Should You Break Your Pasta?
Pasta Kitchen Tips
Why Do Italians Say to Not Break Pasta?
For anyone who’s tried to fit a long strand of spaghetti into a small pot, the temptation is real. Before you go snapping pasta, let’s look more into why you should not break pasta.
In Italy, pasta is about the experience: twirling spaghetti around your fork, savoring the sauce, and respecting the shape and structure of pasta.
Barilla’s Chef Lorenzo from Bologna Italy offers some insight into how this all started and why it still matters today.
A Brief History of Pasta
"The habit of breaking spaghetti before cooking comes from ancient times when pasta was dried on hanging racks, and spaghetti was consequently very long."
Modern Day Pasta
"Currently, spaghetti comes in a package and is already pre-cut to the perfect length to be twirled around the fork. Twirling strands of spaghetti allows the ideal amount of pasta and sauce to fit on your fork."
"One of the reasons why people love spaghetti so much is because once twirled around the fork, it offers a very satisfying ‘dense’ bite, something you can’t replicate with short pieces of pasta that won’t allow you to create a tight nest with the fork."
What is the Best Pot for Cooking Spaghetti?
Chef Lorenzo's Tip
"For many pasta dishes, especially long pasta shapes like spaghetti - cooking success starts with the right pot. The key to cooking spaghetti without breaking is to choose a large pasta pot, giving the pasta room to move. Use a pasta pot that can hold 8-12 quarts of water for 1 pound of pasta. Ensure you continuously stir the spaghetti, so it cooks evenly. This cooking technique can be applied to all pasta shapes, not just long shapes like linguine, fettuccine, bucatini or angel hair."
Questions about pasta water? Check out our article on how to use pasta water.
For more content and videos of Chef Lorenzo's recipes, check out his profile on Instagram—or browse a collection of his dishes on our website here!