I’d echo this for the most part and add my 2 cents:
Fresh pasta that is made with eggs is usually rolled/shaped quite thin and has more of a . . . spring . . . to it rather than a real chew or bite. It should definitely still have substance, don’t get me wrong, but it will never have the same texture as a dried pasta.
Fresh pasta that has no eggs and usually a higher proportion of semolina flour will have significantly more chew than fresh pasta made with eggs and no/little semolina. This dough is also generally formed into thicker shapes and that will increase the perceived chew.
Then you have to figure in that a lot of those high semolina/no egg pastas are actually dried to some degree before cooking. For instance, when I make orecchiette I need to form it no later than the morning of the day I want to cook them. Otherwise, they just don’t have the right bite, chew, and texture.
Then you’ve got dried pasta, which can be totally awesome and every bit as good as the two classes of pasta I mention above. There you’re going to get more resistance when biting. Not a chewiness, per se, but resistance.
So when you’re talking about say fresh spaghetti, which I would never undertake, you’re dealing with an no egg/high semolina dough that was extruded and then most likely dried and rested for several hours or more. Funke takes this on and takes it on with spectacular results.
But this is also fundamentally different than the pastas that I see Pasta Sisters making. They seem to be making a yes egg/low semolina dough. This just has a completely different texture than both the no egg/high semolina pasta and truly dried pasta.
The types of sauces and preparations are totally different for these classes of pasta, too. I just don’t see a pasta with breadcrumbs and bottarga working well with a delicate pappardelle. Just as you aren’t going to get acceptable results if you use a no egg/high semolina dough to make caramelle.
So all that is to say that comparing Pasta Sisters to say Funke or Jon and Vinny’s is not exactly apples and oranges. The specific pasta traditions they are rooted in seem quite different. Throw in the prices and well, it’s really a difficult comparison.
That said, I have yet to try Pasta Sisters. I’m going off of the types of pasta I’ve seen presented here and on Yelp. It looks like they are making different things.
out of buratta as well for the caprese… and the mozza was shockingly sour
the nice woman at the counter said it wasn’t on the register menu so she couldn’t make it… Maybe next time
