The greatest pastas of all time

Rigatoni with spicy calabrese style pork ragu

Any time you claim a particular food is the best, you are surely going to ruffle some feathers. But that isn’t stopping Epicurious, which chose 14 recipes as the greatest pastas of all time. It’s a bold move, but as the site notes “You don’t mess with a classic.” We’ll take a look at a few of the contenders.

The first recipe listed is Rigatoni with spicy calabrese-style pork ragù (pictured above). While the recipe calls for rigatoni, Epicurious states that any short, tubular pasta will work. Moving on a few entries, it’s no surprise to see spaghetti and meatballs, but Orecchiette with kale and breadcrumbs may raise an eyebrow or two. Note Epicurious, “A plate of orecchiette (“little ear”) pasta is like a plateful of little cups.” All the better to hold onto the sauce.

Naturally lasagna made the list – but which one made the cut? Epicurious says their favorite is Lasagna with sausage, spinach, and three cheeses. Simpler pasta dishes get their due, with capellini en brodo and cacio e pepe both making an appearance. More noteworthy than what made the list is what didn’t: there is no mention of alfredo or bolognese.

Do you agree with the picks made by Epicurious? If  not, which pasta recipe do you think was unfairly left off their list?

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3 Comments

  • adrienneyoung  on  September 27, 2015

    I think it is a lovely list. That said, I am very much a fan of Marcella Hazan's bolognese sauce. So I hoped to see it there. No dice.

  • veronicafrance  on  September 28, 2015

    It's a pretty strange list. How could they miss out spaghetti with clams?

  • BethNH  on  September 28, 2015

    I find the list just odd. Anything that includes kale is just dated. And some others are just odd. I would have included a real classic like macaroni and cheese.

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