~Cellentani or Cavatappi -- No Worries, No Difference~
A few days ago I made my pasta Alfredo. I refer to is as pasta Alfredo because I don't always use fettuccine to make this classic pasta dish. My family likes it just as much using spaghetti and I also make variations of Alfredo using linguini with shrimp, mushroom ravioli Alfredo, and, with vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots) for rotini Alfredo all primavera. That said, my personal favorite pasta for Alfredo is penne or cellentani (also marketed as cavatappi) -- tubular pasta loves to soak up any type of sauce. What's more fun, not to mention fork-and-family-friendly, is Alfredo made using a combination of both -- penne and cellentani or cavatappi.
As hard as it is to believe, there is a controversy about the difference between cellentani (chay-len-TAHN-ee) and cavatappi (cah-vah-TAP-ee) -- which are both "fork-friendly, similarly sized, tubular corkscrew whirls" (the best words I have to describe their shape). Some folks actually claim there is a slight difference in their thicknesses, while others claim there is a difference in their ridge counts. It makes me laugh because I've been using the two interchangeably for years and I am here to tell you there is no difference -- or at least none that should concern any cook.
Here's what you need to know: Cellentani were first created by the italian pasta giant Barilla in the 1960s. The company named its new pasta shape cellentani (after Adriano Celentano, a famous Italian pop singer known for his unique "springy" dance moves). The name cellentani was trademarked by Barilla, which prevents other companies from marketing there copycat product as cellentani. When other brands came up their cellentani, they named their version cavatappi, which means corkscrew in Italian and references the pasta's springy shape. So, my cooking friends, no worries, there is no real difference between these two tubular corkscrew pasta shapes.
No worries, No difference -- It's simply a different name.
"We are all in this food world together. ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2023)
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