Maccheroni al ferretto
mak-keh-ROH-nee al fer-RET-toh
Strip of dough rolled around a thin iron rod into a long hollow tube.
Name. Macaroni on the little iron, the ferretto or ferro, a square-section rod.
How to cook maccheroni al ferretto: 8 to 12 minutes, with a timer
What it is
Maccheroni al ferretto are the hand-made hollow tubes of the south: a rope of semolina dough wrapped around a thin iron or wooden rod and rolled under the palms so it hollows out, then slid off. Calabria, Basilicata, Campania, and Sicily each have a version and a name.
Fusilli al ferretto, fileja, and busiate are the same technique with a twist added.
How to cook maccheroni al ferretto
8 to 12 minutes in boiling salted water. Take the shorter time for al dente, the longer time for fully cooked.
8:00
Start when the water returns to the boil.
Water and salt
- Pasta, dry
- 400 g
- Water
- 4 L
- Salt
- 40 g
100 g per person as a main. A litre and 10 g of salt per 100 g. Adjust with the portion calculator.
The steps
- Bring 4 L of water to a full boil in a tall pot. Add 40 g of salt when it boils.
- Add the maccheroni al ferretto. Stir for the first minute so nothing sticks. Start the timer when the water returns to the boil.
- Fresh pasta has no dry core. It is done when it is tender, not when it resists.
- Scoop out a cup of the cooking water. Drain, or lift the pasta straight into the pan.
- Toss with the sauce over the heat for a minute. Add cooking water a splash at a time until it clings.
Read more: what al dente means and why the pasta water matters. Times for every shape are on the cook page.
How it holds sauce
Rough, chewy, and hollow, so they carry the heaviest southern sauces: pork ragu, goat ragu, 'nduja, a slow tomato with pecorino.
Pairs with: Meat ragu · Sausage ragu · Pomodoro · Ragu napoletano
Classic plates: Maccheroni al ferretto al ragu di maiale, Maccheroni al ferretto con 'nduja.
Nutrition
Per 100 g of dry semolina pasta. The shape does not change these numbers. The dough does, so a whole wheat or egg version of this shape reads differently. See every dough.
| Per 100 g | Energy | Protein | Carbohydrate | Fibre | Fat | Sodium | Iron |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry | 371 kcal | 13.0 g | 74.7 g | 3.2 g | 1.5 g | 6 mg | 3.3 mg |
| Cooked | 158 kcal | 5.8 g | 30.9 g | 1.8 g | 0.9 g | 1 mg | 1.3 mg |
One portion. 100 g dry becomes about 235 g cooked, 371 kcal and 13 g of protein. Pasta takes on 2.3 times its weight in the pot.
No maccheroni al ferretto? Use these
Ranked by how they behave with sauce, not how they look. Full substitute list.
Side by side
Easy to confuse with
Other names
maccheroni al ferro, fusilli al ferretto, ferrazzuoli, maccarruni.
Read more
Sources
- Cook time: fresh, by maker.
- USDA FoodData Central (nutrition per 100 g, by dough: FDC 169736, Pasta, dry, enriched; FDC 169737, Pasta, cooked, enriched, without added salt), public domain. The cooked yield is derived from the two energy figures.
- Dimensions: brand spec sheets and measured boxes. Blank fields are unmeasured, never guessed.