It rarely gets the attention it deserves, but food’s texture is just as important as its flavor. If you’ve ever pondered why takeout and leftovers are never as good as food served fresh from the kitchen, texture is the culprit. Without texture, everything we eat may as well be homogenized in a blender. Does that sound appetizing? Texture is the reason expensive spaghetti tastes better than cheap spaghetti.
Nothing is more exemplary of the phrase “time is money” than the world of dried, boxed pasta. Dried pasta, or “pastasciutta,” is often extruded from dies. The cheapest brands use Teflon in their dies, which enables them to push more dough through the die faster and produce more pasta in less time.