The wide tubes of paccheri may be the only pasta to have been involved in an international smuggling conspiracy. The name of this pasta is taken from the verb pappare, which in the local dialect means “to gobble up,” often with childish glee. Even today, you’re most likely to enjoy your pappardelle in Tuscany with ragú di coniglio (rabbit), cinghiale (wild boar), or fragrant dried porcini. But in the rolling countryside of Tuscany, the ragús were made with wild game and mushrooms foraged by self-sufficient local peasants, and expensive eggs were rarely included. Similar to tagliatelle, pappardelle is a long ribbon pasta that is traditionally served with rich meat ragús. But what about the rest of the year? The chef-turned-owner of local truffle company Tartuflanghe discovered a way to dehydrate the fragrant tubers and infuse them into a dried pasta dough back in 1990, giving diners across the world a way to recreate the Piedmontese tradition any day of the year. The Piedmont region is famous for its truffle bounty, and a beloved dish during the harvest season is fresh tagliatelle topped with shaved truffles. Truffle tagliatelle is a decidedly modern take on this classic form, but it’s become so iconic in the 30 years since its invention that it deserves a spot on this list. Tagliatelle is the traditional accompaniment for ragú Bolognese, with enough heft and flavor to stand up to the rich meat sauce. It’s said that the perfect dough for tagliatelle should be rolled so thin that, if held up to a window, you should be able to see Bologna’s hilltop Basilica di San Luca through the dough. To this day, the last day of the Verona carnival is led by the Papà di Gnocco (“Gnocchi’s Father”), a person in a gaudy costume who carries a huge fork topped with gnocchi.Įmilia-Romagna and Piedmont: Truffle tagliatelleĪ fresh pasta made with egg, tagliatelle’s long ribbons are an icon of Bologna, the capital city of Emilia-Romagna. In Verona, a grain shortage at the time of the pre-Lent carnival threatened to cut short the festivities until a local nobleman donated a hefty sum to buy flour that could be stretched out with boiled potato to make the delicious dumplings. Potatoes were brought to Europe from the Andes by Spanish explorers, and slowly crossed the continent starting in the 1500s. So while the basic formula for gnocchi, a rough dough that is cut into small chunks and then boiled, dates back to antiquity and can be found in many forms across the country, the popular potato-based version is unmistakably northern. Northern Italy does not have the rich pasta tradition that many regions to the south do-the cool, mountainous lands bordering Austria, Switzerland, and France have a unique culinary sensibility that integrates the foods of their neighbors, often using grains such as buckwheat and rye rather than plain wheat flour. Just as the different regions of Italy have their own recipes, techniques, and beloved ingredients, some pasta shapes are inextricably linked to their birthplace.įrom north to south, follow along on our tour of some of the most iconic regional pasta shapes across Italy. From the couldn’t-be-simpler dough of flour and water that the Romans called laganum, pasta has evolved to a truly magnificent family of unique dishes, united in their deliciousness. But the history of pasta is long and twisting-like a piece of fusilli lunghi-with innovations and experimentations taking place over the centuries in different parts of the country. To outsiders, pasta can seem like a universally Italian delicacy, served up in different shapes but essentially all one food. If there’s one Italian food known the world round, it’s pasta.
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