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Always delicious: fresh pasta
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Anyone who doesn't let their Miracoli cooking water burn can cook pasta.
Even handmade fine pasta from the bronze presses of small Italian manufacturers is guaranteed to succeed with the 100:10:1 method - 10 grams of salt and 1 liter of cooking water per 100 grams of pasta.
Nevertheless, there are a few kitchen utensils that can make pasta life a lot easier.
We have tested pasta spoons, pasta tongs and spaghetti portioners for you.
Rösle spaghetti server silicone
Cooking eggless durum wheat pasta perfectly al dente is almost child's play with the help of the 100:10:1 rule, the approximate cooking times printed on the packaging and the fork-and-palate test just before the end of this period.
On the other hand, portioning the ready-cooked pasta often turns out to be a tricky task that can mess up the cooking apron and kitchen floor.
Above all, long forms such as spaghetti, tagliatelle and the lunghi, some of which are more than half a meter long, often develop a biting life of their own when being lifted from the pot onto the dinner plate - regardless of whether they are still pure or already with sauce.
The ideal tool to solve this task is at the end of every pasta cook's arm.
But not everyone has the necessary heat-resistant hands.
Some try to get the job done with salad servers, but the safest solution is to use specially designed kitchen tools, such as a pasta server with a serrated spoon stem or pasta tongs.
The spaghetti server from Rösle is the only one of its kind that has become a welcome and used permanent guest in my kitchen.
Its predecessors all ended up in the junk box for various reasons: too unstable for larger portions with heavier sauces, too small, not grippy enough for slippery pasta or simply too sharp-edged.
With the Rösle and its solid, silicone-coated teeth, none of this is an issue.
Even sensitive, because coated cookware can be scraped out without risk of damage.
A clever detail: the milling on the bottom of the spoon, which prevents the cooking liquid from being poured out, is cut in such a way that the water runs off quickly, but no noodles spill through.
With its shape and coating, it is also suitable for other pasta shapes such as fusilli, penne and farfalle.
Even the extra-wide pappardelle, which are particularly delicate in this respect, can be draped onto plates quickly and without splashing.
In addition, this scoop cuts a fine figure on my gadget hanging rack with its classy 18/10 matt steel finish.
What is that?
One of the strongest pasta scoops on the market.
who needs this
Anyone who wants to spread any type of pasta with or without sauce on plates quickly and without splashing.
What does this cost?
Sturdy spaghetti spoons are available from about 10 euros, the Rösle costs 30 euros.
Alessi spaghetti tongs 502
Next to the measuring spoon, tongs are the most popular tool for lifting spaghetti and other long, thin pasta shapes from the pot or pan onto the dinner plate.
These tools are available in many sizes and designs, coated with silicone or smooth, with a built-in spring or - as with Alessi - with the inherent tension of the stainless steel used, for which a little strength in the hands is helpful.
They also differ in whether the teeth interlock or collide head-on.
The latter is recommended if you not only want to use the tongs for pasta, but also for moving fried food such as steaks, coarse vegetables or burger patties.
The Alessi has interlocked teeth, which has an extremely positive effect when working with spaghetti - nothing slips next to it.
Even slippery sauces do not interfere with safe working.
With a total length of 19 cm, these tongs are one of the more delicate specimens, which – together with the elegant high-gloss finish and the chic Italo design that is typical of Alessi – makes them an eye-catcher on the festively laid pasta table.
Longer and heavier tongs would certainly be the better choice for handling large quantities of pasta, such as in flat shares, for catering or in large families.
Gross motor skills, such as those used when grabbing heavy bread out of the oven or turning large steaks in the pan and on the grill, can sometimes result in tender Alessi with bent teeth.
Their domain is quantities of up to four portions and, above all, a stylish appearance at the table.
Also immensely practical there: the tongs have an oval extension at the end of the handle, which prevents them from slipping off the edge of the pot when you hang them there.
What is that?
A chic, comparatively small tool for portioning spaghetti & co.
who needs this
Everyone who would like to stylishly distribute pasta on plates in a small group with a pleasingly designed tool.
What does this cost?
Solid spaghetti tongs that don't bend immediately are available from about five euros, the Alessi is 14 euros.
Karl Weis spaghetti portioner
I have to admit that I never really understood the purpose of this tool with its three to five metering cutouts of different sizes.
If I want to know how much uncooked pasta I need to throw in the pot for one, two, or four servings, I weigh the pasta.
If you use a reasonable, flat and wide kitchen scale, this can also be done with long, narrow types such as spaghetti, linguine or bucatini without them rolling across the worktop.
But you never stop learning, which is why I got the triangular scoop from Karl Weis, which has one more hole than almost all of its peers: cut-outs for 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 4 portions - and therefore ideal for them suitable for most pasta situations in small households.
Apart from the fact that it is quite a tricky business, for example to fill the one-serving hole with spaghetti without accident (i.e. without breaking the noodles) so that it is stuffed tightly and without gaps - what use is this kitchen gadget to me, if I want to prepare other long pasta?
Just for fun, we first portioned five types of pasta of different thicknesses but equal lengths with the hole filling and then weighed them.
After all, the standard spaghetti - usually about 1.6 mm thick and offered by most manufacturers under the strength number 5 - weighed exactly 100 g from the one-serving hole to the tenth of a gram, i.e. the recommended quantity for use as a main course .
But: How do I measure the 80 gram standard spaghetti that is recommended as part of the classic Italian menu as ideal for use as a primo piatto?
It becomes even more difficult if other types of spaghetti or different strengths of spaghetti are to be cooked.
Our re-weighing resulted in a hole filling of thin Capellini 110 grams, the flat Linguine weighed 108 grams, the long but half-bent Trafilata al Bronzo 82 grams and the thick Bucatini even just 76 grams. Given this plus the impossibility of spaghetti beyond the Measuring the 25 cm standard length with it, we had no choice but to sing a happy Elvis song to the scoop: »Return To Sender«.
What is that?
A kitchen helper with which you can correctly portion standard spaghetti (but only this one) before cooking without a kitchen scale.
who needs this
Anyone who only cooks standard 10 inch spaghetti and has forgotten where the kitchen scale is.
What does this cost?
Stainless steel scoops are available from five euros, this one costs 18 euros but has one more hole than usual.
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