PASTA MASTER

Amp up your knowledge of the Italian staple with this guide to styles and shapes.

- JORDAN KRETCHM

The word pasta itself has Latin and Greek origins, meaning paste, of flour and water. This simple combination is then pressed, rolled, extruded, curled, and pushed into an array of shapes and styles – sometimes filled. While the combinations are endless, each town, chef and family will have a preferred style, so pasta is about getting to know the nuances of each.

This is by no means an exhaustive guide but instead a cheat sheet to get you thinking about, cooking and discussing the array of pasta available. “There’s a match-making element to putting pastas and sauces together,” says Diana Desensi of Byron Bay’s Pixie Food & Wine. “Pasta is meditative for all of us. I don’t know whether it’s a chef thing or an Italian thing. It’s a luscious, beautiful thing to make. Getting the dough right and then eating pasta you’ve made that day, there’s nothing quite like it.”

We spoke to Desensi, along with Scott McComas-Williams of Palazzo Salato and Ragazzi, to learn about some of their favourite shapes, and explore the origins, tips and tricks for each.

FILLED PASTAS

Scarpinocc

Bon-bon-like in shape, scarpinocc is said to represent a handmade cloth shoe. “It’s cute but functional,” says McComas-Williams of the dimple in the middle, which makes this shape a perfect vessel for a butter or stock sauce. “Because of the way it’s folded and pinched at the end, there’s two and even four pieces of pasta coming together, so it’s a real textural difference.” He recommends a silkier filling, such as potato purée, to build on this contrast. “You couldn’t go stuffing it with a sausage farce, you need something smooth. Something silky that’s going to ooze out.”