Guides

The bigger picture behind the catalog. How a shape decides its sauce, what separates fresh from dried, and the handful of ideas that explain most of Italian pasta.

• How to read a pasta shape

  Every shape is a machine for holding sauce. Learn the four things to look at and you can predict what any pasta wants.

• Fresh vs dried pasta: when each wins

  One is not better than the other. They are two different materials, and each was built for different sauces.

• The four Roman pasta sauces

  Cacio e pepe, gricia, amatriciana, carbonara. Four dishes built on the same two ingredients, and the shapes they ride.

• Pasta for soup: the smallest shapes

  Why broth calls for the tiny pasta, and which one to drop in.

• Egg vs semolina: the two doughs

  Almost every pasta is one of two recipes. The dough tells you the region, the texture, and the sauce.

• What bronze-die pasta means

  Two words on a box, trafilata al bronzo, tell you how the pasta will hold its sauce. Here is why they matter.

• Pasta for baking: the al forno shapes

  Not every shape survives the oven. The ones that do are big, sturdy, and built to hold a filling or a sauce.

• The hand-formed shapes of the South

  Some pasta needs a thumb, a board, or a knitting needle. These are the shapes a machine cannot quite fake.