According to food historian Francine Segan, spaghetti is the most popular pasta in both Italy and the United States. Despite the wide variety of choices, Americans can’t get enough of the simplest and most familiar form of pasta. When it’s time to cook dinner, we hastily grab a pack of spaghetti, a pot of any size, and mindlessly break the noodles in half. But if you’re Italian like me, your ancestors will raise their eyebrows.

There is no written rule in Italian cuisine that says you should never cut pasta. “However, there is a strict consensus that cutting pasta is a no-no, as the length of the noodles enhances the eating experience and the aesthetics of the dish,” says Segan. So, while it may seem perfectly normal, don’t break your spaghetti in half.

Here are some more things to keep in mind when cooking spaghetti.

Different pasta shapes require their own pots

I recommend using a 10- to 12-inch cast iron skillet, sauté pan or frying pan with higher sides for cooking longer shapes like spaghetti, linguini and fettuccine. The pasta fits perfectly in the pan and you get more concentrated starchy water, which is ideal for sauces that require pasta water, like cacio e pepe. Taller pots are great for tubular or elongated pasta shapes like rigatoni, penne, farfalle and fusilli.

You have to turn the noodles

Why make spaghetti if you can’t twist it?! It is not acceptable to manipulate long pieces of pasta with a fork and knife as you would a piece of meat. Regional Italian spaghetti recipes include Carbonara, Cacio and PepeAnd Spaghetti alla’ Assassinaand creamy or tomato-rich sauces like this one are best enjoyed in medium-sized spirals formed with the tines of your fork or with the help of your spoon.

There are some cultural exceptions to breaking noodles

Outside of Italian cuisine, there are exceptions to the rule of not breaking pasta. Robert Seixas, food director at Delish, says he breaks vermicelli into small pieces when making Lebanese rice. The Mexican soup sopa de fideo is a brothy tomato soup that uses pieces of broken vermicelli called fideo. Segan points to a number of Chinese, Japanese and Indian recipes that involve breaking noodles to make the dish easier to eat.

In Italian culture, however, breaking spaghetti is generally frowned upon, especially when you want to cook something a certain way, Segan says. “Spaghetti and other long pastas require skill and care from the pasta maker. It’s an insult to their craft to destroy the intended length.”

You might also like