The best shapes for butter and parmesan

Each piece is smaller than a peppercorn, so sauce never coats individual beads the way it coats a noodle.

This is pastina scale, so the cooking liquid is the dish.

Anolini are tiny and made to be cooked and served in broth, not coated.

The dough is rich and the filling soft, milky ricotta against salty cured mortadella and nutmeg, so the dressing stays light to let the parcel speak.

The filling is sealed inside the twisted parcel, so the dressing only has to coat the smooth outer dough and stay out of the way of what is inside.

The filling is sealed inside thin folded dough, so the dressing only has to coat the outer pasta and frame what is already inside.

The filling does the talking, a sweet earthy beet and potato mix, so the dressing stays spare and lets it through.

Cjarsons carry a sweet-and-savory filling, so the dressing stays restrained and aromatic rather than tomato-based.

Marubini are a brodo pasta before they are anything else.

The seasoning lives in the sealed filling, so the dressing only needs to coat the parcels, not carry the dish.

Treat orzo as a grain that happens to be pasta.

The porous buckwheat surface and flat ribbon form grab melted cheese and butter rather than thin liquids.

The fluted, crimped border and broad flat face give a meaty or creamy sauce many edges to cling to.

The filling is meatless, a compact mix of grana, breadcrumbs, egg, parsley, garlic, and warm spices including nutmeg and cinnamon, so it asks for a dressing that frames it rather than competes.

Stelline are soup physics in miniature.

This is a thin, delicate egg ribbon, so it wants light dressings that cling without weighing it down.

This is a very thin, yolk-rich flat ribbon, so it wants light fat-based dressings that cling to the fine strands without burying them.