# Pound of pasta? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 16, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pound-of-pasta/373004 "2006-09-16T22:05:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pound-of-pasta/373004/1 "2006-09-16T22:05:39Z")
I am making a recipe tonight that calls for a pound of pasta. Does this mean a pound after it is cooked? How much dry pasta should I buy to end up with a pound of pasta for the recipe? Thanks… ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pound-of-pasta/373004/2 "2006-09-16T22:10:21Z")
It generally means a pound precooked. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pound-of-pasta/373004/3 "2006-09-16T22:15:53Z")
I’d agree with that. You usually weight pasta precooked, or measure it in cup measures, if you’re not using really rule-of-thumb techniques like ‘a handful of spaghetti.’ As an aside - is dry pasta sold in one-pound or two-pound packages down there? Here in canada they’re usually marked as ‘900g’ or ‘450g’, which comes pretty much to the same things. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pound-of-pasta/373004/4 "2006-09-16T22:17:51Z")
[QUOTE=chrisk] As an aside - is dry pasta sold in one-pound or two-pound packages down there? Here in canada they’re usually marked as ‘900g’ or ‘450g’, which comes pretty much to the same things. [/QUOTE] Yes, it is. But I measure spaghetti by the “handfull” or the “big handfull”. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pound-of-pasta/373004/5 "2006-09-16T22:23:20Z")
[QUOTE=chrisk] As an aside - is dry pasta sold in one-pound or two-pound packages down there? [/QUOTE] Pasta is always sold in one-pound packages, except for the extremely popular shapes like spaghetti and linguine which also often come in half-pounds – for singletons and dieters, I suppose. I’ve never come across a two-pound bag of pasta. Noodles (as in non-Italian egg noodles, to go under stew or into soup) seem to come in 12-ounce bags nearly as often as in pounds. I wonder why that is. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pound-of-pasta/373004/6 "2006-09-16T22:25:15Z")
One pound packages are the rule, at least where I’ve lived. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pound-of-pasta/373004/7 "2006-09-16T22:54:52Z")
For some reason, angel hair pasta often comes in 12oz boxes. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pound-of-pasta/373004/8 "2006-09-17T00:31:35Z")
[QUOTE=Ukulele Ike] Pasta is always sold in one-pound packages, except for the extremely popular shapes like spaghetti and linguine which also often come in half-pounds – for singletons and dieters, I suppose. I’ve never come across a two-pound bag of pasta. Noodles (as in non-Italian egg noodles, to go under stew or into soup) seem to come in 12-ounce bags nearly as often as in pounds. I wonder why that is. [/QUOTE] You New Yorkers need to get out more. You can buy 2 or even 3-pound boxes of spaghetti. Likewise for macaroni. Of course, it’s not going to be the same quality as you get. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pound-of-pasta/373004/9 "2006-09-17T01:04:28Z")
Thanks, all. I figured it would be the dry amount in a package but I wanted to be sure before I went to the market. I just bought a one pound bag of fusilli for dinner.