[Sca-cooks] handmade pasta

[Lorenz Wieland]

Stefan li Rous wrote:
> I've never tried to make handmade pasta. Have others on this list? How
> big or what shape would the pasta be described in this recipe?

I am unfamiliar with the recipe described, and am not at all sure what
original term in al-Baghdadi was translated as "spaghetti."  However, most
period Mediterranean-area pastas appear to have been cut wider than modern
spaghetti.  The few descriptions I've read seem to indicate they cut their
noodles somewhere between fettucine and lasagna in size and shape, and
generally stuck to flat noodles.

> Would
> they be bigger and more irregular than the commercial dried stuff I
> can buy in the grocery? I imagine the processed stuff is extruded, not
> rolled out.

Yes, the dried stuff is generally extruded.

> It seems like making something with that small of a
> diameter, round and consistent would be rather difficult. Making it by
> hand also sounds very long and labor intensive, so I don't know if I
> will ever try it but it would be interesting to know about.

There are various low-tech solutions such as pasta bikes (multiple wheel
cutters on a handle) or guitarras (cutting wires strung on a frame) which
can speed up hand cutting and shaping.  I'm not sure which of these, if any,
were actually used in period.

-Lorenz