Is Expensive Pasta Worth It?

[00:01] the pasta aisle at the grocery store has gotten completely out of control so I bought a bunch of pasta and asked the question is expensive pasta actually worth it specifically I have over 15 or so different boxes of pasta ranging from

[00:15] a dollar on the low end to over $9 on the highend and to get to the bottom of this and see what is the difference between A35 or $9 box of pasta really is we're going to break this video down into three parts first how is dried

[00:28] pasta made we're going to break down what pasta is made up of and the four variables every box of pasta has which will explain how we end up with so many differences in price secondly we'll cover what is the flavor of pasta in

[00:42] fundamental differences of taste Aroma and texture between these varieties of pasta for example one of the most common claims is that the rough texture of bronze cut pastas makes the sauce stick better however this is not really true

[00:56] the pasta is not going to save you in this case if you want your sauce to sick sticking sauce also one of the things that I found out in this section is that I'm not really a fan of alente pasta I think it's kind of overrated I like my

[01:09] pasta cooked for a minute or two longer and then lastly in section three based on what we've learned we will be able to answer is expensive pasta worth it and information you need to evaluate cheap versus expensive pasta boxes at the

[01:24] store and see if the benefits are worth it for you so to start let's find out how we we end up with so many different price points of

[01:38] from semolina Durham wheat is made up of 74% carbohydrates 12.5% protein 12% water 1% fat and then about .5% other vitamins and minerals then obviously

[01:50] when we cook pasta in boiling water it will absorb about 1.5 to two times its weight in water depending on how long it Cooks which ultimately dictates the texture of the pasta we're going to talk more about that shortly however when

[02:02] pasta at the store there's really just four variables that every home cook needs to understand first the wheat type secondly the pasta shape third the Extrusion die type such as Teflon versus Bron and lastly the drying process and

[02:18] to understand where these variables come from we need to know how is dried pasta made if you look at the ingredient label on a box of pasta you'll typically see that it is made from semolina Durham wheat which actually us refers to two

[02:31] different things Durham wheat refers to the variety of the wheat kernel of which there are three parts the outer layer of brand The Germ and then the endosperm which is the starchy interior now semolina refers to the flower made from

[02:45] semolina refers to the flower made from the endosperm of the Durham wheat kernel this is made by grinding the endosperm to a coarser particle size of2 to4 mm which is much coarser than something like allpurpose flow which is closer to

[02:59] like allpurpose flow which is closer to 05 or15 mm so why is semolina Duram wheat prize for dried pasta well first it has a distinctive Aroma second it has a nice appealing yellow color and third and most importantly it has a high

[03:13] gluten protein content and this is why other wheat types are typically not used in pasta making the particles and protein network of the Durham semolina make it perfect to withstand the high heat and pressure of pasta Extrusion

[03:28] without fully gelating and breaking down and what's important to know is that Durham wheat is a very broad category there are several species of Durham wheat grown all around the world that can be used to make pasta huge

[03:40] cheapest Durham on the market from a variety of global producers or higher-end producers like monag Grano covered by Alex's series Source organic Durham wheat from small Italian producers and this makes for a much more

[03:54] expensive product for example a $1 spaghetti may have semolina Durham wheat listed on the label but they're not not going to specify where it comes from on made with Durham wheat from North America and it can get even more

[04:06] specific from there I actually found three boxes of pasta that all came from Durham wheat in Italy but they specifically mention what specific wheat going to do some testing with these boxes later anyways once a company has

[04:22] for the dough it goes through four basic steps and this is where the other three variables come into play first the dough is mixed the semolina flour is mixed with just enough water to hydrate the

[04:34] dough for Extrusion typically this is around 30 to 35% hydration so for every 100 G of semolina there will be about 30 G of water added and the dough at this will become more cohesive when pressed through the Extrusion dyes second the

[04:51] dough is pressurized extruded and cut the dough will be forced with huge amounts of pressure through the dyes which are basically tubes with small exit holes that extrude that pasta dough into a specific shape we all know and

[05:03] love the shapes of spaghetti rigatoni pen macaroni or more unique shapes like zuka vub or casatelli and the die holes are either made of Teflon or bronze materials which can result in a smoother or rougher texture respectively Teflon

[05:18] dyes are more non-stick than bronze so the pasta dough can pass through with less friction resulting in a smoother pasta and companies can also produce more in a given time with Teflon dyes the reducing the price bronze dyes on

[05:32] the other hand produce more friction so the pasta dough extrudes with some rough edges and more slowly either way as the pasta is extruded the pressure friction and heat partially gilay the exterior of the pasta and Shear the protein Network

[05:46] into an alignment producing the dense noodle structures we know in love and then once they reach that desired length they're typically cut once the pasta is extruded and cut it now must be dried which is more complicated than you might

[06:00] think producers must ensure the pasta do sets and dries evenly without cracking and also so it retains its strength and integrity during cooking to accomplish this the pasta is generally dried in phases to carefully control and reduce

[06:13] the moisture levels in the product until is fully hardened without the brittleness modern Machining can do this reliably in a matter of hours at higher heat cycles of around 185° F but other manufacturers stick to the old school

[06:27] slow drying methods which happen at much lower temperatures around 100 to 140° F and can happen over the course of a full day or multiple days and as you can guess the slower Extrusion and drying process makes for a more expensive

[06:42] product slow drying components claim that more of the Durham wheat flavor is preserved since that pasta is not exposed to higher heat now the problem is slow drying or slow processing is not exactly a regulated term so it's hard to

[06:57] know exactly what's going on there some boxes on the other hand will list very specifically what is going on for example this one tells me that slow drying was done at low temperatures strictly below 38° C for a minimum of 3

[07:10] strictly below 38° C for a minimum of 3 days up to 6 days so it makes sense that this is just going to cost more than maybe one that was only dried for a day now regardless of whether the pasta is slow dried or fast dried this is how we

[07:23] go from that 30 to 35% hydration down to the 12% water that I mentioned at the beginning of this section and after the pasta is dried it is ready for the final step where it is packaged and sent to Market and off down the supply chain and

[07:37] obviously depending on how far that pasta travels the price can be impacted and ultimately these basic steps explain how we end up with all these various price points of pasta there are the raw material costs the equipment cost

[07:52] production time labor cost import fees if it came from a different country and ultimately the scale of the operation now proponents of buying the more expensive pasta varieties generally boil down to three arguments first expensive

[08:05] pasta has a better taste and Aroma secondly expensive pasta has a better texture and third the sauce will stick better to more expensive bronze cut pasta but my question as always is how much of a difference are we really

[08:18] talking about remember pasta is typically slathered in sauces and lots of other aromatic ingredients so it may be easy to tell the difference between like a one and a $5 box but what about a $3 box and an $8 box or a $9 box well we

[08:33] are going to get into the bottom of this and break down the flavor of pasta at a high level these six properties can explain the flavor of food taste Aroma texture sight physical and the human element and during this

[08:47] section we're really going to focus on taste Aroma and texture as they are the most relevant when it comes to Pasta so let's start with taste our tongue registers five core tastes sweet salty sour bitter and Umami and from a taste

[09:01] perspective pasta is pretty neutral tasting and you can test this quite easily here I have three bowls of spaghetti a $3 one a $6 and an $8 all definitely made with different Wheats as I can visually see there are some

[09:15] differences here so what I'm going to do is plug my nose and give each of them A is plug my nose and give each of them A Taste number two

[09:32] but from a pure taste perspective when I'm plugging my nose there is no significant difference now the question you may be wondering is does that change when you go all the way to the low end with a $1 spaghetti so let's try

[09:55] is my favorite but not for the reason this is the only pasta that I actually added salt to the less of these other three I left completely unsalted and this is really why salting your pasta

[10:08] water is one of the most fundamental things you should do every time you cook with pasta as we learned in the salt Deep dive sodium chloride is water soluble and it will diffuse from areas of high concentration to low

[10:21] concentration so as the water hydrates the dried pasta that dissolves sodium the dried pasta that dissolves sodium chloride diffuses inside with it but the the question is from a pure taste perspective is there a significant

[10:33] difference in the taste of these various pastas and the answer is not pasta does not really trigger anything in our taste receptors and this is why we add strong tasted ingredients to our pasta dishes we add salt to our pasta

[10:49] water parmesano regano is a very common salty garnish the sourness from a tomato sauce or the lemon in Linguini Olive vongal the five tastes are not that important when it comes to pasta but this is very different from the Tomato

[11:03] deep dive where I learned that certain cans of tomatoes can be much more sour than others for example if I could only spend money on one for a tomato based spending your money first on the

[11:16] tomatoes then see what you have left over for your pasta again we are talking about pure taste here which is why I'm plugging my nose throughout this section and I highly recommend you just do this quickly at home eat some pasta plug your

[11:29] nose because it's very important to distinguish between taste and Aroma because most of that flavor we think of in our brain is actually from when you can open up your nose and smell the unique Aromas that this pasta was

[11:42] with well there are five caste are tongue registers there are hundreds of Aroma molecules that our nose receptors can pick up on and the smell of food is really what provides most of the complexity in the foods we eat and if

[11:55] someone is claiming that expensive pasta or a specific brand has a better flavor what they really mean is they believe it smells better so in order to get to the bottom of this we need to ask the question can you actually smell a

[12:08] difference between pastas so this might be a little weird but in front of me I be a little weird but in front of me I have various bowls of pasta Powder made from ingredients other than the standard semolina Durham wheat I just threw some

[12:21] different pasta varieties into a spice grinder I have some yellow lentil pasta spaghetti and then I have some Durham wheat here on the end and if I take a should be no surprise that they have a significantly different

[12:55] strong aroma so fundamentally these pastas are made with different ingredients other than that Durham wheat semolina it would be like comparing a potato chip versus a tortilla chip or corn tortilla versus a

[13:08] flour tortilla however where it gets tough is when you start evaluating all Durham wheat pasta because we have lots of biases built up and and we know what pick out a difference between you know whole wheat pasta or some of these other

[13:22] way but they're just fundamentally different and really the question that we need to ask when it comes to all these different price points of pasta is how much of a difference in the aroma is there versus these various varieties of

[13:37] Durham wheat so unlike coffee where most bags these days will tell you exactly what variety and where those coffee beans came from we typically don't get that granular when it comes to our pasta boxes but at the store I was able to

[13:51] find three different boxes where they do specify exactly the wheat type that was used to make these pastas so so we're going to cook them up and give them a going to cook them up and give them a little smell

[14:06] pasta producers can source for their pasta and the slow drying process is said to preserve more of the original wheat flavor so how different is the Speedy high heat Teflon compared to the

[14:19] bronze cut or what about the bronze cut which I assume are all processed the same but just made with different wheat varieties so what I did was essentially create pasta grits because this is like a thinner spaghetti this is Linguini

[14:34] so I didn't want to be influenced by the texture just yet but let's blindfold up and see if there are kind of any differences here um I don't know we'll differences here um I don't know we'll see how it

[14:55] because I've broken everything up um so yeah really good

[15:07] definitely a little bit more pronounced to me number two a little bit um milder to me number two a little bit um milder I'd say so to number

[15:22] interesting drastic differences in Aroma definitely not can you pick out some differences for sure um I think number one is probably my favorite let's see what it is okay so this one on the far end is

[15:36] is okay so this one on the far end is the IL Capelli

[15:49] the aroma between these pastas I would say subtly yes however I don't think it's anywhere near the difference that you'd see in like a whole wheek pasta versus Durham wheat or one of those other varieties I tried earlier and I'm

[16:04] questioning if you would notice this in a side-by-side pasta dish because you got to keep in mind we add very strong smelling aromatic ingredients to most of smelling aromatic ingredients to most of our pasta dishes for example Alo Olio

[16:18] has a ton of garlic and parsley kacho Pepe uses a bunch of black pepper and pakarina Romano carbonara has Guan chal and parmesano and marinara sauce has spices like oregano basil and aromatic ingredients like garlic and

[16:32] onion so while I can pick up on some subtle differences here in the aroma I just think overall it's not a very important flavor category especially when you consider all of those other strong aromatic ingredients we tend to

[16:45] would be if you are using something like other like that corn and rice one was very strong smelling earlier but again ingredient and I think honestly whole wheat pasta is kind of slept done it is

[16:59] a different Aroma a unique nutty taste which depending on what you're adding to your pasta can be a really nice mixup from time to time overall I think it is important for you guys to understand what pasta actually smells like so you

[17:13] can pick up on it when you're cooking with pasta but ultimately I'm just going to leave Aroma here because I want to move on to the last flavor property and the one that I think is the most important when it comes to choosing

[17:26] important when it comes to choosing pasta at the store and that is the T T about different foods and when it comes to Pasta there are three texture elements that every homecook needs to understand when buying and cooking with

[17:39] dried pasta first is the shape of the pasta second is the texture of the cooked pasta third is the texture of the sauce that coats the pasta and if we marry these three together this is where that uniquely satisfying experience of

[17:54] chewing a piece of pasta coated in a good tasting and aromatic sauce comes and the shape of the pasta is the first and most important decision of the three and to prove this I made two classic pasta dishes with two very uncommon

[18:09] pasta shape choices so here I have some macaroni and meatballs and spaghetti and cheese and you have no idea how wrong this feels and it's purely because of

[18:21] this feels and it's purely because of the shape of the pasta

[18:40] these dishes are fine but I and probably you too have years and years of human biases built up that if I'm having macaroni it probably is going with a cheese sauce like this and if I'm having meatballs it's probably going with a

[18:54] exist which I guess would be the same family this macaroni and cheesus on Spaghetti just feels so wrong and obviously this is a bit of a silly example but it really does prove the point that the pasta shape you choose

[19:09] does matter and one of the benefits of buying bronze cut pasta is that you can make pasta shapes that are not possible on Teflon dies if you followed along the sporkful pasta series with Dan pman a couple of years ago one of the main

[19:24] challenges they had was shaping the pasta during production casatelli the pasta they were trying to create has a mix of ridges and Ruffles and even though they were using bronze dyes and that slower Extrusion process they still

[19:37] had tons of issues there was breakage during production there was uneven thicknesses clogging of the dieses and fragility after drying where it would crack during packaging and this shape would have been impossible to make on a

[19:49] Teflon die however if you go to a grocery store with a large selection of bronze cut slow processed pastas you'll likely find more Vari in the pasta shapes and here are some of the unique shapes that I was able to find at the

[20:03] grocery store let me know down in the comments how many of these you've cooked comments how many of these you've cooked with before there's butini Vu trophy with before there's butini Vu trophy koliki zuka Cavatelli orete and

[20:15] casatelli and ultimately this is all preference-based no one is stopping you from making macaroni and meatballs and we can do a whole separate video on looking for a little inspiration we did a quick write up that will be linked in

[20:28] the description below explaining what shapes May pair well with certain kinds of sauces and I think one of the joys in making pasta dishes is just going out and try new shapes from time to time this might be the first time in

[20:41] spaghetti with a store-bought mac and cheese sauce wouldn't recommend cheese sauce wouldn't recommend recreating this one at what if you do have the same pasta shape but one is bronze cut and the other is

[20:56] Teflon cut how different is the texture in the bite and this ultimately depends on how long you cook your pasta just because you buy some expensive pasta you can still over or undercook it so let's kill two birds with one stone with this

[21:11] next texture test for this next test I set up two pots with exactly 400 G of water 100 G of pasta then just pulled a piece off for every minute up to about 15 minutes and this is where we can see the pasta beginning to swell up and

[21:25] absorb the water changing its texture so let's see how different these really are so this was definitely a very interesting test and I think I'm pretty surprised how close these ended up being and then additionally I think one thing

[21:40] that you'll find when you are choosing the same shape is that on average Teflon seems to be just a little bit on the thinner side compared to most bronze diecut pastas so what I try to do is find uh two different POS varieties as

[21:55] close as possible but even then these on average are a little bit bigger just by a little bit and that kind of showcases up here now secondly I think just as important as asking yourself like should I buy Teflon versus bronze is what level

[22:12] I buy Teflon versus bronze is what level of firmness do you actually both of these boxes says I still really

[22:26] like that bronze cut pasta um the Teflon I think is a little bit just barely too soft for me but let's come down here to 9

[22:46] interesting just how that slight difference in the thicknesses does kind of permeate throughout the entire you know Spectrum here and then for me I think another realization I'm having is I don't really like what I think most

[23:03] is a little bit on that firm side I think I instead of cooking my pasta for a minute or two less than the box says personally I like my pasta cooked maybe a minute or two more than the box has I don't want it mushy but it has a really

[23:18] satisfying chew especially in this upper range which I think I am definitely a fan of so does bronze cut pasta inherently have a better texture well it's definitely different like if you eat these side by side the texture as

[23:32] you bite through is different but it is down to preference like just because I like bronze diecut pasta because it is a little bit thicker and I can make it a little bit chewier and it holds up doesn't mean that you like that so I

[23:44] would definitely recommend doing this test side by side because the texture of the cooked pasta you make is one of the most significant differences you will notice with that being said though let's move on to texture element number three

[23:56] and that is the sauce like I mentioned in the intro one of the most common claims of buying bronze cut pasta is that the rough edges help that sauce stick better but the difference is negligible at best if you want to make

[24:08] your sauce stick better you need to make a properly emulsified sauce however there is another claim that I've actually made in the past and that is bronze cut pasta typically releases more starch than Teflon cut

[24:21] pasta which is one of those classic emulsifying ingredients in several of the Roman pasta dishes however I'd like to slightly alter that claim because you can still get plenty of starchy pasta water in two different ways first you

[24:35] concentrate the starch solution or second you can just add a separate corn starch gel okay so this is some leftover pasta fridge and as you can see it is completely gelatinized and this is from

[24:52] a Teflon die cut pasta showing that yet there is still plenty of starch that you could use to make that creamy emulsified sauce I did need to concentrate it down a little bit more compared to the bronze D cut pasta or like I've shown in the

[25:07] kacho Pepe video you can just make your own corn starch gel separately to help you get a really nice emulsified sauce functionally there's no difference all of this is just gelatinized starch so to round this video out let's finally

[25:20] round this video out let's finally answer is expensive pasta worth it so the first question I'm going to ask is can you make make really good pasta dishes with even the cheapest pasta and to that I would say absolutely

[25:34] I personally would argue that you get about 80% of the benefits just from understanding the fundamentals and techniques around pasta and here's a checklist that I would go through that is going to immediately put you head of

[25:46] most people first choose the right pasta shape second use a small amount of water to increase the starch concentration third salt the pasta water liberally fourth cook the pasta to your desired texture with a minute or two longer or

[25:59] shorter than the box says and lastly make a great tasting aromatic and appropriately textured sauce now if you already understand those fundamentals and use those techniques when you're cooking pasta the next question is can

[26:12] some of these bronze cut and more expensive pasta varieties take your really good pasta dishes to Great pasta dishes and to that I would also say yes by far the number one benefit for me is the texture I definitely prefer the bite

[26:28] that I get from a thicker bronze cut pasta cooked for a couple minutes longer than the box say additionally I really like that you can get access to more unique shapes which is just a fun mixup from time to time and after making this

[26:41] I can now have fun with for the next year secondly I would call the difference in Aroma a minor benefit you can definitely smell a difference in however your mileage is going to vary

[26:55] depending on the dish you are making personally I think pasta Alco which is one of my favorite pastas to make during the summer would be a good use case for one of these more expensive um spaghetti varieties made with a specific wheat

[27:08] because it's an uncooked sauce so the flavor of the pasta is an important part of the overall dish however if you're making like a big spaghetti night for a some money I would maybe just go with a cheaper variety and probably spend your

[27:22] money on the tomatoes instead also I will say do not sleep on whole Wheats it is a nice difference and kind of earthiness that really pairs well with a lot of dishes I made this quick little Italian sausage broccoli and parmesan

[27:37] cheese dish and yeah this is just a nice aromatic difference to use from time to time that you can't replicate with semolina Durham wheat So based on what tested that's kind of where I fall on the discussion of cheap versus expensive

[27:52] pasta but here is where I would love to hear from you do you typically buy bronze cut pasta what's your favorite pasta shapee and what's your go-to pasta dish because I think it is a very interesting discussion and it kind of

[28:04] depends on the use case whether it may be worth it or maybe not also depends on serving but that is ultimately the human element of discussion so as always thank kind of pasta shape guide link Down Below in the description as well as a

[28:20] bunch of pasta recipes if you just want to try I am now going to make a bunch of pasta which is good I actually feel like I have not been making a lot of pasta pasta the past like 6 to 9 months or so but now this video has really gotten me

[28:32] pasta so I mean I guess it's a good thing that I bought a bunch of pasta anyway I digress that's going to wrap it up for me in this one thank you all for watching I will catch you all in the next one peace y'all