contest VOTE! Noodle Throwdown

[salsalady]

Them "smoke signals" take a while to get out over DialUp! 
 
 
Thanks  for the vote, Boss.  Much appreciated! 
 
 
 
This meal was as you described.  Bits of crunchy, creamy sauce, squeeze on the lemon, FRESH al dente pasta, which was why I was having issues getting everything else to cook up and get on the plate at the same time.  Try to saute veggies, cook pasta, brown chicken, make the creamy picatta sauce....
 
I had to cook the pasta on the outside BBQ side burner cuz I ran out of room on my broken inside stove.  Running back and forth, stir the sauce, flip the veggies....still trying to make this an actual edible family meal for 4.
 
Aw, well,  Ya do what ya gotta do....  and in this case it worked out.  We had an enjoyable afternoon with family and a good dinner to boot.   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(plus- the guys did the dishes!  :shhh: )

 

[Deathtosnails]

THP said something like this:
 
"Chicken cooked golden brown, not covered in sauce so you have crunchy areas, awesome sauce, perfect fresh pasta.  I bet lemon zest would go great in flour dredge."
 
Yes!
 
"And my merkin needs starching"
 
And maybe 'iffy' on the last one, but Scovie said it's true, so must be...
 

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Hey now, it just came back from the cleaners, I am good to go.
 

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Last day!

Please vote.

 

[hot stuff]

Student of Spice made 2 different dishes, but both the same basic pasta shape. Different fillings, different pastas, and dang!  all those perfectly formed tortellinis!!!
 
Hot Stuff did the gnocchi with that crawfish cream sauce.  I'm a total sucker for creamy tomato sauce!  And BREAD with evoo, s&p.....aw... just sign me up for cardiac clinic!
 
HOT STUFF!  That's it, vote cast!

Thanks SL! Made my day.

 

[Scovie]

Noodles. Wow.
 
I voted for which noodle/ pasta I would eat just plain. Thickness, texture flavor.
 
SalsaLady did it for me.
 
If this were a "Pasta Meal TD" it would have been even harder, cuz y'all are some truly amazing, creative chef's.
 
So if anyone needs me, I'll just be over here feeling sorry for myself that I can't eat everyones dish.
 
SalsaLady!!!

 

[The Hot Pepper]

OH YEAH it's close!

Let's get 50 votes!

 

[The Hot Pepper]

About 4 hours left get your vote in! Don't let this delusional megalomaniac become president! I mean, NOODLES!

 

[keybrdkid]

I had to think about this one. As such, I was a little picky. perhaps too much so for not knowing anything about pasta other than what I am reading. haha.
Anyways, here is how I chose my vote, among other things.
 
My research tells me that the type of dough you use seems to be important depending on what pasta you are making. More specifically, the egg yolk only version vs. the type that contains egg whites. I assume you all used a finer flour.
 
Apparently, egg yolks contain 50% fat and proteins and 50% water. Egg whites contain 90% water and 10% fat and proteins- which makes them a neutral flavorless and colorless filler.  This actually has a use, which I will get to in a minute.
 
The trick seems to be incorporating as many egg yolks (fat) as possible without changing the pliability of the dough. Too much fat changes the elasticity of the dough. 
 
Egg whites, on the other hand, are useful when making ravioli. Stuffed pasta should have extra elasticity and durability for shaping ect. When egg whites are added to a fine flour, the flour immediately absorbs the water. Instead of those egg proteins having to mobilize nine times their weight in water, all the water has disappeared, and it is suddenly much easier for the proteins to find each other and hook up to create new protein structures. These extra protein structures maintain the ravioli dough's integrity while you form the shapes you desire and cook it.
 
---
 
Thus, I decided to look at the entries to see who matched their doughs correctly to the dish that they made. And also, what I preferred in a dish vs. what stood out as a bit odd. So I ultimately decided that Tctenten gets my vote.

 

[tctenten]

I did use 00 flour as opposed to AP flour.  I did not know the science of it, interesting stuff.   

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Nice vote process.

SL's choice of durum wheat was spot on for me, I looked at flours too. That's for good al dente pasta, not mush.

 

[Husker21]

'sup homies!  Nothing has changed around here.  You guys and gals are still slangin' some GOOD EATS.

 

[tctenten]

Nice vote process.

SL's choice of durum wheat was spot on for me, I looked at flours too. That's for good al dente pasta, not mush.

 
Yup the Semolina definitely makes a difference.  I went 2/3 flour and 1/3 semolina...next time I am going to try her 50/50 ratio.   

 

[grantmichaels]

'sup homies!  Nothing has changed around here.  You guys and gals are still slangin' some GOOD EATS.

 
Wow, so bizarre ... I literally have you BBQ sauce out on the counter.
 
Weird.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Salty has the edge...
Less than 2 hours.
Less than 2 hours.

 

[hogleg]

BOOYAAAAA!!!!! 50 muthalovin points. I mean votes i'm a lil dizzy from da nyquil
 
Yep I just made that happen.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

I don't know why I expected Salty to FALL back but look at him RISE!
 

 

[grantmichaels]

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Will Salty be crowned by the Golden Scrotum?

Keep voting!

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Give the old bastage a crown already...