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AIBU?

To only buy one shape of pasta?

229 replies

BroomstickOfLove · 07/11/2018 13:39

I'm tidying up the kitchen cupboards. There are currently 6 mostly-empty bags, each with a different shape of pasta. WIBU to only ever buy a single shape from now on? And if so, which shape is best? I'm thinking of going for fusilli.

OP posts:
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bonzo77 · 07/11/2018 14:01

Fusilli, spaghetti and lasagne sheets only in our house. Would slightly prefer linguine but I’ve not seen it in Aldi recently. Fusilli easier for small children to pick up and holds more sauce than penne. I like shells but find them hard to drain and often stick together. Radiatorre are my luxury treat, especially in multi colour. Oooh. Or those spiral tubes.

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SnailorSwift · 07/11/2018 14:01

I'm afraid I may be some kind of pasta creep. We have every variety under the sun and I am admittedly an arsehole about what goes with what!

Orecchiette is the best 💕

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Perfectly1mperfect · 07/11/2018 14:01

I can't even tell you how many times I've shouted "starve and die then, tosspot" at him

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

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AdaColeman · 07/11/2018 14:03

No! No!
Your life will be miserable if you have to eat a sauce for pipe rigate with linguine, or a gigle sauce with spaghetti.
You need a good selection of shapes available to enjoy the sauce at its best. Wine Wine Wine

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RoseMartha · 07/11/2018 14:03

Fusilli here although do have spaghetti and lasagne sheets.

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JanetLovesJason · 07/11/2018 14:04

But I don’t want to hold sauce in my flanges Confused Noodles

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SuchAToDo · 07/11/2018 14:08

I like the shell and spiral shapes of pasta if there is going to be any sauces in the dish because they seem to hold more sauce in their little nooks and crannies...

For pasta bakes I like the macaroni type of pasta...

It depends what dish you are using your pasta to cook...some pastas seem to go better with certain dishes

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Hedgehoginthefog · 07/11/2018 14:11

I buy wholewheat penne by preference and use it for most things. That said, I was in Sainsbury's the other week, needing pasta, and they only had wholewheat fusilli in 1kg bags, so we have that at the moment. I do also have lasagne sheets, (and Blue Dragon wholewheat noodles, but these are strictly for Asian-style noodle dishes). YANBU unless you are making a lasagne with fusilli. That's just wrong. Grin

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PlayingForKittens · 07/11/2018 14:11

I mainly buy fusilli because it is the only one that comes in 3kg bags from Tesco.

But you also need spaghetti, can't not have spaghetti.

And then lasagne.

And orzo to have with stews.

After than I can live without other shapes although it is always nice ot have a change. You kind of get different textures and the sauce clings in a different way to different ones.

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tiggerkid · 07/11/2018 14:13

I can't even tell you how many times I've shouted "starve and die then, tosspot" at him as he smugly announces Jamie Oliver's opinion on this type of pasta. Fuck him and fuck Jamie Oliver.

Grin

Can't stand Jamie Oliver. He was alright to start with when his recipes were just simple food suitable for everyone's daily cooking. Then he turned all pretentious and started interfering with politics. His cookbooks also turned pretentious and often contain more pictures than recipes. Some recipes seem to be completely untested too.

To answer the OP's question, I'd love to stick to one type of pasta but my husband seems to be possessed by some hatred of penne pasta and prefers fusilli. I love penne. Don't ask me why. Probably because I am a tosspot myself :) So we mostly have 2 types of pasta. Funnily enough, my son isn't bothered and eats both.

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TheOrigRightsofwomen · 07/11/2018 14:22

It depends on what you do with your pasta.

As you say - there are RULES, depending on what sauce you're serving (quite dry, liquidy, meaty).

To get over the current crisis I think you'd be OK making a big pasta bake with all the shapes and then start from scratch. You'll feel better for it.

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DarlingNikita · 07/11/2018 14:23

Oh, I love different shapes (and colours/types) of pasta. While I think obsessively matching pasta to sauce is a bit OTT, it is undoubtedly true that some kinds just do work really well together. And it's nice to have a variety, even if you only have one long and one short.

But I'd say keep buying as many different kinds as you fancy. Every now and then you can make the Italian food gods wrathful by pooling all the almost-empty bags and making a mix.

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tiggerkid · 07/11/2018 14:23

To get over the current crisis I think you'd be OK making a big pasta bake with all the shapes and then start from scratch. You'll feel better for it.

A wise compromise :)

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SchadenfreudePersonified · 07/11/2018 14:24

Only ONE?

Has to be Spiralli, then. It's such a nice shape.

But I do like tagliatelle . . . and once bought some reindeer heads from IKEA for DS . . . they were popular.

What's this about spider pasts in Lidl, then?

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MotherWol · 07/11/2018 14:25

You only need four types:

  • lasagne sheets
  • stringy pasta (linguine, tagliatelle or spaghetti)
  • a shape (penne or fusilli)
  • soup pasta (tiny hoops or stars or orzo)
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SaucyJack · 07/11/2018 14:27

I just buy whatever looks interesting on the day. We did have a long penne phase because DD1 used to call it peen, and I can never pass up the opportunity for a smutty snigger at my child’s expense.

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SchadenfreudePersonified · 07/11/2018 14:27

Radiatorre

Had to look this one up - but now I want to try it.

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AllTakenSoRubbishUsername · 07/11/2018 14:27

I usually have one big jar of dried penne, then keep fresh fusilli in the freezer so that if I need to make the pasta quicker than usual or want a different shape I have the choice. The only other ones I have are linguini and spaghetti (dried)

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Kewqueue · 07/11/2018 14:28

Orecchiette is the best

Nooo! They are little bastards. I never learn when I scoop one out to see if it's ready and it tips boiling water in my mouth.

We normally have:
lasagne - for lasagne obvs
orecchiette - for broccoli/green sauces
fregola - for clams
spaghetti - for carbonara, clams, puttanesca etc
tagliatelle - for bolognese or mushrooms
trofie - for pesto
penne - for anything else

Odds and ends get added to soup!

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PhilomenaButterfly · 07/11/2018 14:28

I now want to hold sauce in my flanges.

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SchadenfreudePersonified · 07/11/2018 14:30

Philomena

Grin

You are a hopeless romantic, aren't you?

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Kewqueue · 07/11/2018 14:31

While I think obsessively matching pasta to sauce is a bit OTT

That's what I used to think but then suddenly after a few years of living in Italy you find yourself thinking that you would rather die than eat spaghetti with bolognese. It just isn't right. Grin

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Thesearmsofmine · 07/11/2018 14:31

We have all sorts of pasta. I always buy the fun ones in TK Maxx and the Halloween stuff in Lidl. Giant pasta was fab when BLW.

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cjt110 · 07/11/2018 14:31

I luffs when I get a bowl of mixed shape pasta. Makes me feel like I'm living on the wild side.... Grin I don't get out much

As it is, we buy fusilli. I let my inner rebel out whilst shopping this time though thinking it would be fun for DS and bought tricolour stuff which he wont touch

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SchadenfreudePersonified · 07/11/2018 14:31

So - what do you eat with bolognese

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