Pasta tastes different in Europe

[spottedinthewilds]

Sorry - really random and dull post!

I recently spent some time in Portugal. We self catered and I purchased some dried pasta and made a meal. The pasta tasted how I remember dried pasta tasting when I was young, it had almost a buttery taste. It was delicious on its own. Really tasty.

The pasta here back home is bland and tasteless.

Does anyone know of a brand that is not bland and tasteless as I really liked it.

Sorry for the really dull post.

I will stock up next time.

You need de cecco pasta, it's more expensive but so much nicer.

What brand of pasta do you use at home?

Maybe the water is a factor.

What pasta are you currently buying? We get De Cecco or Rummo, bronze cut pasta is the best. Supermarkets even do their own version now.

We use Barillo and it’s pretty good. It’s what most supermarkets her stock and we are close to Italy
I get De cecco if they have it for tagliatelle.

I tend to buy the supermarket own brand. I have recently bought the dark blue boxes which might be Cecco but I didn't think they tasted of anything either.

But I will seek out some more premium brands and try them.

It was just a supermarket one.

We gave up and bought a pasta maker for Christmas so now we make our own tagliatelle, spaghetti and noodles. It's surprisingly easy. Hardest part is kneading the dough for 15 minutes.

Barilla is the dark blue boxes. It's OK. Agree that De Cecco (yellow and light blue box) is the best brand you regularly get in supermarkets. Anything own brand is basically hard wallpaper paste.

I think what makes the difference, aside from it being cut with a bronze die, is that the better brands are very slowly dried at a low temperature.

My favourite is the Barilla Emiliane, in a yellow box with red and blue on it. It's so much silkier than the bog standard supermarket stuff.

Yorkshire Pasta is made traditionally. (Bronze drawn and dried slowly at low temp).

https://www.yorkshirepasta.co.uk/

Do you use enough salt in the water? The brands you buy in mainland europe are the same as over here. I think it’s probably how you are cooking it. Are you overcooking it?

Rummo is the nicest I've found. De Cecco is ok. Barilla not much above supermarket pasta. I'm married to an Italian so much pasta snobbery.

It's probably more salt. I started making my own bread because supermarket bread here is so bland.

Eugh that stuff is so, so thick and doughy. Horrible stuff

Rummo is top notch 🤌🏻 Second is M&S own brand, in particularly the fiorelli!

Ah ok. I haven't actually tried it.

I buy De Cecco when it is on offer - I also think the Jamie Oliver brand is good. We get one called Cellino from our local shop, but I’ve not seen that sort anywhere else - it is very good though, and much cheaper than de Cecco.
There is also a good brand in mainly clear packaging with a black strip top and bottom. Can’t remember the name though.
I don’t rate Barilla particularly, but it is good for interesting shapes.

I like the ones which are a bit matte and rough instead of smooth and shiny.

I love De Cecco but with the current prices I moved to Tesco and surprisingly found it’s good. Agree that M&S own pasta is very nice.
I add butter to make it buttery. It always worked for me.

Thanks all, I will try some of your suggestions.

I didn't bring any home as had limited baggage.

I didn't use salt when I was there as there was none at the apartment and I didn't buy any.

I shall try and test some different ones.

The Tesco finest/di Martino range of pasta is pretty good.

In my experience, pasta needs two things. More salt than you think, and less cooking time.