Explain pasta to me

December 14, 2004 7:08 AM

Why is fresh pasta made with eggs as the liquid, while dried pasta is made with water? And how do egg noodles fit into the equation?
posted by smackfu to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

Dried pasta used to be fresh pasta. You're just rehydrating it by boiling it in water - it already has the eggs in it. I'm not sure what defines store egg noodles as being egg noodles, but when I make fresh ones at home for soup, I use an extra egg yolk, which gives it the yellow color, and makes it denser. The same is true for bagels - regular bagels have egg in them too, but 'egg bagels' have extra egg yolk in them, which makes them chewier, denser, and more yellow.
posted by iconomy at 7:37 AM on December 14, 2004

Actually, you can make fresh pasta without eggs quite easily—it's basically a mixture of semolina flour, water, and salt. Most store-bought packaged pasta is not made with eggs, nor are most bagels.
posted by smich at 7:56 AM on December 14, 2004

Best answer: Dried pasta for the most part is not made with any eggs at all. Generally, the spaghetti, rigatoni, or whatever that you buy is semolina flour and water (as smich said.) Egg noodles on the other hand are made with eggs and then dried.

In terms of why...I find the flavor and consistency of fresh pasta made with eggs to be superior to that made with water. This pasta, when dried however, is very brittle and would be difficult to ship. I believe egg noodles are made with a combination of water and egg yolks which makes them more resilient.
posted by spaghetti at 8:08 AM on December 14, 2004

And you should know.
posted by iconomy at 8:26 AM on December 14, 2004 [1 favorite]

Heh...
posted by spaghetti at 8:48 AM on December 14, 2004

What spaghetti said, with this addition: Dried pasta costs very little. Eggs are not cheap. People will buy dried pasta made without eggs. Therefore, why should the dried-pasta makers bother to include eggs in their dried pasta?
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:40 AM on December 14, 2004

Therefore, why should the dried-pasta makers bother to include eggs in their dried pasta?

because pasta all'uovo, for example tagliatelle, is somewhat tastier, and perfect for some dishes like tagliatelle al ragù, or maccheroni alla chitarra
posted by matteo at 12:44 PM on December 14, 2004

tagliatelle all'uovo are also perfect with a Culatello di Zibello sauce, or in a Pesce Persico dish
posted by matteo at 12:46 PM on December 14, 2004

I should have specified "why should the soulless, heartless dried-pasta makers who only care about the bottom line bother to include eggs in their dried pasta"?

;)
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:22 PM on December 14, 2004

What spaghetti said. It's about the drying, storage, and shipping process. Pasta made without eggs just handles all of these better. I've also read (in the Cook's Illustrated Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles) that semolina was developed specifically for making dried pasta. While it holds up better for shipping, you can actually make better fresh pasta using plain old all-purpose flour.
posted by mr_roboto at 2:05 PM on December 14, 2004

Good point about the plain flour in fresh pasta mr_roboto.
posted by spaghetti at 5:16 PM on December 14, 2004