The common myth, that Marco Polo has brought noodles to Italy and so introduced pasta is just exactly that – A Myth. It is an undisputed fact although is, that the Chinese were consuming noodles as early as 2500 BC.

Fact also is, that Jewish Rabbis argued if noodles violet Jewish dietary law as it appears in the Jerusalem Talmund in the 5th century A.D.

Fact is, that 9th century Syrian dictionary defines itriyya as string like pasta shapes made of semolina and dried before cooking.

Fact is, that a 5th century cookbook describes a dish called lagana that consisted of several layers of rolled-out dough alternating with meat stuffing and baked in an oven.

Fact is, Arabs in the 12th century documented the existence of long thin dried noodles in Southern Italy.

Marco Polo’s travels were well documented to have ended late in the 13th century (1294). At this time, Ravioli, Macaroni and Lasanga had long been a delicacy.

Pasta

Dried Italian-style pasta is made from durum wheat semolina, which gives it a light yellow

color and a slightly chewy texture when properly prepared.

It is traditionally cooked “al dente” The finest Italian dried pastas are flattened

between copper rollers.

Pasta is made either by extrusion, where the ingredients are forced through holes in a plate

known as a die, or by lamination, in which dough is kneaded, folded, rolled to thickness, then cut by slitters. Fresh pasta cooks quickly

and has a short shelf life while dried pasta can be stored for up to three years.

Regular pasta dough is in general a mixture of durum wheat flour, water and egg although for

• Whole wheat– Refined finely milled flour or non refined with

“coarse” grains• Semolina

– made with the addition of wheat semolina for more “bite” and elasticity of the dough

• Whole wheat and egg– As above with the addition of egg

• Whole meal– Term used to describe whole wheat and whole

wheat flour mixture used during the production of the dough

• Fresh pasta

– All pastas are fresh in it’s initial state of production.

– Fresh pasta has a short shelve life due to high humidity of the dough

• Dried Pasta

– Fresh pasta that has been dried.

– Modern machine made pasta does not need egg in the dough. Regular dried pasta therefore mostly does not include eggs

• Fresh Egg Pasta

– Pasta that has been produced with fresh eggs

• Egg Pasta

– Pasta that is produced with egg, usually pasteurized egg, whole or yolk only

• Milk Pasta

– Pasta made with milk instead of water

• Organic Pasta

– Pasta has been produced with organic products only

• Vegetable Pasta

– Pasta with the additions of vegetable purees or juices

– Pasta by most countries laws is not to be colored by food coloring but by an added product – red (tomato), green (spinach) brown (whole wheat flour), black (squid ink), purple (beet root) etc.

• Flavored Pasta

– Pasta dough that has been flavored with spices, herbs or seasoning mixtures (turmeric, basil, pepper, thyme, Cajun spice etc)

• Stuffed Pasta

– Various shapes such as Ravioli, Angolotti, Tortellini with a host of fillings from vegetarian to meat and seafood

• Flat pasta (from wide to narrow)• Lasagna, Pappardelle, Fettuccine, Tagliatelle, Linguine• Rolled and then cut to size

Shaped

for all other shapes than flat pastas. The dough is forced through

disks with different shaped wholes by a machine hence creating

shaped pasta.

• Round long pasta (from thick to thin)

– Buccatini, Spaghetti, Spaghettini, Fedelini, Capellini (angel hair)

• Tubed (Tubular) pasta

– Ziti, Penne, Macaroni, Spira, Rigatoni

• Shaped pasta Conchiglie, Farfalle, Fusilli, Orzo, Rotelle

• Chitarra pasta

– Home made pasta is cut through a metal stringed”Guitar” to achieve spaghetti. Although square and not round

• Ravioli

– square shaped, two layers of thin pasta with any filling – ricotta-spinach, seafood, braised meat etc

• Angolotti –

– Similar to Ravioli but from singly round sheet of pasta that is folded in half

• Tortellini

– Same as Angolotti but the end are folded inward like a croissant

• Canneloni – rolled pasta sheet with filling.

Baked in tomato sauce and covered with béchamel and cheese (Pecorino, Parmesan)

• Lasagna – Layered pasta sheets with filling

(tomato sauce, meat spinach etc.) and baked in the oven

Terminology

A noodle is a thin strip of unleavened dough that has been rolled, dried and cooked in

boiling water The term often refers to moist, cooked

noodles, since it has connotations of curviness and slipperiness,

but also to dried noodles that must be reconstituted by boiling or by soaking in water.

The word noodle derives from Latin nodus (knot), via German Nudel (noodle, pasta).

Terminology

A noodle includes all varieties from all origins, whereas Pasta refers specifically to Italian style noodle products such as spaghetti, penne, fettucine, or linguini.

The Chinese, Arab and Italian people all claimed to have been the first to create this string-like food, though the first written account of noodles is from the East Han Dynasty between 25 and 220 CE. In

Egg Noodlesusually made of a mixture of egg and wheat flour

Asian egg noodles - also known as ba mee in Thai, common throughout China and South-East Asia.

Lochshen - wide egg noodles used in Eastern European Jewish cuisine

Pasta - Italian fresh egg pasta

Reshteh -Middle Eastern egg noodles

Type of Noodles by primary ingredient

Wheat

Mee pok ( 麪薄 ) flat, yellow Chinese noodles, popular in South East Asia Lamian ( 拉麵 ) hand pulled Chinese noodles

Chuka men ( 中華麺 ) Japanese for "Chinese noodles", used for ramen, chanpon and yakisoba

Udon ( うどん ) thick Japanese wheat noodles

Somen ( そうめん ) very thin Japanese wheat noodles

Types of Asian Noodles by primary ingredient

Rice

Been Hoon / Sen Mee / Mǐfěn - thin rice noodles also known as Rice vermicelli Kwai Teow / Sen Yai / Ho Fun - flat translucent rice noodles

Mung bean or potato starchCellophane noodles - also known as glass noodles orbean vermicelli

Type of Asian Noodles

by primary ingredient

Buckwheat

Soba ( 蕎麦 ) - Japanese buckwheat noodles

Naengmyeon - Korean noodles made of buckwheat and sweet potato starch. Slightly chewier than soba.

Type of Asian Noodles by primary ingredient

Type of Noodle dishes

Fried noodlesdishes made of noodles stir fried with various

meats, seafood or vegetables. Typical examples include chow mein, mee goreng, hokkien mee,

yakisoba and pad thai

Noodle soupnoodles served in broth. Examples are beef noodle soup, phở, ramen, laksa, saimin and

batchoy

Chilled noodlesnoodles are sometimes served in a salad. An example is the Thai glass noodle salad yam

woon sen. In Japan, traditional Japanese noodles such as soba and somen are often served chilled

with a dipping sauce