I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen it at any of my usual grocery stores. Hell, I’m lucky if I find bucatini at my usual stores. Even pappardelle, fresh or dried, I have to go outside my typical shopping area to find if I don’t want to make them myself (or I just started ordering dried pappardelle on Amazon.)
Yeah, I live between two Whole Foods, a Trader Joe, and variety of other great grocery stores. The only place I know I can find the Rustichella d’Abruzzo brand and various other relative rare shapes is at the local Balducci’s, where it costs some absurd $8-$12/lb of pasta. Fuck that noise. I used to get it for next to nothing from my sister-in-law’s family Italian Imports Co and store. But my brother is an idiot so now I can’t go there anymore. :mad:
Yeah, looking at Amazon, it’s like $10/lb there as well (well, $10/500g). I’ll have to check out some of the Italian groceries in the Western suburbs to see if they have it. Found a local foodie board spotting almost ten years ago at a grocery store I used to shop at when my wife was at U Chicago, and I’m very occasionally still in that area, so I’ll have a look there. $6.69/500g was the price back then, same brand you mentioned. Apparently, there’s also a shop in the South Loop that had it back then, too, but I can’t find any more recent recon. ETA: Oh well, the South Loop shop is defunct. The other place I know is still around.
While we’re on the subject of pasta, our current favorite is this particular take on Alfredo. My wife has decided to become vegan, so I guess that means I’m vegan too… 
But this healthier version of Alfredo (my wife subs in cashew or almond milk, but does not skimp on the parm - there is no substitute!) looses nothing to the traditional sauce. And the fettuccine pasta is ubiquitous.
And very simple to make: cook up enough bacon, cut an onion in half and slice thinly, sweat the onions, add the tomatoes, cover and simmer for about an hour.
Sounds delicious. Is this “enough bacon”?
Breaking pasta was an issue when I first started dating the spousal unit. She’s Irish - what did she know from pasta? She eventually saw the error of her ways.
Pot-sized spaghetti? Only in America.
Uh…vegan? Not skimping on Parm? Does not compute.
You’ll take the parm from an Italian’s cold dead hand.
What is the price? Most spaghetti is $1 for 16oz, is that what they charge for pot sized? also what stores sell it. I’ve never seen it.
To answer a couple of questions. It is the same price as full length spag. No one is making money on dumb consumers. In fact Giant Eagle seems to have it on special fairly often. $1 a box for the normal price, buy one get one 50% off when on sale.
And yes, we do have grandkids. I prefer it full length myself, but I am so pleased with the short stuff I have gotten used to it.
Dennis
Please don’t skimp.
Well, if they did price slightly higher, it wouldn’t be a case of “dumb” consumers, anyway. Just willing to pay a premium for convenience/laziness. (But it makes sense they price it the same, as many of the basic pasta shapes are the same price, as I said before, and if they’re the only brand offering it, it should drive some sales their way.)
But is it still a one pound box? I’ve noticed some boxes of Giant Eagle pasta are 12oz. Their whole wheat pasta, for example. Some other regular varieties can be too (maybe rotini, I don’t remember)’
I’ve seen plenty of brands with 12 oz. packages, but I never thought of that as a way to trick me out of my money - just meant for people making different sized portions. My store quit carrying the brand that had 8 oz packages. A shame, because I liked 8 oz packages. Particularly of macaroni, since I only make it for the holidays. But it’s also good for one batch of spaghetti.
Why are we breaking pasta? Seriously, is it just to get it into the pot? Or is there some other reason that I’m missing?
In case there’s someone who doesn’t know this, long pasta will soften, and fit into the pot completely within a minute or two. Everyone knows this, right? You’re breaking pasta for some other reason?
I’m not a pasta breaker, but I think some of it is that, and more of it is some people just don’t like long strands of spaghetti when eating, so chop them up into more bite-sized pieces, I think.
To derail slightly, as a quick Googling shows that the box is 16oz, pasta is one of the easiest things to customize the portion of and keeps for an incredibly long time. I’d be shocked if profit were not the primary motivation for manufacturers reducing the amount they put in boxes.
ETA: I’ve been breaking spaghetti lately because my three year old is still learning to twirl it and it’s easier to teach him with shorter stands.
The spaghetti breakers, IMO, fall into a couple of groups: those who are 6 years old or cooking for same, people who are afraid of getting sauce on their shirt, and the terminally uncoordinated who haven’t mastered the twirl. The latter group overlaps heavily with those who never mastered chopsticks. 