are there different spaghetti "noodles"?

[daves66nova]

It seems that the restaurant spaghetti tastes different than the noodles that you buy from the supermarket.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I always buy angel hair spaghetti noodles.

 

[CharlieJ]

Different brands would have different recipes for their pasta. Or, they could be making from scratch at the restaurant (if it is one of the few).

Do you rinse your pasta before serving?

 

[Fazzone]

There are a few types of spaghetti. The most common is the regular spaghetti you find in stores, there's also angle hair which is quite common too. There is also thin cut spaghetti which is halfway in between the two in sizes and is harded to find. The other difference you might be noticing is the way the pasta is cooked. Most good restaurants will make sure the pasta is cooked "al dente." Which basically means it's not cooked completely through. If you if you would break a cooked noodle, you would notice that the very center is still white, which gives it more of a difference in texture than taste, but can be a noticable difference. There are can be other major differences in how it is prepared, but I'm guessing it's one of the two I've mentioned that you're noticing. FWIW I've worked in an Itailan restaurant for over a decade now. Hope this helps answer your question.

 

[simple_gifts]

IMO, OTC pasta has a pretty big quality spread. I didn't believe it until I bought some "bad pasta"

I buy Barilla blue box; they also produce a whole grain and multi-grain varieties.

 

[HTSS_TR]

We like angel hair pasta and rinse the pasta with cold water before serving.

 

[CharlieJ]

Rinsing pasta washes starches off which inhibits the sauce to stick to it.
http://www.chow.com/digest/1353/on-the-importance-of-not-rinsing-pasta/

 

[daves66nova]

Originally Posted By: CharlieJ

Do you rinse your pasta before serving?
no, never have

 

[mechanicx]

I like name brand spaghetti regular thickness and not thin or angel hair. I boil it about 11 mins and I don't rinse the spaghetti.

 

[PandaBear]

There are many reasons why they taste different. I learned that if I salt the water and add a little oil to boil pasta, it would taste better. Also I learned from cooking Asian noodles that if I cold soak the pasta after boiling, then warming it up for serving, it would be more tender. Then cooking the pasta in the final sauce rather than putting sauce on the pasta for serving makes a huge difference as well.

p.s. maybe I'm not really cooking pasta, but rather Asian style pasta noodle instead.