Celentani and manicotti, Caserecce and pipa rigate, mafaldine and stellin, soba and udon, saifun and bifun, chuzma and nuasyr - for someone who treats pasta “calmly”, it's just a bunch of foreign words. For a true lover, this is a story about what kinds of pasta are in different countries.
Today, unlike in earlier times, the most diverse types of pasta are presented on the shelves of shops and supermarkets. The photo below shows only a small number of pasta that is different in shape, variety and appearance.
Where and when did the pasta appear?
The exact date when pasta appeared in the diet of people can not be called by any culinary historian. Today, there are hypotheses about the primacy of the Etruscans, Chinese and Arabs in the matter of the invention of pasta.
Having carefully studied the bas-reliefs of the Etruscan necropolis dating back to the 4th century BC. e., historians have come to the conclusion that they depict utensils through which pasta was made.
According to another theory, the modern history of pasta begins in the 13th century, when Marco Polo returned to Venice from China. However, back in the middle of the XII century, most of Sicily's exports were one of the types of pasta (pasta secca). That is, even half a century before the return of the great traveler from China, Italians already made different types of pasta.
Other historians argue that the priority in the discovery of pasta, or rather of their kind, like noodles, belongs to China, where it was prepared before the advent of our era. Despite the fact that there is no accurate information about when and where pasta appeared, people living in different countries and belonging to different cultures and nationalities enjoy using them.
"National" features of pasta
In the cuisine of many nations there are a variety of types of pasta and dishes in which they are used in one form or another.
For Europeans, the most beloved and familiar types are pasta made from wheat flour. They can be of various widths, lengths and shapes.
Most of the inhabitants of Asia, including the Chinese, prefer pasta made from rice flour. These are mainly pasta types such as rice noodles of various lengths and widths, translucent or white.
In Japan, Kazakhstan, Central Asia and some provinces of China, long noodles, which are pulled in a special way, are very popular. In Asia, it is called "Chuzma" and is used to prepare the lagman.
In Japan, they are pleased to prepare a wide variety of pasta from various types of flour. So, soba noodles made from a mixture of buckwheat and rice flour and used in the preparation of many dishes are very popular. Bean starch is used to make a special type of noodle, saifun.
In the Arab countries, pasta types such as Rasht and Nouasyr are popular.
For a long time, culinary experts from around the world have perfected the art of making pasta and created new recipes. Let's look at what pasta is.
Russian pasta classification
Pasta can be systematized according to various criteria and, above all, depending on the raw materials used in the manufacturing process. Macaroni in most cases is made from wheat flour, but can also be made from rice, rye and buckwheat flour, as well as corn starch.
According to Russian standards, pasta made from wheat flour, depending on the varieties of wheat, is divided into the following groups: A, B, C. In addition, the flour grade is the basis for the allocation of three varieties of pasta - the highest, first and second.
Group A includes pasta made from flour of the highest, first and second grades of durum wheat. Raw materials for pasta of group B are flour of the highest and first grades from glassy soft wheat. For group B pasta, baking flour of the highest and first grades is used.
In Russia, according to established GOSTs, all pasta, depending on their shape, is divided into several types:
- curly;
- tubular;
- threadlike;
- ribbon-like.
In each of these types, several species are distinguished. Figured products can be made in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Tubular pasta includes directly pasta, feathers and horns. Depending on the diameter, they are divided into:
- "Straw" - with a diameter up to 4 mm;
- special - diameter from 4 mm to 5.5 mm;
- ordinary - with a diameter from 5.6 mm to 7 mm;
- amateur - with a diameter of more than 7 mm.
Filamentous pasta is divided into spider noodles with a diameter of not more than 0.8 mm; thin - with a diameter of not more than 1.2 mm; ordinary - whose diameter does not exceed 1.5 mm; amateur - up to 3 mm in diameter.
Ribbon-shaped pasta includes noodles produced in various types and names. It can be with straight and wavy edges, corrugated and smooth. The thickness of the noodles cannot exceed 2 mm, and any width is allowed, but not less than 3 mm.
According to Russian GOSTs, all pasta is divided into two main groups: short, from 1.5 to 15 cm long, and long - from 15 to 50 cm. According to GOSTs, pasta is only long, noodles and vermicelli can be either long or and short. Curly products, as well as horns and feathers, are only available in short.
Italian pasta classification
In Italy, a slightly different classification of pasta is used than is accepted in Russia. In total, there are about three hundred kinds of pasta in Italian cooking, but hardly anyone can name the exact number.
In Italy, all pasta is divided primarily into raw and dry. Dry pasta is stored for a long time and sold in ordinary stores. Unlike them, raw pasta is immediately used for cooking this or that dish.
All Italian pasta is conditionally divided into the following subgroups:
- long
- short
- curly;
- small soup paste;
- intended for baking;
- filled (stuffed) pasta.
Long pasta
Long pasta includes tubes with a diameter of 1.2 to 2 mm, such as cappellini, vermicelli, spaghetti and spaghettini and bucatini.
Flat pasta in the form of ribbons of a strip of noodles, such as bavetta, fettuccine, tagliatelle, linguine and pappardelle, differ in width, which happens from 3 to 13 mm.
A separate type of long flat pasta is mafaldine, having wavy edges.
Short pasta
There is a great variety of short pasta, the following types are most popular.
Penne feathers are small tubes with a diameter of not more than 10 mm and a length of not more than 4 cm. The tips of such pasta are cut obliquely, which makes them resemble a sharpened feather. Their surface can be either smooth or corrugated.
Ditalini, which is translated from Italian as “thimbles”. Small and very short tubes.
Rigatoni - short and long pasta tubes, wider than penne. Usually grooved.
Ziti - slightly curved arc tubes. They can be both short and long.
Horns (Elbow macaroni) - arcuate, small-sized hollow tubules.
Curly pasta
Curly pasta in the Italian tradition can be very different both in shape and size. What are the most popular and commonly used forms of pasta?
Rotini - spirals, really small and short “springs”.
Fuzzy - spirals longer than rotini, and also twisted into a "spring". They can be of different types: long, thin, short and thick.
Kawatappi - very similar to fuzzy, but only more elongated. Inside they are hollow, and outside - corrugated.
Conquillier - shells, and literally translated from Italian - "mollusk shell." They differ in length and narrow internal cavity.
Lumake - snails. Indeed, they look very similar to the snail house from which it crawled out.
Farfale - butterflies. We got accustomed to a less romantic and more prosaic name - “bows”.
The radiator is not a very tasty and romantic sounding name - the radiator, because of the grooves and grooves on each pasta.
Rouote is a wheel, our pasta of this shape are called “wheels."
Orso - rice-like small pasta.
We won’t take a closer look at the types of Italian pasta; we’ll just list a few more names: torchio, gemelli, malloredas, caesarea, cross di galli, quadrefiore and jigli.
Small pasta (pasta) for soups
For dressing soups use the following types of small pasta.
Anelli - small flat rings.
Alphabet - pasta in the form of letters.
Coralli - miniature small tubes, in a section reminiscent of coral.
Stellete - stars, similar to our soup pasta of the same shape.
Filini - short strings.
Roast pasta
Cannelloni - Look like long and large diameter tubes.
Manicotti are long tubes, like cannelloni, but only with a smaller diameter.
Conquillone - the largest, one might say, giant shells.
Conquillae are medium sized shells.
Lumaconi are large snails.
Lasagna - flat and wide sheets, the edges of which can be both flat and wavy.
Stuffed Pasta - Filled Pasta
Ravioli - square dumplings made from pasta dough, are very similar to ordinary Russian dumplings.
Tortellinni - small dumplings in the form of rings with a variety of fillings.
Gnocchi is a small dumpling stuffed with mashed potatoes, cheese or spinach.
When asked about pasta, most of their fans aged 3 to 12 will say that they are colored. Indeed, it is children who love such pasta the most! They are usually stained with natural dyes. So, green pasta will be obtained by adding spinach juice, purple - beetroot juice, black - squid ink.
In Italy, black pasta is very fond of and called pasta nera. The size, shape and length of these pasta depend solely on the culinary imagination of the cook who decided to cook them.
We examined the most commonly used types and varieties of pasta, in fact, the range of pasta is much larger than we can imagine. Probably, the Italians themselves, with the exception of professional chefs, culinary historians and technologists of pasta production, do not know what pasta are so beloved in their homeland.