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I am italian living abroad... and De Cecco is the only pasta that you can consistently find that does not cook to a mish mash Can you find better? Yes of course

I am italian living abroad... and De Cecco is the only pasta that you can consistently find that does not cook to a mish mash Can you find better? Yes of course, also from the same small village in Abruzzo Fara San Martino (see Cocco), or most of the produce from Gragnano, or Rummo (from Benevento). But among the really commercial ones, not many are better than De Cecco, and even if they are, they are very difficult to find Btw I am biased: my grandmother was from Fara San Martino

rym_ 6y ago
I exclusively cook with cocco, to me it's miles beyond the competition but also a lot more expensive than rummo or de cecco. Haven't don't any direct comparisons between rummo and cocco, would you say the quality is similar?
- gitanovic 6y ago
  In my opinion Rummo is more commercial than Cocco, and despite being a very valid product, doesn't have the same quality. Basically Cocco bought the old bronze machinery from De Cecco, when it still was a relatively small family business and not the huge company that it is today, and keeps using them... with an overhead that justifies the premium (if you like good pasta). Anyhow, as I said, I mostly cook with De Cecco because it's easy to find in the supermarket, sometimes I go to an Italian shop that's close to where I live, and buy some artisanal pasta, and on rare occasions on holidays, I make home-made pasta (tagliatelle or pasta alla chitarra, and ragù as a sauce... it's really not that difficult, and it tastes much better than anything you can buy)
  - CaptainZapp 6y ago
    > it's really not that difficult, and it tastes much better than anything you can buy I agree that it's not that difficult to make, but I would argue that it's not necessarily much better in every case. As my chief witness I enter Marcella Hazan. The late doyenne of Italian Cuisine. In "The Classic Italian Cook Book: The Art of Italian Cooking and the Italian Art of Eating" she has more to say on the subject, but in short and from [1]: "Although some types of pasta, like tagliatelle, are best made fresh at home, others, like spaghetti, should be bought dried. Pasta should be matched carefully to sauce." I think that's the key. It really depends on the type of pasta and the sauce used. That said: There's no doubt that ragu with freshly made tagliatelle is something devine. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcella_Hazan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcella_Hazan

rym_ 6y ago

I exclusively cook with cocco, to me it's miles beyond the competition but also a lot more expensive than rummo or de cecco. Haven't don't any direct comparisons between rummo and cocco, would you say the quality is similar?

gitanovic 6y ago
In my opinion Rummo is more commercial than Cocco, and despite being a very valid product, doesn't have the same quality. Basically Cocco bought the old bronze machinery from De Cecco, when it still was a relatively small family business and not the huge company that it is today, and keeps using them... with an overhead that justifies the premium (if you like good pasta). Anyhow, as I said, I mostly cook with De Cecco because it's easy to find in the supermarket, sometimes I go to an Italian shop that's close to where I live, and buy some artisanal pasta, and on rare occasions on holidays, I make home-made pasta (tagliatelle or pasta alla chitarra, and ragù as a sauce... it's really not that difficult, and it tastes much better than anything you can buy)
- CaptainZapp 6y ago
  > it's really not that difficult, and it tastes much better than anything you can buy I agree that it's not that difficult to make, but I would argue that it's not necessarily much better in every case. As my chief witness I enter Marcella Hazan. The late doyenne of Italian Cuisine. In "The Classic Italian Cook Book: The Art of Italian Cooking and the Italian Art of Eating" she has more to say on the subject, but in short and from [1]: "Although some types of pasta, like tagliatelle, are best made fresh at home, others, like spaghetti, should be bought dried. Pasta should be matched carefully to sauce." I think that's the key. It really depends on the type of pasta and the sauce used. That said: There's no doubt that ragu with freshly made tagliatelle is something devine. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcella_Hazan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcella_Hazan