The funny thing is that in my italian eyes, De Cecco is in the "meh" quality of pasta...
btw: the "fortified pasta" is something I cannot stand. You american should lobby to make "normal pasta" the only one available.
btw: the "fortified pasta" is something I cannot stand. You american should lobby to make "normal pasta" the only one available.
Btw I am biased: my grandmother was from Fara San Martino
Basically Cocco bought the old bronze machinery from De Cecco, when it still was a relatively small family business and not the huge company that it is today, and keeps using them... with an overhead that justifies the premium (if you like good pasta).
Anyhow, as I said, I mostly cook with De Cecco because it's easy to find in the supermarket, sometimes I go to an Italian shop that's close to where I live, and buy some artisanal pasta, and on rare occasions on holidays, I make home-made pasta (tagliatelle or pasta alla chitarra, and ragù as a sauce... it's really not that difficult, and it tastes much better than anything you can buy)
I agree that it's not that difficult to make, but I would argue that it's not necessarily much better in every case.
As my chief witness I enter Marcella Hazan. The late doyenne of Italian Cuisine.
In "The Classic Italian Cook Book: The Art of Italian Cooking and the Italian Art of Eating" she has more to say on the subject, but in short and from [1]:
"Although some types of pasta, like tagliatelle, are best made fresh at home, others, like spaghetti, should be bought dried. Pasta should be matched carefully to sauce."
I think that's the key. It really depends on the type of pasta and the sauce used.
That said: There's no doubt that ragu with freshly made tagliatelle is something devine.
On the other side, probably this is the reason why it's quite hard to find mediocre food in Italy.
If you only had a chance to fall into the tourist traps around Piazza Navona I stumbled into....
La Molisana is also OK among the commercial ones.
But if you have the chance to find it, you should try some pasta from Gragnano, they normally have pretty small businesses, so it is not so easy to find abroad.
If so, I'm in luck. It can be absolutely mail ordered and I'll definitely give it a shot.
Thanks a lot. Your tips are much appreciated and will probably lead me to eating better pasta. :)
I happen to like De Cecco, and it's the one they sell at the local italian specialties store (Berlin).
Rummo is great, their penne are almost impossible to overcook.
Agnesi is also a good brand.
I'm sure you can find both in Germany - I'm able to easily find both in Poland.