Spaghetti a la chitarra

Back---way, way, way, back in the day, when I worked at Convito Italiano, we carried a line of products called Club du Faison. I can't remember if we stopped carrying them, or if they ceased to exist, but I know I've never seen them since. The oil under their label was terrific as was a line of dried pastas. One of these was the captioned spaghetti. The shape was a long noodle of spaghettin thickness, but square. It had corners. (Apparently the name alludes to its being shaped like a guitar string, though I'm not sure why, since they are not square.) In any case, it was a great noodle and I've never seen it anywhere else, or seen a die that extrudes a thin, square noodle. It picked up sauce just a bit differently than a round noodle and it just felt great in the mouth. Perhaps that sounds weird, or fetishistic, but I used it all the time and loved it and have never seen it again.
Has anyone else seen this shape anywhere?

HI,

Amazon offers a variety for a whopping $18.99 for a kilo.

This company distributes spaghetti Chitarra:

Manzo Food Sales, Inc.
10801 N.W. 97th St. Suite 9
Miami, Florida 33178
Tel: (305) 888-1350
Fax: (305) 888-1351

I also saw some Chitarra cutters for pasta rollers.

Thank you for alerting me to something new to obsess about.

Regards,

(Apparently the name alludes to its being shaped like a guitar string, though I'm not sure why, since they are not square.) In any case, it was a great noodle and I've never seen it anywhere else, or seen a die that extrudes a thin, square noodle.

I always thought that the noodle was traditionally cut by being pressed through a frame strung with what looked like closely set guitar strings, hence the name. Not extruded.

mrbarolo wrote:Has anyone else seen this shape anywhere?

Mr. B,

I've had Chitarra at Spiaggia (handmade spaghetti alla chitarra came with sweet lobster, spring garlic, dried tomatoes, and arugula). Traditionally chitarra is not on a die, but on a cutter that looks like a harp.

Link to image of chitarra. Its my understanding one lays the pasta sheet on the 'guitar' strings then roll/cut with a rolling pin.

As an aside, in the opening of American Iron Chef an image of Mario Batali making pasta on a chitarra flashes past.

Enjoy,
Gary

That fabrication explanation about the "guitar strings" makes perfect sense. I may even have known it once and then forgotten. Certainly my unthinking substitution made no sense at all, I just couldn't dredge up the right answer. And at $18.99/kilo, I will be wanting to make my own, so it's useful info.
(I did Google "Club du Faison" and get nowhere, so they may be long gone.)

I always thought that the noodle was traditionally cut by being pressed through a frame strung with what looked like closely set guitar strings, hence the name. Not extruded.

Yep, it's a wood frame strung with wires. You can find them on line.
This one is from Sur La Table

Ciao, mr barolo,

I happened to be in your Treasure Island today (Hyde Park) and spotted chitarra pasta for sale. The brand is rustichella d'abruzzo; the cost is $6.69 for 500g. The chitarra packages are down on the bottom shelf, by the way.

buon appetito,
Amata

Along with the cool name and fun process of making the pasta comes the benefit of it all...sauce retainment. Due to the pasta being cut on the 'guitar' it comes out with slightly jagged/rough edges which allows the pasta to retain more sauce than the typical spaghetti.

Hence my enduring interest.

(Amata,
Molte grazie.
'A T.I. vero...
...il chitarrino le suonerò.')

Amata wrote:Ciao, mr barolo,

I happened to be in your Treasure Island today (Hyde Park) and spotted chitarra pasta for sale. The brand is rustichella d'abruzzo; the cost is $6.69 for 500g. The chitarra packages are down on the bottom shelf, by the way.

buon appetito,
Amata

I made this "square spaghetti" pasta not too long ago and really enjoyed it. I bought mine at Panozzo's in the South Loop - a nice Italian grocery/deli. I believe it was about the same price.

Bump for: anyone see any locations recently that carry this pasta? It looks like Panozzo's is gone. I haven't had a chance to check out the Treasure Island in Hyde Park yet, but this info is from almost 10 years ago, so I'm not necessarily going to be optimistic. I'll pop in when I'm in the neighborhood. (Which reminds me, I do actually need to go out there soon, so if/when I do, I'll report back.)

Eataly had it around a month ago.

Ah, good to know. Thanks. I've been meaning to pop into Eataly to pick up some 'nduja, which I understand they have as well. I could kill two birds with one stone.

I saw some at Mariano's, can't recall the brand.

spinynorman99 wrote:I saw some at Mariano's, can't recall the brand.

OK, I'm at a Mariano's every so often. Is there a specific one you saw it in? Mariano's seems to vary by store a bit. (For example, since I mentioned 'nduja in my last post, I was excited to hear that Mariano's carried 'nduja from 'Nduja Artisans, but I'm not sure which Mariano's does, as the one I usually go to does not. For that matter, if any of you know which Mariano's sell it, let me know.)

The brand I buy from Mariano's is called La Molisana. Curiously, it's $1.69/pound at the Edgewater store, and $2.29/pound at the Lakeview location; needless to say, I stock up at Edgewater.

It's good quality pasta - it's replaced DeCecco as my go-to brand. At least, it will once I finish off the fourteen remaining boxes of DeCecco spaghetti and four boxes of penne I have remaining.

Independent George wrote:The brand I buy from Mariano's is called La Molisana. Curiously, it's $1.69/pound at the Edgewater store, and $2.29/pound at the Lakeview location; needless to say, I stock up at Edgewater.

It's good quality pasta - it's replaced DeCecco as my go-to brand. At least, it will once I finish off the fourteen remaining boxes of DeCecco spaghetti and four boxes of penne I have remaining.

Oh, sweet. That's good to know and much better pricing than I was expecting.

Thanks again guys! Since I was in the neighborhood after dropping off my wife, I popped into the Mariano's on Halsted/Greektown and found the La Molisana brand. It was $2.19/lb there.

(No luck on my side mission of finding 'nduja, but maybe I was looking in the wrong place: I checked the deli counter, the meat counter, the case where they have the prepackaged Italian charcuterie, but no luck.)

Binko wrote:(No luck on my side mission of finding 'nduja,

If you are in that neighborhood anyway go to the source for Nduja Artisans nduja, Tempesta Market.

Tempesta Market
1372 W Grand Ave
Chicago, IL 60642
10 - 8 daily
http://tempestamarket.com/

Independent George wrote:The brand I buy from Mariano's is called La Molisana. Curiously, it's $1.69/pound at the Edgewater store, and $2.29/pound at the Lakeview location; needless to say, I stock up at Edgewater.

It's good quality pasta - it's replaced DeCecco as my go-to brand. At least, it will once I finish off the fourteen remaining boxes of DeCecco spaghetti and four boxes of penne I have remaining.

Thanks for replacing my memory skills. I can visualize the package but couldn't recall the name.

G Wiv wrote:

Binko wrote:(No luck on my side mission of finding 'nduja,

If you are in that neighborhood anyway go to the source for Nduja Artisans nduja, Tempesta Market.

Tempesta Market
1372 W Grand Ave
Chicago, IL 60642
10 - 8 daily
http://tempestamarket.com/

Thank you kind, sir!

As an aside, I ended up at Tempesta Market today with the littlest one before her nap and picked up a chub of 'nduja. Also picked up a quarter pound of guanciale. I had never had 'nduja before, but I was mighty impressed. I was expecting a little bit more heat (based not specifically on Nduja Artisans product, but rather about what I've heard about the sausage in general), but holy crap was it delicious! I think a quarter pound of the 6 oz chub is already gone, and it's been home for like, what, 20 minutes now. Great stuff!

I was out of town last week and didn't get any or spot it myself but chitarra was apparently briefly around at Aldi:

https://old.reddit.com/r/aldi/comments/ ... brand_but/

BrendanR wrote:I was out of town last week and didn't get any or spot it myself but chitarra was apparently briefly around at Aldi:

https://old.reddit.com/r/aldi/comments/ ... brand_but/

Yes, I saw some and bought some at my local Aldi (47th & Pulaski) last week.

I found chitarra at my Aldi in Valparaiso, Indiana. I've never eaten it before so I'm excited to try it out.