From Agnolotti to Ziti, a Book Pairs Pastas and Sauces

By Florence Fabricant

New York Times, December 28, 2010

Book cover pic by William P. O'Donnell/The New York Times

Distinctions among pasta are mostly about shape, and thus you have “The Geometry of Pasta,” an arresting book by Caz Hildebrand and Jacob Kenedy that covers pasta shapes alphabetically from agnolotti to ziti, more than 80 of them represented by strong black-and-white drawings. Fregola, gnocchi and couscous are included. A careful matching of sauce recipe to shape is the book’s mission, and there is considerable cross-referencing from one to another, and a useful index of sauces in the back. I loved the strozzapreti with calamari and broccoli that called for cooking the pasta and vegetable together in the same pot.

“The Geometry of Pasta” (Quirk Books, US$24.95), by Caz Hildebrand and Jacob Kenedy.