When looking at the wide variety of pasta as well as the social norm that “fresh is better,” is such a debate applicable when it comes to pasta and can it influence one’s choice to pick fresh pasta over dry pasta? Well sorry to break it to you but just because pasta is made fresh in the kitchen and not stored over long periods of time, it’s not better whatsoever. Now, many companies like Gigi’s Pasta offer fresh pasta delivery right to your doorstep, making it very easy to buy tasty fresh pasta. You no longer need to go to Italian Restaurants to eat authentic Italian food.
First of all, it’s important to know what the differences are between fresh pasta and dry pasta.
Dried Pasta
- Can be stored in a cool, dry place such as a pantry for up to one year, almost indefinitely.
- Made from finely ground semolina flour, water and salt
- Due to its firmness, it’s best used in dishes such as a casserole or one with a ragu sauce.
- Known to double in size because of its dried-like structure
- Cut into the wide array of pasta shapes everyone knows and loves.
Fresh Pasta
- Made with eggs and extra added water
- Takes less time to cook than dried pasta, is also more tender
- Delicate nature means it’s mostly used for cream and dairy-based sauces
- More expensive than dried pasta
- Needs to be refrigerated when being stored.
Typically, you can find yourself using and buying dried pasta quite often and am sure that it’s sitting in your pantry right now. Examples of dried pasta are: Spaghetti, Penne, Lasagne and Fusilli. They’re most likely what you use in conjunction with sauces such as Bolognese and Arrabiata.
When dealing with fresh pasta on the other hand, you usually find that the pasta is most ideal on sauces that have whole milk or melted butter as a base. Such sauces include: carbonara or alfredo. These are the sauces most often used with fresh pastas such as the tender tagliatelle or the fine fettucine.
Now, going back to the argument that “fresh is better,” we can start to see that the difference is not as obvious as night and day. But rather, both have their own unique uses in the kitchen and there is no solid evidence or argument that one is better than the other, you can find high-end authentic Italian versions of both dry and fresh pasta, while also being able to find the low-end, generic, supermarket versions.
However, take such information lightly as at the end of the day, what you choose to do with whichever pasta is completely of your own choice. You can make your carbonara with dried spaghetti or choose to have a ragu sauce with tagliatelle, the options are limitless and up to the chef’s imagination and thus whatever the dish, it should reflect your personality and the tastes you love. Even a Michelin-starred chef can find a way to make an amazing, five-star dried pasta dish while a new cook will barely make a statement with their fresh pasta.
All in all, both dried and fresh pasta both have their place in the kitchen for their own unique dishes and at the same time, can be interchangeably used in whatever dish you wish to use them in. If you don’t feel like cooking yourself, you can buy fresh pasta from places like Giovanna’s Cocktails.
