Italian Pasta Poster

We don’t mess around with Italian pasta! At home it’s a must, much appreciated by children and adults alike. Yes, but at first sight, we don’t know how to choose them…
By the way, if you are a Italy lover, you might also like our espresso coffee poster!

How to choose your Italian pasta

We all cook pasta. But do we know how to choose them? Here are some essential tips to make sure you don’t go wrong:

• Choose artisanal pasta rather than industrial pasta
• The pasta should be a little rough, so that the sauce can stick to it
• They should be a uniform, dull amber color.

Italian pasta: how to choose their size and shape according to the dish you are cooking?

Did you know that there are no less than 500 different varieties of pasta? I get lost and I don’t know what to choose: penne rigate, rigatoni, fusili, farfalle? In fact, each form of Italian pasta is adapted to a type of dish or sauce. And that is the purpose of this poster!

Twisted pasta for thick sauces

First of all, the more hollow or twisted the pasta is, the more it “clings” to the sauce. This type of Italian pasta is therefore particularly suitable for all types of sauces, even the lightest:

Penne rigate
Fusili
Creste di gallo
Conchiglie
Gemelli
etc.

The rough ones for the cream

Next, it is important to remember that cannelloni and gnocchi type pastas are perfect for cream-based sauces: carbonara, 4 cheeses etc. Their rough texture is very good for cream-based sauces.

Fine Italian pasta for light sauces

To continue, thin pasta such as capellini, spaghettini and spaghetti are suitable for light sauces: tomato sauce, pesto or just a dash of olive oil.

Large hollow pasta for gratins

Finally, large hollow pasta is particularly suitable for gratins, as the sauce will get inside of the pasta and enhance the dish.

Small test question: what is the difference between pasta and noodles?
The word pasta refers to the Italian pasta from which it takes its name (pasta in Italian). Noodles has a more general meaning, which includes Asian products. The word noodle actually comes from the German Nudel, which means… pasta.

The list of Italian pasta in this poster

In Italy, pasta is eaten in sauce, soup or stuffed with a vegetable or meat. To help you find your way around, I have grouped together in this poster the different Italian pastas and the type of sauce they are made for:

Penne Rigate, Fusili, Farfalle, Creste di Gallo, Conchiglie, Fusili Bucati, Maccheroni, Gemelli, Ruote, Tripolini, Rigatoni, Cannelloni, Capellini, Spaghettini, Spaghetti, Spaghettoni, Linguine, Tagliatelle, Fettuccine, Mafalde