Best dry pasta available in supermarkets?

mossy2

Hello There
I'm wondering which is the best dry pasta brand fairly widely available in Irish supermarkets.

I've never noticed a great difference myself but some brands must be better, tastier, better textured etc etc.

Any opinions?

Irishrossoblu

Barilla

huskerdu

Barilla is very good.
Napolina is good too.

The better brands retain more bite and texture when cooked.

Very cheap brands go straight from undercooked to soggy.

schemingbohemia

De Cecco - think Superquinn stock it and others

shrapnel222

schemingbohemia wrote: »

De Cecco - think Superquinn stock it and others

+1 almost everyone stocks it now and it really is so much nicer.

leahyl

Are these pastas very expensive then in comparison to the other brands like Roma, Dolmio etc?

huskerdu

leahyl wrote: »

Are these pastas very expensive then in comparison to the other brands like Roma, Dolmio etc?

I just checked a few prices on tesco.ie

All prices for 500g of penne or fusilli

Tesco Own brand 1.09
Roma 1.69
Parioli 1.69 ( Not mentioned yet, not as good as De Cecco but OK)
Napolini 1.69
Napolini Bronze 2.89
De Cecco Fusilli 2.29
De Cecco Tortiglioni 1.77

The cheapest Pasta in Tesco is 1kg Trattoria for 69c.

If you are feeding a large family on a budget, the more expensive brands may not be accessible, but they are not much more expensive than Roma.

Mr.David

De Cecco by a country mile.

Barilla is good too.

Nearly everything else (Roma, Own brand etc) makes stodgy mush that doesn't hold a sauce properly.

For the extra 50c or whatever its well worth it.

Slaphead07

Try to find pasta that has been made using traditional brass moulds rather than teflon. They allow the sauce to stick to the pasta whereas the pasta made from teflon moulds... well... you can guess.

schemingbohemia

schemingbohemia wrote: »

De Cecco - think Superquinn stock it and others

100%
Much better than even most of the "fresh" pastas available.

huskerdu

Slaphead07 wrote: »

Try to find pasta that has been made using traditional brass moulds rather than teflon. They allow the sauce to stick to the pasta whereas the pasta made from teflon moulds... well... you can guess.

Napolini Bronze are made from bronze moulds. It is very good, but quite a bit more expensive.

Sinfonia

Another vote for De Cecco, particularly the Linguine.

Irishrossoblu

Sinfonia wrote: »

Another vote for De Cecco, particularly the Linguine.

I must say that I am not a big fan of De Cecco and I much prefer Barilla. I just dont like the shapes of the De Cecco, like their Fusilli is wierd. But both are better than Roma muck.

On a budget I would say that Dunnes own brand pasta is actually ok.

Mrs Fox

I quite like M&S' pappardelle.

De Cecco rules though.

The Sparrow

I think Jamie Oliver's dried pasta is pretty good. Really holds the sauce well. Although I've yet to try some of the others listed here so perhaps they are better.

But the Jamie Oliver pasta is definitely better than the standard Dolmio or Roma stuff.

Slaphead07

The Sparrow wrote: »

I think Jamie Oliver's dried pasta is pretty good. Really holds the sauce well. Although I've yet to try some of the others listed here so perhaps they are better.

But the Jamie Oliver pasta is definitely better than the standard Dolmio or Roma stuff.

Slaphead07 wrote: »

Try to find pasta that has been made using traditional brass moulds rather than teflon. They allow the sauce to stick to the pasta whereas the pasta made from teflon moulds... well... you can guess.

I saw that pasta yesterday in a local Super Valu. It does look like "proper" bronze mould pasta alright.

darran85

I am italian, so maybe I can help a little bit with this
De Cecco and Barilla are considered between the best brands even Italy, De Cecco more than Barilla (and in fact is more expensive in Italy as well). Anyway, 2.19 for de cecco is really expensive, and Barilla is not that widely diffused, I found a very good italian brand it's called Delverde and you can find it in Fresh supermarket at grand canal dock, they sell it at 1.80 per half kilo and quality is as good as De cecco (for my taste it's even better). Colavita pasta that you can find at the same supermarket for 1.50 or at Tesco for 2 euro it's very good too, but slightly lower than De Cecco or Delverde (and probably than Barilla as well).
Between the cheapest options I would definetely go for Dunnes pasta, or Spar Pasta (usualli 1.09 but many times on offer for 59c.). Lidl pasta is cheap but lower in quality that spar or Dunnes, but it's not that bad. Absolutely to avoid for me is Roma pasta, between the worst ever pasta I tried in Ireland (much worste than many other cheaper options I tried), it gets soon overcooked and it makes a pasta dish to become a mush. I still can't understand how is that possible that it's the only brand you can find in every single supermarket and at that price (1.69), being so bad and at the same time being so widely sold...

Dizzyblonde

Welcome to Boards darran85. As a general rule we don't bump old threads that haven't had posts in more than 6 months.
Thread closed.