I have been enjoying listening to food podcasts these days and recently tuned into America’s Test Kitchen with Dan Souza, the Kitchen’s chief content officer and Cook’s Illustrated’s former editor in chief. There are lots of helpful scientific food tips on that site. 

Souza was interviewing Dan Pashman, three-time James Beard award winner and Sporkful podcast host. He recently accomplished something groundbreaking — almost historical in its nature — inventing a new pasta shape, Cascatelli, produced with pasta company Sfoglini. It was a three-year ordeal, the trials and tribulations of which are documented through the podcast.  Its result is a ruffled, tentacle-like shape named for the Italian word for waterfall — a curvy “J” with deep grooves and ridges. Its ruffled shape was designed to trap sauce and has become a popular choice for anything from chunky ragùs to creamy lemon sauces. And let me tell you, it does hold on tight!

It maximizes “Saucability, Forkability, and Toothsinkability,” says Pashman, coining a phrase —  (how well it holds sauce, picks up on a fork, and satisfies with each bite). Cascatelli  received trademark protection in the United States for use in association with pasta in March 2021. Other potential names had included Italian variations on ridged dinosaurs, millipedes or the musical bass clef.

Of course, I had to try it! 

In Canada, there were not many places to find it. I located it on line at Maison Cookware + Bakeware, a very appealing and helpful West Coast group, and a nice little thank you note came with my cascatelli order. A box is only $8.50 and I had Maison send me three other Sfoglini varieties, including Zucca, Reginetti, and Quatrottini, all about the same price. I was also pleased to see Maison stocks many other innovative products, including coffee equipment and Japanese knives like the Santoku, which I had purchased on Kappabashi (Knife Street) in Tokyo, and just love. 

Cascatelli can also be found at Vincenzo’s in Waterloo, Ont, with a number of other excellent Italian brands. Amazon also sells it but at a whopping cost. If you do order it, please support small businesses like Maison Cookware and Vicenzo’s. 

The great day arrived and my Sfoglini pasta was delivered. 

For the trial Sfoglini pasta outing I made Amy and Jacky’s ‘tested’ insta pot meat sauce. I like Amy and Jacky. If you follow directions, their insta pot recipes turn out very well. I swear by their Insta Pot white rice, by the way. It’s just high pressure for three minutes and natural release for 10, after you rinse the rice thoroughly. 

The verdict: Dan Pashman’s cascatelli is the real thing. It soaked up the sauce brilliantly as it was supposed to do; the sauce almost disappeared into the pasta in ways that more conventional and slippery pastas, like linguini, penne, and spaghetti could never do. The taste and feel of the pasta itself offered that satisfying, firm bite due to its varied thickness and structure. The experience was vastly different than any other pasta type. 

Tonight, with my partner’s celebrated meat sauce, slowly simmered on the stove for hours, we will be trying Zucca, which means “squash” in Italian, and resembles small pumpkins, adding a charming look to the plate. This variety features curved, ridged sides and a small, cup-like opening. The ridges grab thick sauces, while the center cradles vegetables or meats. My partner is less sanguine about the new pasta varieties, saying it’s a bit chewy, comparatively speaking. Calorically, it’s identical to regular pasta, though larger in bulk. 

Credit must be given to Sfoglini for developing these new varieties successfully. The pastas are made with premium semolina flour, a staple in traditional Italian pasta for centuries. A traditional bronze die extrusion method gives the pasta a rougher surface for sauce to cling to. To find out more about Sfoglini, click here. It’s a very interesting story. How a 700-square-foot “pasta laboratory” has grown into a 37,000-square-foot factory in Coxsackie, New York—more than 10,000 pounds of pasta are crafted each day. Hope you will try some Cascatelli now. 

Mission: ImPASTAble 5 | A Shape Is Born

Here’s what people are saying about cascatelli so far:

“I am frankly shocked by how good it is. . . . It’s really better than I ever expected.” —J. Kenji López-Alt, chef and author of The Food Lab
“I think it’s perfect.” —Sohla El-Waylly, chef, recipe developer, and host of Stump Sohla
“I just love the way it captured the sauce and snuggled it.” —Dorie Greenspan, author of Everyday Dorie
“It was like no other shape. It just stopped me in my tracks.” —Christopher Kimball, founder of Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street