Pasta

In less than a decade, pasta has risen from the infamy of its spaghetti and meatballs days to become a favorite of cooks of all persuasions. Because it is such a simple compound—flour and eggs or flour and water—our attention is naturally drawn to what goes into the sauce or the stuffing and we tend to take for granted the essential component of the dish we are making, the pasta itself. This is regrettable. If we do not clearly perceive the differences in pasta character, if we cannot tell good pasta from bad, we can never master the vast range of expression of this most versatile and satisfying of all foods.