Barilla is heating up America's love affair with pasta by introducing an innovative line of long cuts created especially for sauce lovers, Rigati. In Italian, "rigati" means "ridged". Pasta shapes with ridges tend to hold more sauce because of the incremental surface area created by the grooves versus their smooth-shaped counterparts. Rigati shapes have been adored by Italians for centuries for this reason, but also for enhancing the "mouthfeel" and eating enjoyment of favorite pasta dishes. Historically, rigati appears to have been mostly reserved for short pasta shapes, of which Penne Rigate is probably the most recognized in Italy and in the United States. Now, Barilla has brought rigati to three favorite lonog cuts: Spaghetti, Fettuccine and Bucatini. "Cooking with Rigati creates new recipes possibilities," said James Beard Award-winning chef Roberto Donna. "The ridges allow Italian food lovers like me to experiment with ingredients and sauces. Rigati lets me put a contemporary twists on traditional pasta dishes."
Bucatini, a long tubular pasta resembling a drinking straw, originated in central Italy, but found its home in the cooking of Rome, especially in the classic dish Bucatini all’ Amatriciana – a dish served with a delicious sauce of pancetta, tomatoes, red pepper, and grated Pecorino cheese.
Bucatini Rigati combines the length of a long pasta cut with the center hole of a short cut. The hollow center of this fun and versatile pasta shape fills up with sauce, while the ridges provide flexibility and help the sauce cling to the outside of the pasta. The result is a burst of flavor and true Italian taste in every bite.
