Bob (this one) wrote:
> Kate Connally wrote:
>
>> Joseph Littleshoes wrote:
>>
>>> Kate Connally wrote:
>>>
>>>> Damsel wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> When I was a kid, we got boxes of spaghetti that were about 4
>>>>> inches square on the ends, and around 3 feet long. The pasta
>>>>> inside was folded in half, so you were talking strands at least
>>>>> 5-1/2 feet long. One or two were all that a fork could hold.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Good grief! How did you get them into the pot to cook them if they
>>>> were that long? Even folded in half they'd be too big for any pot
>>>> I've ever seen.
>
>
> Spaghetti will soften and become flexible within seconds of being put
> into rapidly boiling water. The pot merely needs to be able to hold the
> appropriate amount of water.
>
>>> Our local Italian deli sells them, one is even a thin tubular, hollow
>>> spaghetti, not a cannelloni but a long tubular spaghetti.
>
>
> Called "bucatini."
>
>>> it
>>> also sells regular solid spaghetti in those lengths that are meant
>>> to be broken up, but can be cooked whole in a tall stock pot.
>>
>>
>> Well, Damsel was talking about stuff that was over 2 feet long after
>> folding in half. I've never seen a 2 1/2-3 foot high stock pot.
>>
>>> But even when cooked and served whole are usually served with a
>>> carving knife and the pasta is cut up into manageable pieces as it is
>>> served.
>>>
>>>
>>>> I've been around over 50 years and I've never come across spaghetti
>>>> that was more than about a foot long.
>
>
> I have several packages of "Gragnese" brand pasta imported from Italy in
> my kitchen that are about 20 inches long. The spaghetti inside are
> folded in half. I most often cook the pasta in a 12-quart stock pot and
> usually put about a gallon and a half of water along with about 1/4 cup
> salt like Italians in Italy do.
>
>>> The Chinese method of making long spaghetti like noodles produces 4
>>> - 5 foot long strands.
>>
>>
>> Yeah, I know about that. Not the same thing. I'm talking regular
>> dried spaghetti in a box.

Jumping in here on pasta length, 50 years of experience or not, I walked
into a Baron's Market today in Rancho Bernardo to see what they have on
their shelf, and surprise of surprises, there in clear wrap from Italy
is a package over two feet long with doubled over pasta.

The cut ends looked like an "S" with open channels on both sides, not
closed like an "8."

From the label: Maestri Pastai Ferretto Calabro. MP is an Italian firm
and the rest is the pasta name.

Slam dunk. Italian pasta DOES exist in four-foot lengths. $1.99 17.6 oz.


jim