National Pasta Day

What the day is

National Pasta Day is observed on October 17. It is distinct from World Pasta Day, which is kept later in the month and was established by an industry congress in the 1990s.

Dried pasta is two ingredients: durum wheat semolina and water. Fresh egg pasta adds eggs and usually uses softer flour. They are different products for different sauces rather than better and worse versions of one thing.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented.

The shapes are the interesting part, and there are several hundred named ones. They are not arbitrary. Hollow and twisted shapes such as rigatoni and fusilli trap chunky, meaty sauces. Long strands suit sauces that coat rather than cling, which is why a thin oil-and-garlic dressing works on spaghetti and slides straight off penne. Small shapes go in soup. Wide flat ribbons carry rich slow-cooked ragu because there is enough surface to hold it.

Texture is set at the die. Pasta extruded through bronze dies comes out with a rough, chalky surface that sauce grips; the teflon dies used for cheap industrial pasta produce a smooth, slippery finish. It is visible on the dry pasta and obvious on the plate.

The cooking water matters as much as the pasta. Starch dissolved into it is what lets a sauce emulsify and cling instead of pooling at the bottom of the bowl, which is why finishing the pasta in the pan with a ladle of its water is the single most useful technique in Italian home cooking.

How to take part

• Salt the water properly. It should taste seasoned; this is the only chance to season the pasta itself.
• Do not add oil to the water. It coats the strands and stops sauce adhering.
• Undercook by a minute, then finish in the sauce with a splash of pasta water.
• Match shape to sauce rather than to preference.
• Buy bronze-die pasta once and compare it directly against your usual brand.
• Never rinse it, unless it is going into a cold salad.