What to use instead of maccheroni al ferretto

The closest swap: fileja

Every swap for maccheroni al ferretto, ranked

A substitute must behave the same way with the sauce you are making. The ones marked as chosen are hand-picked. The rest score on family, cavity, surface, size, and shared sauces.

1. 1
   

   Fileja

   Hand-formed · Calabria

   The twisted Calabrian version (chosen)

2. 2
   

   Bucatini

   Long strands · Lazio

   A dried hollow strand (chosen)

3. 3
   

   Fusilli lunghi

   Long strands · Campania

   A dried hollow coil (chosen)

4. 4
   

   Busiate

   Hand-formed · Sicily

   Same family, also hollow, also rough, shares 1 sauce, close in size

5. 5
   

   Cavatelli

   Hand-formed · Puglia

   Same family, also rough, shares 3 sauces

6. 6
   

   Lorighittas

   Hand-formed · Sardinia

   Same family, also rough, shares 3 sauces

7. 7
   

   Malloreddus

   Hand-formed · Sardinia

   Same family, shares 3 sauces, close in size

8. 8
   

   Orecchiette

   Hand-formed · Puglia

   Same family, also rough, shares 3 sauces

Match the sauce, not the look

Maccheroni al ferretto is listed against 4 sauces. Pick the swap that holds the one you are cooking.

• Best pasta for meat ragu: Any slow meat sauce with solids in it. It wants a shape with a cavity: a wide tube, a cup, or a broad ribbon.
• Best pasta for sausage ragu: Crumbled sausage, often with fennel, cooked in tomato or white wine. Orecchiette in Puglia, rigatoni everywhere else.
• Best pasta for pomodoro: Tomato, olive oil, garlic or onion, basil. Smooth and light. Almost any shape works; the classic is spaghetti or penne.
• Best pasta for ragu napoletano: Whole cuts of meat braised for hours in tomato. The sauce dresses the pasta; the meat is the second course. Ziti and paccheri.

Side by side

The measured difference between maccheroni al ferretto and each swap.