Pasta

The English word pasta generally refers to noodles and other food products made from a flour and water paste, often including also egg and salt. Less frequently, the term macaroni is used for the same products.

Related Topics:
English - Noodle - Flour - Water - Egg - Salt - Macaroni

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Pasta can also denote dishes in which pasta products are the primary ingredient, served with sauce or seasonings. The word comes from Italian pasta which means basically "paste", and by extension "dough", "pasta", or "pastry" as in "small cake". As recently as 1918 the English word "paste" was used instead of or alongside the Italian pastahttp://www.bartleby.com/87/0006.html. Today the word "pasta" is reserved for Italian-style noodles in English-speaking countries, while the word "noodle" has a more general meaning.

Related Topics:
Italian - 1918

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Dried Italian-style pasta is made from durum wheat semolina or flour, which gives it a light yellow color. Asian-style noodles as well as most fresh noodles are made from regular (non-durum) wheat flour. Some pasta varieties, such as Pizzoccheri, are made from buckwheat flour.

Related Topics:
Durum - Semolina - Pizzoccheri - Buckwheat

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Gnocchi are often listed among pasta dishes, although they are quite different in ingredients (mainly milled potatoes) and mode of preparation.

Related Topics:
Gnocchi - Potato

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Pasta is made either by extrusion, where the ingredients are forced through holes in a plate known as a die, or by lamination, in which dough is kneaded, folded, rolled to thickness, then cut by slitters. Fresh Pasta cooks quickly and has a delicate taste, but spoils quickly due to its high water content. Dry Pasta generally contains about 7% moisture, which makes it shelf stable for about a year.

Related Topics:
Extrusion - Die

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Most people today like pasta because of its easy and fast preparation, as well as tastiness. Pastas only need to be boiled and topped, a process that can take as little as fifteen minutes. There are a number of ways to flavor pasta, many of which are commonly used cooking ingredients. Pasta is very versatile and almost impossible to to ruin.

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