Eephus
Footballguy
It's been a while since we've had a food countdown--I've been working on this project since either the cheese or sandwich portion of the FFA menu. It took a while to set up the boundaries, make a long list and filter it down which gave me the opportunity to sample a few more of the contestants.
So why noodles? Generically they're just unleavened dough made from a starch that is cut or pulled into strands or shapes. They're delicious, affordable and easy to prepare which helps to explain why they're a part of many different global cuisines that I'll highlight during this countdown. Noodles are classic comfort food that compliment any sauce; they're also more fun to eat than the average food.
Rules and regulations:
Primi not Secondi: I've tried to focus on dishes where noodles are the main attraction rather than a side starch. Because of this, some traditional favorites like chicken tetrazzini, ratatouille, shrimp scampi, eggplant parmigiana and fruta de mar will be absent even though they usually involve pasta. The most controversial omission is probably spaghetti and meatballs which would otherwise be a top ten dish but that delicious hunk of ground meat is a distraction. Pay no attention to it!
Shapes (usually) don't matter: I expect some pushback on this but I've decided to generally be sauce-centric, especially when ranking Italian cuisine. I'm not going to even try to distinguish between penne, penne rigate, ziti and rigatoni. Where appropriate I'll mention my preferred noodle shape for a given sauce but in this thread we celebrate noodles of all shapes and sizes, even capellini which has its place I guess.
Dumplings or the Ravioli Rule: There are probably as many different types of dumplings as there are for noodles. I thought about excluding them altogether but it would be ridiculous to not rank ravioli in a list of noodles. So what I've done is to allow only dumplings that are boiled or steamed. Dumplings that are fried or baked are prohibited. Even so, I make no claims to dumpling comprehensiveness.
Pas de Couscous: While couscous is technically a noodle, it just seems more like a grain to me. It's also usually served as a side starch so I'm tabling it until the great tagine draft.
Uneaten = unranked: Some ranked dishes I've eaten once, others I've cooked and eaten a hundred times but I can only judge what I've eaten personally. Unfortunately this excludes some contenders like Pad Kee Mao, Pasta all'Amatriciana, Laksa, Pastitsio and Pasta al Limone. I'm sure there are others I've missed in my life but hopefully someone will bring them up.
I like to think I have a varied palate but these rankings will naturally reflect my biases including some cultural ones that go back generations. I'll admit it now, I don't have an Italian grandmother so I grew up eating basic crappy red sauce noodles. I've tried to make up for it in the decades since but I regret to say nonna's manicotti doesn't signify for me.
I'm going to start today with some of the dishes that didn't make the cut for the top fifty and we'll start the real countdown tomorrow.
So why noodles? Generically they're just unleavened dough made from a starch that is cut or pulled into strands or shapes. They're delicious, affordable and easy to prepare which helps to explain why they're a part of many different global cuisines that I'll highlight during this countdown. Noodles are classic comfort food that compliment any sauce; they're also more fun to eat than the average food.
Rules and regulations:
Primi not Secondi: I've tried to focus on dishes where noodles are the main attraction rather than a side starch. Because of this, some traditional favorites like chicken tetrazzini, ratatouille, shrimp scampi, eggplant parmigiana and fruta de mar will be absent even though they usually involve pasta. The most controversial omission is probably spaghetti and meatballs which would otherwise be a top ten dish but that delicious hunk of ground meat is a distraction. Pay no attention to it!
Shapes (usually) don't matter: I expect some pushback on this but I've decided to generally be sauce-centric, especially when ranking Italian cuisine. I'm not going to even try to distinguish between penne, penne rigate, ziti and rigatoni. Where appropriate I'll mention my preferred noodle shape for a given sauce but in this thread we celebrate noodles of all shapes and sizes, even capellini which has its place I guess.
Dumplings or the Ravioli Rule: There are probably as many different types of dumplings as there are for noodles. I thought about excluding them altogether but it would be ridiculous to not rank ravioli in a list of noodles. So what I've done is to allow only dumplings that are boiled or steamed. Dumplings that are fried or baked are prohibited. Even so, I make no claims to dumpling comprehensiveness.
Pas de Couscous: While couscous is technically a noodle, it just seems more like a grain to me. It's also usually served as a side starch so I'm tabling it until the great tagine draft.
Uneaten = unranked: Some ranked dishes I've eaten once, others I've cooked and eaten a hundred times but I can only judge what I've eaten personally. Unfortunately this excludes some contenders like Pad Kee Mao, Pasta all'Amatriciana, Laksa, Pastitsio and Pasta al Limone. I'm sure there are others I've missed in my life but hopefully someone will bring them up.
I like to think I have a varied palate but these rankings will naturally reflect my biases including some cultural ones that go back generations. I'll admit it now, I don't have an Italian grandmother so I grew up eating basic crappy red sauce noodles. I've tried to make up for it in the decades since but I regret to say nonna's manicotti doesn't signify for me.
I'm going to start today with some of the dishes that didn't make the cut for the top fifty and we'll start the real countdown tomorrow.
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