gradually form. Now, use your hands to form the dough into a ball.
Sprinkle some all-purpose flour to prevent the dough from becoming too wet from the eggs.
Step 5: Continue to knead the dough with your hands from the outside to the inside, up and down for about 7-10 minutes. During the kneading process, you can sprinkle some more flour to prevent the dough from becoming too wet.
Step 6: Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and let it rest for 30-60 minutes before shaping the pasta.
9 ways to shape pasta
Cut the dough in half: wrap one half in plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out, and shape the other half first.
Step 1: Sprinkle a little flour on a clean surface, then place half the dough on it, press down with your hand while allowing the dough to absorb the sprinkled flour.
Step 2: Use a rolling pin to roll the dough up and down to evenly flatten it. Then, roll the dough up around the rolling pin and roll back and forth to make the dough evenly thin.
Continue to roll the dough thinner, to a thickness of about 1.5cm. At this point, you can put away the rolling pin and use your hands to lift the dough to check if it’s ok.
Step 3: Sprinkle semolina flour evenly over the dough, spread the sprinkled flour with your hand and fold a 3-5cm wide edge of the top of the dough over the middle. Similarly with the bottom edge of the dough.
Step 4: Use a knife to cut the dough to create shapes; you can create many different pasta shapes with different sizes. For example:
- Filini: a type of thin strand pasta, cut the dough with a width of about 2mm.
- Pappardelle: a type of wide strand pasta, cut the dough with a width of about 2.25cm.
- Farfalle: bow-tie shaped pasta. First, cut the dough with a width of 2.25cm, then spread out the cut piece, use a serrated knife to cut into a rectangle shape, then use your hand to pull and join two opposite sides of the rectangle to create bow-tie pasta.
- Tagliatelle: a type of strand pasta, cut the dough with a width of 6mm.
- Strozzapreti: a type of short, twisted strand pasta. First, cut the dough with a width of 6mm, then spread out the pasta strand to cut to a length of about 10cm. Then, use your hand to roll each strand evenly to twist it.
- Trofie: a type of pasta similar to rice noodles but twisted.
Use the remaining half of the dough, cut a portion of the dough, and roll it evenly so that the pasta strand has a diameter of about 6mm. Then, use a knife to cut the pasta strands to a length of 2.5cm, then roll the 2 ends of the pasta to resemble the tail of rice noodles. Finally, use the tip of the knife to gently pull towards you and roll the pasta to create a twist.
- Fusilli: a type of large twisted pasta.
Similar to Trofie, use a knife to cut the dough strands to a length of 5cm. Then, use a skewer to roll each piece of dough evenly to create a twist.
- Cavatelli: a type of shell-like pasta.
Cut the dough strands to a length of more than 1cm, and use a tool to create a groove (as shown in the image) to roll each small piece of dough to create shell-like pasta.
- Orecchiette: a type of hat-shaped pasta.
Roll the dough to create a strand with a diameter of 1cm, then use a knife to cut small pieces with a width of 1cm. Then, use a small knife blade, press the small dough ball thinly, then use your hand to create a concave shape.
5. Delicious pasta dishes
With each type of pasta shape, you can make many attractive Italian pasta dishes, such as crab or shrimp pasta with cream cheese sauce for those who love seafood and the creamy taste of cream cheese.
Furthermore, you can choose large tube pasta to cook with cheese using the baking method, for example.
Hopefully, with the above information, Điện máy XANH has helped you have a clearer picture of what pasta is, how it differs from spaghetti, its classification, how to make it, and how to shape it!
